How To Get Your Book On Community Library Shelves
I know what you’re thinking. “How am I supposed to get my book on library shelves?” But what if I told you it was as simple as opening the door and setting your book on a shelf?
Well, it is that simple, but we aren’t talking about your local municipal library.
We’re talking about the “Little Free Libraries” popping up all over the country. These are fantastic places to leave your personally branded real estate book.
Think about it. Who are the people using these little libraries?
Yes, everyday residents of the actual community in which you are working.
These libraries come in all shapes and sizes, and just in our local community of Atlantic Beach, FL, we were able to locate nearly a dozen.
That is a dozen opportunities to passively get your book into the hands of hot leads.
How To Find “Little Free Libraries” In Your Community
By nature, these little libraries can be difficult to find. Not only are they small and hidden, but in most cases, they are only advertised by word-of-mouth.
In some cases, the “Little Free Libraries” are registered and can be found using the interactive map on https://littlefreelibrary.org/.To locate the interactive map tool, you will first need to navigate to the Map drop down menu.
Next, click the Little Free Library Map option.
You can also locate the map page by going to https://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/.
Once on the map page, scroll down, and you will see several options for searching the map.
The most useful for your purposes would be Zip Code and City.
You can also use Near Me, but you’ll need to make sure you have given your web browser permission to access your location.
For our demonstration, we will be using the Zip Code option.
Simply type in the zip code of your choice and click Search.
The map below will be populated with all of the registered Little Free Libraries.
Once the map has been populated, you can click on the individual markers and see the exact address of the Little Library.
In some cases, pictures are also attached.
What about the Little Libraries that haven’t been registered?
Like we said earlier, in our home community of Atlantic Beach, we were able to locate about a dozen Little Libraries. That means the majority of them were not registered. So how did we locate them? By simply noting their locations as we traveled in our daily lives.
We all have smartphones with GPS capabilities these days, and Google Maps has a great feature that allows you to create shareable lists of locations. As you travel around your community, write down the addresses of any Little Library you come across.
To get started, you need to open the Google Maps App on your phone.
On the bottom of your screen, you will see the Saved button. Click that.
From there, you will be taken to your saved locations screen.
In the top right corner, you will see the option to Add A New List.
From the New List Setup Page, enter the name you would like to give your new list. There is an option to describe the list, but that can be left blank.
Next, select the List Type. You can certainly keep it private, but if you have an assistant or team member, you can select Shared. This will allow anyone you give permission to view and edit the list.
From there, click the Save button in the top right of the screen.
Now that you have your list created, it is time to start adding new locations to it. This is something you can do either the moment you locate a Little Library or after the fact.
From the main map view, drop a pin on the location you would like to save. To drop the pin, simply press and hold on the location you would like to mark.
Once you have placed your pin on the map, click the Save button at the bottom of the screen.
Select your Little Libraries list, and save the location.
We highly recommend Adding a Note to your location, especially if you will be sharing this list with someone else.
Like we said earlier, these Little Libraries are sometimes hard to see from the road, and providing extra details can help you relocate them in the future.
To add a note, click in the designated space below your list. You’ll then be taken to a window where you can enter the information.
Once you finish, click the Done button in the top right corner.
From this point, you can add as many locations to this list as you would like.
Now that you have added locations to your list, you can easily view them in your Saved tab.
To share the list, you can click the Share button and send it to anyone you would like.
This is a great thing to share with an assistant so they can add new locations and even set out your books for you.
Leaving Your Book In The Little Library
When you drop off your book in the library, make sure it is placed in a way that can be easily spotted.
The idea behind leaving your book in a location like this is for it to be “stumbled-upon.”
Again, this is a passive method for getting your book in the hands of hot leads.
The idea behind “Little Free Libraries” is that community members are recommending books they have read to their neighbors.
So with that in mind, make your book look as though it has been in the hands of a previous client.
Highlight or underline sections where you’d like to draw special attention.
While your book will include your contact information, adding a business card inside the cover is a nice touch.
Like any other form of passive marketing, you may not get tons of calls and listings from putting your books in these libraries. It is simply a way to take advantage of an opportunity. As time goes on, periodically stop by the locations where you have dropped off a copy of your book to see if you need to add a new one.
