Tag: library

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Kids Lit

Is That True??!!

Kids Lit

I heard comments/complaints in a writer’s group recently that “it is impossible to get your book into the library” and they “throw your book out after 5 years.”

Is that true?

Yes, probably. Library books come and go. As a professional public librarian for years (OK – decades!), I want to clarify that process.

INCOMING

1- Public librarians are supported by a governing body – city, county, or district. The librarians need to know for each book they purchase: “Is this book worth buying for this community at this particular time?”

For example, my local community has a very active stamp-collecting club in town, so our library carries way more books on stamp collecting than the average library. If the high school sponsors a parent program with an “expert,” the library will purchase or borrow multiple copies of that author’s works anticipating interest.

2- Because they cannot read every book they buy, librarians must rely on dependable reviews and predictions of the next bestsellers. Librarians read the reviews in Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, and School Library Journal about 6 months ahead of the book’s publication. Many of those reviewing sources do have pages for self-published and paid reviews.

3- Then libraries contract with one distributor (Ingram or Baker and Taylor) and purchase all the books from that source – so arranging to print or be listed in those catalogs is an advantage.

For each book bought, the librarians must consider those factors. Even if you are a regular patron. Even if you want to donate your book, it will be evaluated before adding to the collection. 

OUTGOING

At the other end of life on the shelf, books that are out of date factually or whose author is no longer popular are removed. A well-organized library will evaluate books after 5 years, check the information to see if it is still valid and useful, see how many times it has been checked out, and if later books fill the subject matter need better. If they have purchased multiple copies of an award winner or popular author, they will keep one or two.

Books are not put in the dumpster! They are usually removed from the collection and given to the library book sale where they may be purchased by teachers for classroom use or individuals to have at home. Leftover books from the sale are donated to shelters.

WHY?

Librarians feel confident doing this because they are part of larger library systems at the state and national levels. That means if they have removed a copy of a particular book, the title or information is in storage and can be requested by interlibrary loan.

The Library of Congress may not have a copy of every book published in the United States, but it does hold a collection of more than 25.49 million cataloged books in the Library of Congress classification system in 3 massive buildings and 1 high-density storage unit, all of which are accessible upon request.

Let me just add the librarians would love to buy every single book! Plus, we are very fun people.

Multi award winning author Robin Currie led children’s departments of Midwestern public libraries before being called to ordained ministry. She has a special love for children’s literacy and storytelling. She serves in Chicago area parishes and volunteers teaching English in developing countries while writing stories to read and read again.

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Magazine, Freelance, and Copywriting

Uprooting Your Writing Life: Tips for Moving Your Home Library

As a writer, your prized possession is almost certainly your collection of books. Whether you read reams of epic fantasy or are a sucker for a good literary romance, your books are an important part of your world and have helped you become the author that you are today.

That means that moving time can be stressful. Not only will your family try to cut down on the volume of books you’re planning to move with, but you’ll need to properly transport your library with care if you want them to make the journey in one piece.

That said, moving to a new home also represents an opportunity to improve your home library. You’re working with a blank canvas, and have plenty of options to redesign your reading space to keep your favorite books close at hand. You can also redecorate with reading in mind and may be able to create an even cozier space to sit down and read in peace and quiet.

Caring for Your Collection

If reading plays a central role in your life, you may be worried about the damage that could occur when moving. This is a valid concern; particularly if you have rare or sentimentally important books in your collection. Rather than simply stuffing your books into boxes, follow guidance on how to successfully move your collection, which suggests:

  • Cleaning your books to remove dust, mold, or liquid damage
  • Prepare them by sorting them in the order that you plan to unpack them
  • Take extra care with antiques, wrapping each individual book with acid-free cloth and bubble-wrap
  • Label each box properly, so you can find your hardcover fiction and collection of memoirs quickly when you arrive at your new home

Following these steps can help you master the art of crating and shipping during your move and protect your books. Securing proper crating is crucial if you’re transporting a large volume of books and do not want them to get damaged in transit. Nowadays, you can even buy customizable padding and support to ensure that the crates you choose fit your needs exactly. Just be sure to inspect the crates yourself, lest any of your favored books have been accidentally packaged in the wrong packaging.

Creating a Reading Space

Packing up your library can be a little tedious. However, once you’ve got your books in boxes, the fun can begin. Start by creating a blueprint of your new library space and pull tape to get an accurate estimation of where you’ll be able to store your books.

Rather than choosing bookshelves and cabinets at random, consider making an investment in a more permanent solution like bespoke shelving. This will cost a little more, but bespoke, fitted shelving will turn a disorganized writing room into a distinct home library. Fitted shelves will also help you fit as many books as possible into your new space, meaning your passion for reading and writing can flourish following your move.

If this is your first dedicated home library, consider drawing inspiration from writers who have created the perfect writing and reading room. This means you’ll want to include features like:

  • Soundproofing the room
  • Investing in natural lighting
  • Comfortable seating throughout
  • Closeness to nature (indoor plants or great views)

You’ll also want to design a room that supports your needs. Before buying a drinks trolley or an espresso machine for your library, ask yourself what you plan on doing while in your new space. Do you plan to work on professional projects while in the library, or is it primarily a space where you plan to get lost in a good book?

This is a question explored by Virginia Woolf, in her 1916 essay “Hours in a Library”, where she draws a distinction between “learners” and “readers”. While the distinction may be a little reductive, answering purpose-driven questions can boost your writerly productivity and help you settle down to enjoy a new book when you’re finished writing for the day.

Getting Rid of Items

While every book is sacred, every reader has a few volumes that are not highly regarded. Getting rid of these books when moving is crucial. They’ll free up space for your most prized novels and will alleviate the sense of despair you feel when you look at your DNF or “to read” pile.

Try to donate items when cleaning out books before a big move by getting in touch with charitable organizations like:

  • Salvation Army
  • Once Upon a Child
  • Goodwill
  • Books for Soldiers
  • Operation Give

These organizations are in need of books and will ensure that your unwanted volumes find a good home. This can appease your family members, too, who will appreciate lightening the load by shipping books off to good causes before a move.

Conclusion

Moving your home library can be anxiety-inducing if you’ve collected a large collection of rare volumes and prized editions. However, with a careful approach, you can move your books into the new home safely and may benefit from an uptick in comfort and productivity when you’ve finished moving house. Just be sure to design your reading space with your needs in mind, as you’ll need to establish a clear distinction between work and leisure if you want your new library to feel like a home within your home.

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Magazine, Freelance, and Copywriting

From Consumption to Contribution: Libraries as Centers of the Circular Economy

There’s little doubt that excessive consumption is harming communities and the environment. For one, the manufacturing processes produce vast amounts of waste and emissions to transport products to customers. For another, many companies have elected to use cheaper materials to save on production costs, which eventually causes these same products to degrade earlier in their life cycle. As a result, consumers have to spend more money finding replacements rather than repairing a well-made item. It’s a difficult issue. But you may be surprised to learn that libraries can be part of the solution.

This is because libraries now and in the future are tending toward being more dynamic community spaces. They offer multiple resources, give people areas to congregate, and are sources of diverse expertise. As a result, they are central to activities related to building a genuinely sustainable circular economy.

Sharing Green Knowledge and Resources

Libraries across the world play a pivotal role as forts of knowledge. This is no different when it comes to maintaining community sustainability. Generally speaking, climate change continues to worsen because many people don’t have the skills or understanding to make meaningful green changes in their lives. Therefore, librarians can contribute to a sustainable future as guides to setting and achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their everyday activities and businesses.

First, individual librarians or groups can help the public to understand what key SDGs are. Within the context of a circular economy — a system that prioritizes reusing, repairing, and recycling products — librarians can coach on sustainable consumption and production patterns, including sustainable publishing. Libraries can host public discussions about what this means and practical approaches to achieving it. To become approachable, these discussions can direct locals to organizations in the community where they can purchase old items or who may accept old materials for recycling.

Growing a Sustainable Writing Community

Libraries can also serve as ecosystems for budding writers while promoting sustainability. While buying books as individuals is a great way to support authors financially, libraries can purchase books which allows multiple people to enjoy the book. This makes the author’s work more accessible, more sustainable and reduces over consumption.

In addition, libraries can be an ideal place to harbor writing conferences, writers-in-residence, and writing workshops to introduce local authors to the community.

Hosting Maker Spaces

Among the key tenets of a sustainable circular economy is to reduce the potential for both over consumption and to minimize unnecessary waste. Community members need to be able to make items from scratch and repair their current items. Libraries can contribute to these efforts by hosting maker spaces.

This is something that more libraries could practically implement. Many maker activities, such as 3D printing, don’t need specialist spaces, like workshops or ateliers. Indeed, the increasing accessibility of equipment can make libraries a good location for such projects. Local experts and librarians can also teach or host learning sessions about how to go about using 3D printing for the first time. They can also further encourage eco-friendly behavior by recommending more sustainable materials that we’ll see in the future. For example, materials such as polylactic acid (PLA) filaments are made from biodegradable products such as corn starch and can help anyone interested in building practical items.

Creating Libraries of Things

For some time now, libraries around the world haven’t simply been book repositories. They’re host to a wide range of resources, from movies and music to eBooks. Yet, there’s also a growing movement for libraries of things. Essentially, this is about lending practical and in-need objects. This potentially boosts the circular economy by minimizing unnecessary production demand while making items more accessible to those on lower incomes.

Nevertheless, a truly impactful library of things addresses the needs of the community. It may be practical to lend board games and tabletop roleplaying games so that families can minimize their screen time. Cookware and bakeware lending might engage library users in more creative culinary and nutrition activities. Exercise equipment can boost community wellness. Some libraries are increasing access to museums, planetariums and science education centers by offering passes to these organizations for the whole community to access.

Conclusion

Libraries are becoming circular economy hubs. They’re increasingly offering access to practical knowledge, repair workshops, and lendable tools, among other resources. There’s still more they can do, though. However, this is dependent on greater community engagement and finding sources of funding. The public needs to show that there’s a demand for these services in library spaces alongside seeking support from philanthropic organizations, private businesses, and government agencies.

Amanda Winstead is a writer from the Portland area with a background in communications and a passion for telling stories. Along with writing she enjoys traveling, reading, working out, and going to concerts. If you want to follow her writing journey, or even just say hi you can find her on Twitter.

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Kids Lit

How to Launch a Dinosaur

Kids Lit

Back in 2021, I relayed the long, long trail to sell a 181-word board book manuscript for publication. And I promised to describe the launch!

Triassic 

From dinos in my brain to in the book is like waiting to see a first-born child. Finally, the editor approves the illustrator, and How to Dress a Dinosaur has a cover reveal! Over the top cuteness, I put it on my website, Facebook, and find a launch group of other authors with 2022 releases.

Jurassic

Confidently, I contact local preschools, bookstores, and libraries for the Big Launch event. That’s when I’m informed that with a pandemic (I already had shots) going on no kid programs are being scheduled in March. And everyone is tired of Zoom.

In the meantime, I hire a virtual assistant and build a Pinterest board for dinosaur-related crafts, food, games, and costumes. Plus I order the cutest-ever dinosaur-themed dress.

Copies of my book arrive. I get so excited to tear into packaging I forget to take the usual “box opening” video. I beg family member for photos of any kids in dino costumes or with dinos and unearth my nephew’s dinosaur themed wedding!

I sneakily check all my area libraries to see if they have How to Dress a Dinosaur on order and, as a “local author,” request they purchase it. My launch group comes through with reviews on Goodreads. I start micro-watching the Amazon New Books page and get very excited when How to Dress a Dinosaur gets to number 11! This is going to be big!

Comet Strike

March 15! This is it! Launch Day!…crickets…

I read How to Dress a Dinosaur to one preschool outdoors on a blustery day in a heavy coat—which covers my cute dinosaur dress. Sigh.

Cretaceous

At last, a local bookstore is willing to live-launch How to Dress a Dinosaur on International Dinosaurs Day at the end of May! I bribe my teenage grandchildren to dress in blow-up dinosaur costumes. My own International Dinosaur Day is a real-time event with people who want an autographed copy! Book launches. Post pictures.

Cenozoic

I write an adorable sequel to How to Dress a Dinosaur and am informed the dino market is glutted. Time to move on to mammals…

Award Winning author Robin Currie learned story sharing by sitting on the floor, during library story times. She has sold 1.7 M copies of her 40 storybooks and writes stories to read and read again. Robin is thrilled to have finally launched  How to Dress a Dinosaur  (familius, 2022)!

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Some Pieces of the Picture Book Publishing Puzzle By Shannon Anderson

My dream as a kid was to become an elementary teacher and write books for kids. In high school, I had a job at our local public library in the children’s department. It was a great experience for my future careers. I loved processing the new books and being the first to read them. I loved matching kids to the perfect books. I loved seeing the clever ways authors used their words to create a story that touched the heart or sparked an idea.

After college, I taught first grade. Hands-down, my favorite part of the day was read- aloud time. Turning kids on to books, getting a giggle, or seeing the light bulbs turn on  is an amazing opportunity. My chance to be an even bigger part of this magic became a reality when I was awarded a Teacher Creativity Fellowship to pursue a passion of my choice. It wasn’t hard to choose. I decided to use my fellowship to learn all about the children’s book industry and try my hand at writing books. (This opportunity led to the publication of six books so far.)

[bctt tweet=”The first thing I learned, there are a lot of things to learn! ” username=””]As much as I hoped for a short cut or some insider secret, there weren’t any. However, there are a lot of things you can do to get on the right path towards publication. There are so many pieces to this giant puzzle of how to become a published author. For starters, you need to know a lot about the genre you are writing, you need to know the proper way to submit your manuscripts, the roles of the different people in the industry, how to sharpen your craft, your publication options, and your market.

Just as with any new skill or hobby, you have to do your research. I started out by attending conferences, taking online classes, and finding writers and organizations. There is a wonderful group called the SCBWI, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. I joined this organization and began attending their regional and national conferences. With each conference, I learned a few more pieces of the puzzle. There are also many online resources, from blogs to classes that you can take.

Research also includes reading books in your genre. If you want to write humorous picture books, you should be reading any Mo Willems or Jon Scieszka book you can get your hands on. If you want to write nonfiction picture books, you need to read those. Reading in your genre helps you get a feel for the formats, styles, lengths, and content these books possess.

When you get ideas for stories, be sure to write them down. It could be a clever title, a fun character, or a whole story plot. Don’t rely on your memory. Make time to write. It would be hypocritical for me to say write every day, because I have a hard time finding the time to do this, but do make time each week to write something.

Once you have a story that has been through several drafts, seek out a critique group or partner. Having someone else read your story is powerful. When the story comes from your own head, it’s hard to separate your own thoughts from what is actually on the page.[bctt tweet=” Fresh eyes will be able to find spots that need polished or clarified.” username=””] Exchange stories with people in your group. Reading the work of others also helps you become better, as you learn new styles and approaches.

You need to know your market. Find out who publishes books like your story. You can also purchase a Children’s Writing Market Guide to find out about current publishing houses and the types of submissions they are taking. In some cases, you have to have an agent in order to send them something, but there are many houses that will accept un-agented material.

Since we are focusing on picture books, you need to know that if you are not an illustrator, you can still be the author of a picture book. In many publishing houses, the publisher will seek out an illustrator that matches the style of your book. Some publishers have illustrators on staff, some pay an artist a flat fee for hire, and some illustrators will share the royalty split with you when the book comes out. If you are an illustrator, then you have an advantage over those of us who are not. [bctt tweet=”Publishers love to work with authors that can also illustrate their own work!” username=””]

I’m an elementary teacher and children’s book author. As the Regional Advisor for the Indiana Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, I attend and plan many writing conferences. I’m also on the board of directors for the Indiana State Reading Association and the high ability coordinator for my school system for K-5 grade students. I share my home with my husband, Matt, our two daughters, Emily and Madison, and dog, two cats, and a gecko. I enjoy presenting, teaching, writing, traveling, and running very early in the mornings.