My book's in the library!!!!!

Today I learnt that my book is available to borrow from a public library!

About four years ago now, I decided that the rather talented group of poets that I knew deserved showcasing somehow in the form of a book. We were a big group of writers and there were almost a dozen poetry events on Wirral. Whether or not the Wirral Alliance of Poets is still going, well I do not know. I certainly know that the first venue I went to, Bards of New Brighton, is still going strong. Naively I decided to set up a publishing project and put together a book of poems from as many poets who'd agree to be published and help finance the project. Wirral's Winter Words was that first book. I registered ISBNs, set up a publishing company and got to work with this small vanity publishing affair. 

Since then I've learnt a lot about the publishing industry. Silly things like if a distributor orders the books you publish you have no hope of getting paid for the books sold for at least three months. Or how about the idea that big chains make it almost impossible for indy publishers to hack their way into their inventory. Worse still is how much Amazon like to take off you so that they can offer books so cheaply. 

I digress though. The book that I wrote myself and got someone else to edit and check through before greenlighting publishing is available from a public library. That baffles me. Bear in mind I put the book out as a cathartic thing. I wanted a book that I could sell at festivals and face to face (where the author can get more money for their hard work). I also wanted a book I could read from...kind of a 'na nana na na, I have all my poems in a book and I'm not reading them from some tatty piece of paper' thing. 

Here's the baffling part though. I personally posted out every book that got sold. So how does a book make it into a library that I am not aware of?

Who knows...worth puzzling over though! Oh and if by some miracle you feel like taking a look at my book it's here or here I'm also going to post a sample called I Remember - Tony's Story in a bit. Do have a peek.