During the month of November tens of thousands of people around the world will participate in NaNoWriMo. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30^th. NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is a fun, supportive event that encourages people to achieve their creative goals and find their voice. Last year 402,142 participants from all walks of life tackled the challenge and came away novelists.

There is a good chance that patrons of your library will be joining this community of like-minded writers during November. We have staff members here at OWLS that plan on participating and some of you reading this may be as well.

This would be the perfect opportunity to promote the self-publishing tools featured on InfoSoup that are available to patrons. These tools have been made available as a project of the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium (WPLC) with additional funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The following services and programs can be found at www.infosoup.info/self-pub:

• Pressbooks
  
  • Design your own books, newsletters, poetry, novels, and any other written content in digital and print ready formats using Pressbooks. Pressbooks is an easy-to-use online software that allows users to create professional-quality print-ready and eBook files.
• SELF-e
  
  • With the SELF-e program, authors can submit their ebook to SELF-e to have it showcased in the Indie Wisconsin Statewide Collection while retaining all rights to their work. Readers across the state can discover their work with the potential for national exposure.
• Biblioboard
  
  • BiblioBoard library contains local content from self-publishing authors, along with top indie ebooks selected by Library Journal. App available.
• Wisconsin Author Project
  
  • Through the Wisconsin Author Project, libraries are helping local authors get the recognition they deserve for writing great books. Submissions for the next contest will begin in Spring 2019.

I have created several marketing pieces including a poster, bookmark, Facebook cover photo and a video that you can share on your website, social media channels or as printed displays and handouts.

Please let me know if you would like any posters or bookmarks sent to your library. OWLS will be covering the printing costs for these materials. If you have any planned programs that tie in with NaNoWriMo and need assistance with any marketing or graphics, I would be happy to help!