#Biblion #reading #recension #libraries

Als kleine Vlaamse hobbyschrijfster, waagde ik het om exemplaren van mijn twee laatste titels voor een recension naar NBD Biblion gestuurd, omdat mijn uitgever de samenwerking met Kobo Plus had stopgezet en ik wel eens de vraag krijg waarom mijn boeken niet in de bibliotheek liggen.
In Belgium, one is working on it. It may well be that people will soon be able to lend my book.

In the Netherlands it works differently. They have NBD Biblion, the book authority, which actually controls what you read. They deliver the reviews, which are often full of spoilers or place the books in the wrong categories, but come on... Without them, you can't get into the library.
Or that's what you thought!

So I sent my review copies to them. I emailed them in advance asking if there would be any interest, because I know they couldn't handle every book. They were friendly and showed interest.

So I did the investment and sent them 4 books. That was an investment to me, which seemed worth it, even though I knew they would never return it.

The mail I received yesterday, I want to copy below. The different sizes and fonts are already out of sight, so it was cut and paste without courtesy formulas.

I didn't expect much, because I already know that at Biblion they are so biased towards Flemings, that it already smells like racism. I didn't care about that.

The mail I received does not make me happy and not motivated to send them anything, other than a mail of the same level.

Yes, I am angry because these people, who cannot be polite, who do not write without error and who dominate the market, are going to decide what JULIE read. They always benefit the same players on the market.

Many of their books have already been purchased in advance from large publishers, at an attractive discount, because they have their books printed in bulk in the Eastern bloc. If you want to draw a chauvinistic map, I can note that my POD books are printed in the Netherlands and therefore support the Dutch economy more. I can't throw hundreds of books on the market at bargain price. That's my disadvantage.

Now I've found out that if you really want a certain book in the library as a reader, you can. Apparently, Dutch libraries forget that they - like their Belgian colleagues - can buy autonomously and that they can include any book with an ISBN in their range.
So you don't find a particular title, but if you really want the book in the library, it keeps adding to the suggestions. If you don't, they will always listen to Biblion, and they will listen to the market, not to the reader and even less to the authors, especially those who are a one-man editions, by doing everything in-house.

So, dear readers, remember: YOU should determine the market! You choose what you want to read, what you read and who you read. There is no good or evil. I'm the last one to say you can't read big names, no regular publishers or anything. But it is by agencies such as NBD Biblion that the little ones are kept small and certain markets in bookland cannot grow because they have raised themselves as a monopoly.
That monopoly is in their heads. The market is still quite. Yes, she's saturated and I understand it gives readers a choice, but I've learned that occasionally going off the path can lead to beautiful new experiences. Lately I read many more unprecedented writers who do original Dutch work and who certainly should not be inferior to the large translated cannons.

The criticism: find a publisher! That's a blog separate.


Here the mail:

Dear Mrs Pauwels,



We have received these specimens, as well as the copies of “The Emerald Eyes" in good order. Unfortunately, both titles are not considered by us. The reason for this is that we expect too little interest from the average public library for these titles.



Approximately 25,000 titles are published annually in the Dutch language area. NBD Biblion includes about 15,000 titles in the public library offerings. In our choice, according to agreement with our customers, we focus on the titles for which we expect interest from the libraries.



Returns for titles that we cannot include in the national library offerings are now very high. We are therefore forced to stop returning these review copies.



Sincerely,



Offer Selection Division

NBD Biblion | Huygensstraat 1

2721 LT Zoetermeer

T 079 3440 344

E aanbodselectie@nbdbiblion.nl


Does NBD Biblion determine what we read?

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