This outlines our approach to self-published books and unsolicited contact from any book provider. 
 
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 History materials); see Local History section below for full details.
 
Our policy does not imply any value judgement on a self-published book and is in accordance with many other library services. 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.

 

Buying Criteria

 

 Our buying criteria is 
•    Must be traditionally published book that has gone through the editorial process 
•    Must be available with more than two copies in stock at our library suppliers 


Reasons for Essex Library Service buying criteria
•    The editorial process is a check that the book is good quality and doesn’t contain unsuitable content 
•    Buying from a library supplier means the library service gets a discount, and stock arrives fully processed, on the catalogue and  ready to be loaned to customers
•    Restricting buying to items that the supplier physically holds copies of means the service can be sure of receiving the item which ensures our catalogue and accounting is kept up to date

 

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. Please note new submissions are required each year.
  • 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
 
Essex Library Service’s purchasing decisions on stock is final and no correspondence will be entered into about decisions made. 

 

Unsolicited donations of stock

 

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

 

Local History materials

 

We will consider purchasing non-fiction local history 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. 

 

  • Complete the Local History submission form to submit your suggestions for purchase
  • We don’t communicate outcomes for stock suggestions, please check our library catalogue to see if your suggestion has been accepted

 

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 History title as long as it meets the following criteria:

 

  • Physical
    • Books must be robust enough to withstand public library use, for example not a pamphlet
    • We prefer sewn or perfect (glued) binding and will not accept stapled or spiral 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

If the book is not suitable for purchase or adding to stock no correspondence will be entered into. The author being from or living in Essex will not be a criterion for us to buy it for the local history collection.  

 

What next

 

If you are donating a local history 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 to. If the author wishes to have the book returned to a library for collection if it is not added to stock they will need to specify where they would like the item returned to for collection, otherwise it will be disposed of locally. Alternatively, you can post it to

FAO LSU Stock Champion

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

 

If an author wishes to have their  book returned if it’s not added to stock then they need to specify a library to collect it from, we won’t return books via the post. Any books not added to stock or returned will be disposed of.
If suitable, books will be catalogued and subject descriptors added so they can be found on the catalogue.
Please note

  • We don’t guarantee to stock them
  • Once added to library stock they will be subject to the same usage conditions as our other Local History stock and may be withdrawn or relocated to suit the needs of our audience
  • We don’t provide feedback on books to authors
  • If we decide not to stock items, no correspondence will be entered into

 

 

Information for traditionally published authors

 

Our buying criteria are

  • Must be traditionally published book that has gone through the editorial process 
  • Must be available with more than two copies in stock at our library suppliers 

Reasons for Essex Library Service buying criteria

  • The editorial process is a check that the book is good quality and doesn’t contain unsuitable content
  • Buying from a library supplier means the library service gets a discount, and stock arrives fully processed, on the catalogue and ready to be loaned to customers
  • Restricting buying to items that the supplier physically holds copies of means the service can be sure of receiving the item which ensures our catalogue and accounting is kept up to date

 

If the library service is approached to buy a book and they decide not to purchase it then no correspondence will be entered into. We will not respond to repeated approaches to debate our decision not to stock an item. The reason for this approach is that the library service receives a very large number of requests from authors and publishers to stock individual books and a refusal to buy an item can often lead to many follow-up emails. 
 
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.