by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Getting our digital books into libraries is much easier these days than it was a few years ago. All we need to do is upload our ebooks to a distributor like Smashwords, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, or StreetLib , which will make the file available to OverDrive. OverDrive supplies over 30,000 libraries in 40+ countries.
OverDrive is one of my favorite sites as a reader, so I was eager to have my books available there. I was writing this post and pulled the site up and then immediately became distracted and requested three books. :) Eventually I realized that I was trying to write a blog post.
A little bit of background for those of you who aren’t familiar with OverDrive. For me, OverDrive makes reading easier. I’ve read over 45 books so far this year and OverDrive definitely helped. When I hear about an interesting book, I check OverDrive through my library’s website. If it’s available through OverDrive, I add my name to the waitlist. When the book becomes available, it’s automatically checked out to me. I download it on my Kindle (readers can also read on epub devices or by reading a PDF) and then, when it’s time for the book to be ‘returned’ to the library, it becomes unavailable on my device. It’s just a very easy process for a busy person who might not have time to go to the library as much as they’d like.
I use PublishDrive to distribute my books there and have done for the last year and a half or so. I do like the graphs on their sales dashboard that help me make sense of my sales (which are steady on OverDrive). I don’t price any higher for libraries than I do Amazon or other retailers. The graph below shows that my newer titles (which are priced higher than older ones) do the best in sales.
The graph below shows that my sales, despite OverDrive’s reach, are overwhelmingly in the US (I’m hoping this will change as more international readers try OverDrive).
If you’re someone who doesn’t have an epub version of your book (which is the file type needed for OverDrive), you can easily create one (for free) by uploading your original Word document to Draft2Digital. They will convert it and even distribute it to OverDrive for you, right from their platform. That, I’d imagine, would be the easiest way for someone to get on OverDrive who is ordinarily only published on Kindle (obviously, if you’re in the KU program, this is off limits to you).
If your books are already available through OverDrive, you may be interested in seeing exactly where your books are. If you look up a title on WorldCat (you’ll need to enter your location to see where your books are located), a list of libraries that have your book available will pull up. It’s fun for me to see a recent release of mine in libraries in Ohio and Washington state.
I do also have print copies available for library purchase through IngramSpark … but that’s another blog post.
Wrapping up, for me, it’s a no-brainer. I make money every month on OverDrive and it pleases me to have my titles available in libraries.
Are you on OverDrive yet? Do you use the app as a reader?
Why Writers Should Have Their Books on OverDrive: Click To TweetPhoto on VisualHunt
Thanks Elizabeth. I have my ebooks on Smashwords, which distributes to Overdrive, but they are not available in Australia, my home country, only the US. Something I am going to have to investigate. Seems all distributors are not equal.
If you’re in Australia, you might also want to pursue Wheelers. They supply books, ebooks, and audio to schools and libraries. They purchase from authors as libraries order. http://www.wheelersbooks.com.au and http://www.wheelers.co.nz . I wasn’t originally familiar with them, but they reached out to me by reader request. You’d likely sell more books than I would there, being a resident. Good luck!
That would be cool to see what libraries carry my books.
WorldCat is fun to spend time on. :) Considering I write books based in the Southern US, it’s neat to see the titles in libraries around the US.
I’d never heard of it. I need to check it out as a reader and an author!
It’s my absolute *favorite* as a reader. So convenient! I access it through my local library’s website. Everything is automatic and I have the books with me wherever I go (I pulled it up while getting my car inspected the other day).
You know what, Elizabeth? I’ve never seriously considered OverDrive, although I’d heard of it. But it sounds like a very good choice for authors, and manageable, if that makes sense. I need to do some research on this.
It’s very easy. If you’re already on SmashWords (I only mention this because so many of us who’ve been publishing a while are on it), it’s only a matter of enabling that channel on your dashboard. If for any reason you’ve *had* it enabled and aren’t seeing the sales on SW or any other distributor, you can always disable it and try another aggregator (D2D, PublishDrive, etc).
We use Publish Drive as one of our distributors, too. And I love WorldCat. I was amazed how many libraries carried our titles and which ones.
It’s fun to see, isn’t it? Love WorldCat.
Hi Elizabeth – I looked at Overdrive when you first mentioned it – but never got further than that. I don’t read on an e-reader … I guess that needs to change sometime … but once I get back I’ll need to check it out again. However your review and notes on Overdrive is great to know about – particularly the world-wide connectivity – cheers Hilary
The nice thing is that OverDrive has been doing a bit of advertising lately…they’ve rolled out their own ereading app, Libby. So as more readers become acquainted with it, perhaps they’ll ask for more content.
[…] Want more on libraries from the author perspective? Update on OverDrive from Elizabeth Spann Craig […]
You are an endless fountain of useful and unique information! Thanks again.
Thanks for this, Leslie! Hope it helps. :)