Andrew AlbanesePublishers bemoan the dwindling of retail space, but they could just be looking in the wrong place for shelves to display their titles. An abundant supply of shelfspace exists in the 16,000 public library branches in America, according to David Vinjamuri who teaches branding and social media at New York University and writes the Brand Truth column online for Forbes. In a recent Publishers Weekly column, Vinjamuri urged publishers to take up libraries as partners. The essay has started an important conversation, says Andrew Albanese, PW senior writer.

“David proposes that publishers stop seeing library lends as lost sales, and instead see libraries for the marketing engines they are. And more to the point, that publishers should start to support libraries not only by embracing library sales, but also by supporting better marketing displays and strategies – by actually spending money to market books in libraries,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.

“Not only would such a strategy benefit everyone – publishers, libraries, readers and authors – it could help blunt Amazon’s growing power,” Albanese suggests.

As part of the PW Discussion Series, David Vinjamuri moderates, The Future of Publishing: The Case for Libraries, on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, from 8:30 AM to 11:00 a.m. at the Penguin Random House Auditorium, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY.

Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.

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