Auckland Council Libraries: Book purchasing guidelines for authors

Book purchasing guidelines for authors

Te hoko pukapuka mō ngā kaituhi

There are processes to follow if you would like us to consider purchasing your book.

How we purchase items

We purchase items for our collections through specialist library suppliers, rather than by buying items directly from publishers or authors. This enables us to lower the total cost of our purchases by reducing the number of purchase transactions. Books published by a mainstream publisher are likely to be listed by a library supplier.



Library suppliers

To select the material they want to purchase for their libraries, most public libraries use library suppliers' websites.

  • Library suppliers' websites list a wide range of New Zealand publications
  • They include material from large and smaller publishers and self-published material
  • They enable libraries to have a one-stop place to select their books and publishers
  • Authors do not have to contact libraries throughout the country to market their books
  • They provide value-added services for libraries such as cataloguing and processing of books (RFID tags, covering and library stamps)

Library suppliers do not keep copies of publications on their premises but will order them from publishers/authors when they receive orders from libraries.


If you are a publisher or an author, you need to contact library suppliers to discuss pricing and any other conditions of sale that may be relevant. The pricing of your publication is up to you.


Principal library suppliers in New Zealand

  • Wheelers Books  - NZ fiction and nonfiction, international adult fiction, international children's and teens

  • Peter Pal  - International nonfiction



Ask us to buy your book

Once your book is available through a library supplier, if you want us to consider purchasing your book you can fill out the ask us to buy it form.


Purchase decisions are guided by our Collection Development Policy.


Please do not send a copy of your book to the library. The information provided by you or the library supplier is usually sufficient for us to make our selection decision. If we need to see a copy we will contact you. Unwanted unsolicited material sent to us will be sold in our book sale.


We do not have a suitable platform for donated ePublications. We source our material through eBooks suppliers.

You can contact our eBook suppliers to get more information around making your title available to libraries:



Tip

The National Library has a page of links to resources  for authors both published and aspiring.

Auckland Council Libraries:Book purchasing guidelines for authors Know what our guidelines are for buying books. This information is for self-published authors and small publication houses.