TBLP and public libraries

Back in March 2008, I discovered that the Ottawa Public Library had ordered 15 copies of TBLP for its various branches. I was thrilled given that at the time I was just another self-published novelist trying to find readers.  Obviously the Ottawa setting of the novel helped.  I confess that before that time, I’d been more focused on getting TBLP into bookstores and online retailers.  I hadn’t really thought too much about libraries.  But if you consider just how many libraries there are across Canada, and what a critical source of new readers they represent, you quickly come to realize how important our public library system can be to a new author.  In the days after the Leacock announcement and before I signed on with M&S, most of the major libraries across Canada ordered the iUniverse edition (like the Winnipeg Public Library for instance).  So I’ve been curious whether the M&S version of TBLP would also be picked up.  Well, it’s starting to happen, for example in Calgary.  And the folks at Library Bound, a company that supplies public libraries, are helping.  In fact, they’ve featured it on their website in the “Drop in Best Seller” category. (No, I’m not sure what that means either but it sounds good to me.)