Week 15 Prompt: Marketing for Fiction

 What do you think are the best ways to market your library's fiction collection? Name and describe three ways you do or would like to market your library or your future library's fiction. These can be tools, programs, services, displays - anything that you see as getting the word out.

1)    Programs and Displays In the Library

One way to market the fiction collection is to host a monthly book club featuring a different fiction item from the collection each month. Not only are book clubs an engaging way to discover new books, it would be a great way to boost check-outs of newer or less popular items in our collection.

Another way to promote books within the library is to feature displays and change them up regularly. Displays can be a fun way to showcase different genres, themes, authors, recent publications; the possibilities are endless, and a staff member who has a creative side could have fun putting the displays together.

2)    Social Media

Social media is the easiest free marketing campaign software. Businesses and institutions who maintain a social media presents retain the attention of patrons who are active online, especially younger patrons. A staff member could share a book on a regular basis with a picture of the cover, a quote, a review, a summary, or any combination of those items.

3)    Web Header

Many patrons visit the library catalog to order books for holds or find new books to read. The library could set up a rotating header on the library home page featuring assorted fiction reads in a similar fashion to the social media features. It is possible to also add a widget of one of the library’s social media feeds to the library website, which would be an easy way to blend the two endeavors.