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This outlines our approach to self-published books and unsolicited contact from any book provider. If you are a traditionally published author (where a publisher has been involved in the editorial process) then please see the information at the bottom of this page.

 

Our policy is not to purchase or take donations of self-published books, apart from books that relate to the locality of Essex (non-fiction Local Studies materials); see Local Studies section for full details.

 

Our policy does not imply any value judgement on a self-published book. It reflects the fact that we don’t have the resources nor necessarily the expertise, to undertake the editorial review and evaluation that we would expect a traditional publisher to do.

 

What we offer to self-published authors

  • Once a year we will run a Local Writers Showcase where Essex authors will be able to come along to promote and sell their titles. This will be in a different location each year. Please register your interest in attending the next Local Writers Showcase here.
  • If self-published authors approach us to ask to run an event at their local library at other times, we cannot accommodate these on the library floor. However, we do have bookable meeting rooms available in some libraries and many of our libraries can be hired out of hours.  This will be subject to our usual hire rates and the library capacity to accommodate the event. Please contact the relevant library directly to discuss this.

 

Definition

 

Self-publication is defined as being where an author has control of the content without the collaboration of an established publisher to provide editorial processes.

 

We would include under the umbrella of self-publishing, instances where a company charges the author for the actual printing or production costs of the book, or for some other part of the publishing process.

 

This includes

  • hybrid publishing,
  • co-publishing and partner publishing,
  • joint venture publishing,
  • subsidy publishing and shared responsibility publishing

 

Unsolicited donations of stock and request for book purchasing

 

We do not accept unsolicited materials; any that we receive will be disposed of locally.

 

We will consider requests from small publishing houses to stock their titles, but they will need to be available for us to purchase from our library suppliers.  Details of the titles should be sent in via the stock submission form. We will consider these submissions to see if they meet our buying criteria. No further correspondence will be entered into.

 

Local studies materials

 

We will consider purchasing self-published local studies materials about Essex, specifically to the current Essex County Council area only, if they are available from a retail outlet. We do not directly purchase from authors. If bought, content and legality remain the responsibility of the author.

 

 

If your item is not available for us to purchase from a retail outlet, then we would consider accepting a donation of a non-fiction local studies title as long as it meets the following criteria:

 

  • Physical
    • Books must be robust enough to withstand public library use.
    • We prefer sewn or perfect (glued) binding and will not accept stapled binding.
    • Books with removable parts which are essential to the book or workbooks with sections to fill in are not suitable for a public library.
    • We do not accept Proof copies.
  • Content
    • We need to be clear about the provenance and accuracy of the facts e.g., the qualifications of the writer or adequate referencing, and it must be written from a balanced non-biased viewpoint. We don’t stock books which contain a bias towards a particular country, faith, religion, or lifestyle that are not specifically about that subject.

 

What next

 

If you are donating a local studies title for us to consider you can drop it off at any Essex Library in an envelope marked FAO LSU Stock Champion, Library Support Unit.  In with the book please include your name, email address and preferred library location that we can assign the book too. Alternatively, you can post it to

FAO LSU Stock Champion

11, Freebournes Road,
Witham, Essex,
CM8 3UN

 

An email will be sent to the author with the outcome.

If suitable, books will be catalogued, and genre or subject descriptors added so they can be found on the catalogue.

Please note

  • We don’t guarantee to stock them.
  • Donations will be subject to the same usage conditions as our other Local Studies stock and may be withdrawn or relocated to suit the needs of our audience.
  • We don’t provide feedback on books to authors

 

 

 

Information for traditionally published authors

 

If you would like us to consider stocking your title, please ask your publisher to submit the details, but they will need to be available for us to purchase from our library suppliers.  Details of the titles should be sent in via the stock submission form. We will consider these submissions to see if they meet our buying criteria. No further correspondence will be entered into.

 

If you would like to offer to run an author event in one of our libraries, please contact the relevant library directly and they will be able to discuss if this is possible.

 

The Local Writers Showcase is also open to traditionally published authors. Please register your interest in attending the event here.