Passively Recommending Books

  Outlets like NPR  , The Guardian , and the  New York Public Librar y (and on NYPL Twitter ) feature a different book every day. Titles for any audience, fiction and non-fiction, are selected. Your library can copy this idea for your own social media. It's a great way to market your backlist and to introduce titles they may have missed to your patrons.  This is a perfect ongoing campaign for your entire staff to become involved with. Don't exclude anyone who wants to participate. As I have said before, everyone in your library is an expert in something and they may bring out titles that you are unfamiliar with. Please make sure that staff are using titles that are in your physical or digital collection. You want to draw people into your library to check out the titles you feature! It will take some planning to keep going every day. Set up at least a week in advance. Repeat the call to your staff to submit their ideas monthly so that you can obtain enough content. The posts can

  September is almost here already and it's time to start thinking about book displays. Planning and scheduling them in advance is the best way to make certain that they are best able to help you market your backlist, programs, and services. Have fun with them and let staff be creative but don't lose sight of how they can be a serious marketing tool.  Back to school is the first topic that comes to mind when September rears its head. (Even though many students will return to class in August.) No doubt your youth librarians have picture books with themes including first day of school. There are also many juvenile fiction titles about school friendships and problems. Look to your adult fiction and non-fiction sections for books which reference school or teaching. Don't forget books about mathematics, grammar, and other basics. In addition, work with your local schools to see what topics, upcoming assignments, and focus areas would be most helpful to your patrons. Curate lists

The website The Portalist recently ran an article called " Sci-Fi and Fantasy Recs Based on Your Favorite Foods and Drinks ." As I have mentioned before, these sort of lists are flexible and there are really no right or wrong answers. They have been created based upon a reader's favorite character in a movie or TV show, astrological sign, tarot cards, and more. Publishers often send out lists like this as part of their marketing emails or library newsletters.  Take advantage of these ideas to market your own backlist and promote those titles that can benefit from the spotlight that a book display can provide. Don't worry about using the same titles that are included in the email or newsletter; instead take the idea and apply it to the titles you have in your physical or digital collection. While the themes can promote creativity and provide an interesting and fun task for staff, the real purpose of a book display is as a marketing tool for the books which are in your

  I recently finished two books, one back list and related to my Brian horror fest and the other an upcoming release.  Our Black Hearts Beat as One by Brian Asman is a novella about heartbreak. I posted a short review on Goodreads, available here . It's a book with an increasing sense of dread and levels of unease. The plot, from the author's website:  "Hearts don’t just break, they explode. Destroying everything around them." Michael Mallory's living the dream as the lead singer of a hot, up-and-coming band, Modern Love. When a sudden breakup shatters his world, he plunges headlong into the city's occult underbelly in a desperate bid to salve his pain. Lost amidst wayward souls and brutish killers, godlings and grotesqueries, Mike's about to learn one incontrovertible  There's nothing more terrifying than love. Put this title up on a display with other titles about heartbreak and deep emotions. Because Michael is in a band, fiction about music would