Passively Recommending Books

I will be presenting on readers advisory on the following dates in 2024. If you are interested in having me speak to your library staff about passive readers advisory, book displays, or collection development, please contact me at lila [dot] denning [at]gmail [dot] com. PCI Webinars An Introduction to Passive Readers Advisory Tuesday, March 12 at 10:30 am for Florida libraries Wednesday, March 13 at 2 pm Marketing Your Collection, Services, and Programs with Better Book Displays Thursday, April 18th at 2:00 pm EST  Wednesday, June 5th at 2:00 pm  Past Presentations Love is Always in the Air - Using Book Displays/Passive Readers Advisory to Market your Romance Collection All Year Using Passive Readers’ Advisory to Market Your Colle ctio n Engaging Patrons with Book Displays Inclusive Readers Advisory for Any Library Worker Not Just In October - Bring More Horror To Your Book Displays

This is the first of some genre-focused posts. Rather than start with genres I know more about (romance and horror) I thought I would do the harder ones first so we are jumping off with science fiction. There is science fiction content on my post about general book content so check those sites as well if you are looking for science fiction book news.  Whether right or wrong, the worlds of science fiction and gaming seem to have an affiliation so I've included some gaming sites with book related content.  Also, if you have suggestions here, please let me know! The Portalist : A site run by Open Road Media (which operates other genre-focused sites like The Lineup ) focused on science fiction and fantasy. The focus is on backlist titles. There are a lot of articles with read-alikes and lists based upon a theme such as " Must Read Space Opera Books ." They also cover movies and TV shows along with weird news that will appeal to fans of the genre.  Book Riot has science fictio

Listed below are some sites where you can find information about books in general including lists, reviews, and feature articles. There is content on most of them about the various genres of fiction as well so keep that in mind. Obviously, I haven't listed all sites imaginable but let me know if there is a great one I missed! My suspicion is that I will need to make a part two of this! Barnes & Noble may seem like an odd choice but their blog has great ideas you can use to market your library's collection. Book Riot has podcasts, feature articles, newsletters and more. It's definitely a site many avid readers are using for information. Entertainment Weekly has book reviews  as well as book news and lists. You can also curate a book display by looking at what is popular in other areas of entertainment. "Books to read if you love [popular television show]" as an example.  Esquire has book content including lists, interviews,  and best of the year content for g

  I presented about passive readers advisory for Florida Library Webinars. Below you will find  a list of the websites I mentioned. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out! I will post the slides as soon as possible.   Romance Writers of America- Definition of Romance Beverly Jenkins' interview with Shondaland Brenda Jackson interview   The Ripped Bodice State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing RA For All Sonali Dev interview on ContemporaryRomance.org Gibson's Bookstore , Concord, NH Zodiac Bookmark examples on LibrarianDesignShare.org Goodreads Romance Novels with Astrology Signs in the Titles Romance Novels based upon your zodiac sign Sexy books to read based upon your zodiac sign Which Bridgerton character are you based upon your Zodiac sign? from OprahDaily.com Blind Date With a Book Tips and Tricks from DisruptiveLibrarian.com Blind Date With a Book from ProgrammingLibrarian.org A Guide to Romance Abbreviations and Terms Romance Glossa

  The Portalist recently curated a list of 25 Must Read Space Operas . Diving into a subgenre like this is another way to showcase your collections' backlist in a book display or book list. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction defines a space opera as: "colorful action-adventure stories of interplanetary or interstellar conflict." (This page also includes the names of many of the authors who have worked in the subgenre.) These are not books with hard science throughout and may instead include more fanciful ideas of technology. These sprawling, epic adventures can be humorous or have romantic subplots. Goodreads has lists of titles as well a definition and related subgenres. Reactor has tagged their related articles and lists with space opera as well.  There are a lot of series that would fit into this sort of display or list. There is also ample opportunities to promote diverse books and authors within this subgenre.  You can include a definition on signage as well as l

  I've mentioned before that you can use ideas from the emails publishers and other vendors send you to create your own book displays or lists. Simon and Schuster recently sent me an email with a link to the following list: Anti-New Year's Resolution Reads . The idea behind the list is to promote books  "i f you’re done with setting life goals, check out these books filled with  excess, desire, and obsession." This is such a fun idea.  I am not a fan of New Year, New You displays. This would be a fun alternative. The publisher clearly is promoting  their own titles but you can look at the backlist in your library's collection and curate a display from what you own that could use a little more attention and promotion.  There are links to some lists below to get you started. Don't forget to look at your non-fiction especially cookbooks and biographies of those who lived with " excess, desire, and obsession." Also remember that people can become obsesse

You don't have to come up with new ideas every time you change out a book display or create a book list. Use the headlines from all of the marketing emails publishers send you as a jumping off point. Just take the basic idea and use what you have in your collection that is not moving and go from there.  As an example, Off the Shelf from Simon & Schuster offered these list ideas:  12 Addictive Reads You Can Finish in a Single Flight:  6 Upcoming Releases Everyone Will Be Talking About This Year 11 Books That Are Guaranteed Page Turners For the first one, you can add audiobooks or links to your eAudiobook collection. The theme could be a car trip or a single evening/weekend. If you decide to go with upcoming releases, the library's holds/reserve list can be promoted. Add cover images from those titles you want to promote and include a QR code to your catalog where patrons can place a hold. Upcoming titles does not mean those titles that are guaranteed to be a bestseller. Wo