Publishing
Library distribution is one of those awkward indie decisions that gets treated as if the answer ought to be obvious. It isn’t.
Libraries can be excellent readers. They can also be a very slow sale, which is not quite the same thing as a sale, despite what the optimistic spreadsheets would like to suggest. If a book suits borrowing, discovery and quiet repeat readers, the case is stronger. If it depends on immediate momentum, less so.
The annoying part is that both can be true at once. A book can be good for libraries and still be a poor fit for the economics of being an indie author.
Libraries can be excellent readers. They can also be a very slow sale, which is not quite the same thing as a sale, despite what the optimistic spreadsheets would like to suggest. If a book suits borrowing, discovery and quiet repeat readers, the case is stronger. If it depends on immediate momentum, less so.
The annoying part is that both can be true at once. A book can be good for libraries and still be a poor fit for the economics of being an indie author.
The bit people skip is the admin. Library lending can be a lovely fit for a book, but the route to getting there is often awkward, slow and oddly opaque. For a small press or indie, that matters as much as the principle. A book can be “discoverable” in theory and still spend months sitting in a queue somewhere, doing nothing useful for cashflow.