Marketing & Promoting Your Book in Little Free Libraries

About this video

(Summarized from the Arabic caption track.) Dale Roberts reports phase two of a case study begun in early July 2024 using Little Free Libraries to get indie authors’ books to more readers. He explains Little Free Libraries are public take-or-leave-a-book boxes worldwide, findable via littlefreelibrary.org and its app. In phase one he and his wife Kelly walked dozens of miles distributing more than 31 books across 29 locations around Columbus, Ohio. Print Nation, a digital printing company, donated books for phase two plus an extra copy for each author. The video follows multiple walking trips — Victorian Village, German Village, Grandview Heights, Bexley and Westerville — revisiting boxes, finding most earlier books gone, retrieving the few remaining titles such as Susan Montgomery’s book and redistributing them elsewhere, and stocking new Print Nation-printed titles by authors including Sam Fury, Tom McAuliffe, Morgana Sinclair and Dale himself. He skips four Franklin locations he and Kelly felt uncomfortable visiting. Final results: of 29 sites visited in July, they revisited 25; 22 books had disappeared and only 3 remained, an 88% success rate. On this trip they visited 46 sites, distributed more than 46 titles and redistributed 3 titles from the first visit — a 53% increase in sites visited — concluding Little Free Libraries are a viable way to reach readers and build author visibility.

Key takeaways

• Phase one placed more than 31 indie books in 29 Little Free Library locations around Columbus, Ohio, located via littlefreelibrary.org and its app.
• On revisiting 25 of the 29 sites, 22 books were gone and only 3 remained — Dale calculates an 88% success rate.
• Books still sitting in a box were retrieved and redistributed to a different location to give them another chance at a reader.
• Print Nation donated the phase-two books, many printed by them, plus an extra copy for each participating author.
• Phase two visited 46 sites and distributed more than 46 titles, a 53% increase in sites over phase one.

Episode details: published October 21, 2024 · 39:10 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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