The Library Writers Project

Multnomah County Library wants to read your book

From October 1-31, the library will be accepting submissions from local authors who would like to see their work added to the library’s collection. Here’s how it will work:

  1. Publish your e-book on one of the following self-publishing sites*:
    1. Draft2Digital (If publishing on Draft2Digital, please choose Kobo Writing Life or Smashwords as one of your sales channels for review purposes)
    2. Kobo Writing Life
  2. Fill out a submission form telling us about your work.
  3. The library will purchase a review copy of each submission and library staff members will review them. 
  4. After library staff review submissions, they will add the best ones to the library’s e-book collection on the Libby app and OverDrive website, together visited by over 9,000 MCL patrons every single day.

The library will accept works of fiction and memoirs, for adults, teens and children in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Due to the agreement between OverDrive and the self-publishing sites, the library will not consider submissions of erotica.

Work submitted after the October deadline will not be reviewed during this round of submissions. The library may consider additional local e-books in the future.

Your work will be reviewed by library staff with a wide range of reading interests. Each work will be reviewed independently by two staff members.

Submissions have the potential to be published in print by Ooligan Press. The four Library Writers Project titles that Ooligan has published so far are The Gifts We Keep by Katie Grindeland, Iditarod Nights by Cindy Hiday (an Indies Award finalist!), and Finding the Vein by Jennifer Hanlon Wilde (2022 Lambda Literary Award finalist in LGBTQ Mystery) and Court of Venom by Kristin Burchell. 

*Multnomah County Library has no direct relationship with Draft2Digital or Kobo Writing Life. The library is not party to any agreement between the author and these web sites. The library will buy the selected titles that are published on these sites through its e-book vendor, OverDrive.