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On selling books

So, how many libraries are there in the UK?

And is there a central listing of all of them?

So that one could, if one were so minded, ask each and every one of them to stock a copy of one\’s newly released book?

Or would that be naughty?

10 thoughts on “On selling books”

  1. When I used to use a library regularly if you asked for a popular book you had to wait for someone in an other town to return it. Apparently they only bought a few copies, no matter what the demand, certainly not one pr library.

    This was in the 80s though, so it could be that Labour’s largess means that every library is at liberty to stock every book.

  2. What’s the point of going to libraries now? They’ve all been turned into internet cafes. You’re lucky if you can find a decent book beyond the normal Jeffrey Archer rubbish.

  3. Presumably, publishers send publicity materials to local libraries, so why can’t authors?

    I think the information you need is here, Tim:
    http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ac940/weblibs.html

    Most library service websites will have an email address for suggestions.

    That said, bear in mind that public libraries tend to be dumbed-down multi-media resource centres now, and so the average public library user would probably find your book a difficult read.

  4. Can’t be doing so badly – Amazon have just posted a delay on delivery of my copy- is this from high demand?

  5. Promoting library book purchases? What an oddly socialist idea.

    Perhaps someone could explain why, in this wealthy internet age, the taxpayer should provide entertainment to those middle class spongers too cheap to buy a book.

    And do not, do not for an instant, try to tell me the libraries are to serve the poor. They are more middle class smug, self serving, entitlement-theft. The poor come in to get warm and pee, not to read Tim Worstall.

    Finally, why would an author want a library to buy his books? Surely he would want none in libraries so the public would be forced to buy their own. Perhaps the author knows, or fears, that the public doesn’t want his book and he too wants to suck at the public teat.

  6. Apparently each county library service has a specialism eg. East Sussex is military history, so if you ask for a book which one library doesn’t stock they may be able to get it from another county. Find out who does economics as a start.

  7. >Promoting library book purchases? What an oddly socialist idea.

    I don’t think Tim is promoting library book purchases in general. I think he’s just promoting the purchase of his book (presumably because he thinks it will get his name known, just like new musicians will often tolerate illegal downloading of their material in the forlorn hope that it will help promote them and thus pay off in the long run).

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