Authors who need help selling their books should start looking close to home, at the one place where books are free: their local library.

When I speak at writers  conferences, I hear authors complaining that they don’t want to be bothered with selling to a library “where hundreds of people might read my book for free.”

Are you kidding me?

Libraries are marketing machines. They do all the heavy lifting and help you gain exposure, generate publicity and pull crowds. Using their many resources is just one of the ideas I’ll share tomorrow during the webinar on Book Publicity Ideas You Can Use Today to Sell More Books Tomorrow.

Here are 3 ways libraries can help you sell more books.  

1. They’ll host a book signing.

Libraries aren’t beneath New York Times best-selling author Lesley Kagen. She did a book signing at the Grafton Public Library near my town last week. She and I live in the same county so it was close to home for her.     

2. They’ll let local newspapers know about your event.

I saw a photo of Lesley Kagen’s book signing in my local newspaper, The Ozaukee Press, last week.

3. Libraries will often tell the local Chamber of Commerce about your event.

Here’s what the Grafton chamber put on its homepage to promote Lesley Kagen’s book signing: