#libraries rule

let's say you're really excited about a book coming out soon. you want to read it and support the author but maybe you don't have a ton of disposable income because you, for instance, live in a capitalist hellscape that doesn't enforce a living wage.

perhaps, um, just for example, you want to read my upcoming YA novel Stars, Hide Your Fires, wherein a jaded thief and a mysterious revolutionary must team up to solve a mystery in space, feat. ballgowns, intrigue, banter, and a generous dash of queer romance (out july 11th!)

if you can't afford to buy a book, i would ask you to please please consider your local library. here is a tool for finding your closest lending library (u.s. only, unfortunately). this is also a gentle reminder to get a library card if you don't have one yet! libraries provide invaluable services, particularly to underserved groups, and are funded partly based on use, so you'll be supporting your community.

your library may already have ordered a copy, in which case borrowing the book is a matter of placing a hold and then waiting for it to come out. but what if you try and your local library has no plans of obtaining the volume? first of all, good on you for your ~exclusive tastes. second, you can do an author a huge favor, for free and in under five minutes, by requesting that your library order their book.

google the name of your library along with "purchase request" or "suggest a purchase." if one doesn't work, try the other.

towards the top of the results, you'll probably find a form to fill out.

in the case of my local library, what you find is an FAQ page that suggests emailing the library if they're missing something. clicking on that email ink takes you to a form.

note: they'll probably ask for your library card number, so have that handy!

it's very likely they'll ask for the ISBN so they can be sure they'll identify the right book. in the case of Stars, Hide Your Fires, you can find that info on the publisher's website. (Or I can save you the click: hardcover ISBN: 9781683693512, e-Book ISBN: 9781683693529) If you don't happen to know this, you can just google the title and author plus "ISBN" and it should come up.