I know a substantial fraction are waiting for the ERE book to appear in the library. Keep in mind that getting a book into a library is a long and involved process which usually involves several middle distributors. Librarians pour over catalogs and decide what they think their patrons want to read and order accordingly.
What this effectively means is that the book will probably not appear in your local library unless you personally take action or someone else personally takes action and requests the library to get the book for you.
You can go in person and make your case. Some libraries also have an online form which you can fill out for books you’d like to read but which aren’t available. Just let them know that you’ve been looking for the book and that you’d like to read it. I have successfully done this myself—it works.
I know it works for the ERE book as well because at least one person has successfully done it: That library ordered four copies. However, the odds are quite slim that that was YOUR local library.
Waiting without action is probably not going to bring about the desired results. The ERE population is sufficiently sparse that you may be the only person reading the blog within a 50 mile radius—this does not mean that you’re the only person interested in ERE; it just means that my marketing sucks.
It’s the same deal with your local book store. You have to go and ask for it to get it. Tens of thousands of books are competing for bookstore shelf space as well. Since I don’t have a publisher or a sales department doing any of the footwork, and since I can’t personally contact every library in the country, you have to do it. My efforts will mainly be online and local (to me).
You can also get the book for free, eventually, via paperbackswap.
Originally posted 2010-10-20 12:02:39.
