If being a book author is on your bucket list, the Jacksonville Public Library can help.
Not with the writing, but with putting your work in front of an audience.
The library has joined the Library Journal Self-e program designed to allow authors to submit their work and have it available to readers through their local public library — and possibly to a growing network of public libraries across the U.S.
The official launch won’t be until Jax Book Fest later this month, but the Self-e portal will be on the library’s website this week.
“We don’t have anything like this,” said Charlene Adkins, collection manager. “It’s a free and easy way to distribute a book.”
She said the hope is that by enrolling in the system, the library can add self-published works by local writers and books that are in the public domain to its inventory of more than 700,000 electronic books, magazines, audio and video materials.
“On a fairly regular basis, authors contact us to see if we’ll add their book to our collection and they’ll donate books. This is much easier,” Adkins said.
Self-e is part of the BiblioBoard Library platform that offers 125,000 e-books and millions of pages of archival and historical content, according to self-e.libraryjournal.com.
Adkins said it will take a while for her and her staff to get a feel for how local authors respond to the service, but the hope is to develop a community of writers and make their work available to a wider audience.
When a book is uploaded to Self-e through jaxpubliclibrary.org, it’s evaluated by the Library Journal staff before it’s posted locally. A further curation process can lead to a self-published book being made available to all the public libraries that participate in the program.
Adkins said the official launch of the new program will be at March 25 at Jax Book Fest.
In addition to a seminar about Self-e, the 10 a.m.-3 p.m. event at the Main Library Downtown also will feature book signings, exhibits, a panel discussion with children’s book authors, face painting and a Zoo Trek adventure presented by the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.
For more details, visit ilovejpl.org/jax-book-fest.
(904) 356-2466