“How can a retailer sell this?” If I thought there was any plausible chance that bookstores would be stocking these books, I’d pay for the Lulu ISBN and distribution package–but, as far as I know, none of my books has ever been stocked in any physical bookstore (except the ALA Store). Library books just don’t make it to your local Barnes & Noble…and particularly not specialized library books.

I don’t “add stick-on barcodes” because I don’t buy copies for resale. If I thought buying copies for resale was plausible, I wouldn’t be using Lulu (well, maybe I would, since they now have high-quantity pricing as well). All of this has been discussed at considerable length here and in Cites & Insights. My decisions may be wrong, but they’re fairly carefully thought out.

As for the spine–I’m not aware of any books that have the ISBN or a bar code on the spine. At least none of the books I buy have stuff like that on the spine.

There are quite a few reasons for a library to maintain one or more blogs, and in some cases the blogs may actually save time–e.g., it’s an easy, low-overhead way for some libraries to post events and other news.

I don’t know that I’ll answer your questions, but the book certainly offers a range of examples of how libraries are using blogs. As for libraries “promoting certain books and other material over others,” I’d be astonished to see that happening. Yes, library blogs may feature certain items–but that’s not typically “over others” so much as trying to entice readers. I have yet to hear of a public library that explicitly wanted certain items to circulate more than others.

So I am still perplexed as to the rationale for public libraries devoting time to blogging. Is it a way to promote certain books & other material over others?

I just checked my library’s online catalogue and noticed that they have your book on order. Perhaps you will answer the many questions I have on this topic.

I’ve been meaning to write up some things about the public libraries book–perhaps noting that here will actually get me to do so.

Maybe that’s a mistake.

I certainly knew that providing a specialized resource meant I was looking at sales in, at best, the high hundreds rather than low thousands: My “success mark” for either blogging book is lower than for Balanced Libraries.

(As for editorial comments on the blogs themselves…well, I still feel a little singed from two years ago and am a bit reluctant to check that particular stove’s surface just yet.)

The awareness issue is absolutely legit, although I’ve been fortunate enough to have American Libraries Direct pick up both book announcements–but that’s admittedly somewhat ephemeral (although excellent, in my opinion). Cites & Insights reaches a fair number of people who don’t read my blog (I believe), but not people who don’t do econtent…

And, since I’m not on the speaking circuit, I haven’t been promoting the books in person.

I may yet send out a couple of (print) review copies to one or two (print) media. I probably would have already had it not been for my experience with First Have Something to Say, where I know review copies went out from ALA Editions and never saw any reviews (but it’s sold acceptably well).

One thing that should be clear, and maybe needs a separate post: I’d welcome critical reviews (even highly negative ones, as long as the reviewer shows signs of reading the book)–not just positive reviews. One reason I’m so pleased with the four reviews of Balanced Libraries is that none of them is 100% positive; they all show thought and critical insight, not just praise.

I got the book primarily to give some of the other people working on our website an idea of what kinds of things library blogs are about. If you already read blogs, you probably either know or can find out easily enough. If you don’t read blogs, however, there’s a good chance you won’t have heard of the book.

While I think the posts you provide are good and worthwhile, I think the book would be easier to sell if it were more “here’s what Walt Crawford has to say about starting a library blog, with some examples of what to do” rather than “Here’s WC presenting a bunch of examples with no comment.”

ok, but we don’t seem to be communicating too well.
perhaps i’m wrong, but it seems to me that the data
(or “information”, if you prefer) in the book is rather
_volatile_, and thus will soon become _dated_, and
that _might_be_ one reason why its sales are slow…

just a suggestion, not an argument i wish to “defend”,
so if it doesn’t ring true to you, please just ignore it…

thanks.

-bowerbird

p.s. and i’m not even sure you can confidently say that
sales _are_ “slow” at this early point in time — i’d guess
self-published works take some time to pick up steam –
but i was sharing what seems to me to be a reservation.

Thing is, I have a “brand.” I’ve had a dozen books published by recognized library publishers, three by America’s foremost library publisher (ALA Editions). At least one and up to three of my books changed the library field significantly (ask anyone who dealt with smaller library automation vendors and asked questions about MARC compatibility before MARC for Library Use came out!). My ejournal has anywhere from 1,400 to 30,000+ readers (although 2,000 to 4,000 is more typical). After 20+ years of writing and publishing, I should have a fairly solid reputation. And, indeed, the four reviews of Balanced Libraries seem to indicate that I’m not dropping the ball on these books.

The blogging books wouldn’t work as traditional publications, I don’t believe; the publishing delay would be too long and the overhead of standard publishing would require either a higher price or more sales than seem likely. In other words: I wouldn’t even attempt to convince ALA Editions or Information Today, Inc. to publish either of them, certainly not for $29.50. (Balanced Libraries might be a different story, and I’m certainly open to an offer to pick it up commercially, but there the inherent publishing delay was also a factor–and, while it’s not a massive success, it’s also not a failure.)

If nearly all potential buyers conclude that a publisher’s name on the spine is more important than my track record and name, to the extent, that they won’t touch one of these books, then that’s useful information–and the experiment (overall) will be a failure. Live and learn.

I’ve never been accused of “vanity publishing” for doing Cites & Insights. If anything, the two blogging studies are the least “vain” projects I’ve done in a while, as there’s very little opinion in them. And maybe that’s an issue as well…

This is too long for a comment; it’s approaching the post or article I may eventually do about all of this.