Staff Booktalking Practice Exercise: Use the Words of Others But With A Safety Net

One of the biggest leaps of faith I have to get library workers to take with me involves helping them to be okay with book talking books they have not read themselves.

My advice is to "Use the Words of Others" because when we are sharing the appeal of a book with someone, it really does not matter if you have read the book yourself. Seriously, it does not. And that is because we aren't sharing what happened in the book with readers. Rather we should always be sharing why someone would enjoy the book.

The best way to do that is to either share why you personally enjoyed a book OR, and actually this is preferable because it becomes less about you specifically and more about the service you can provide, to share why others have enjoyed the book.

How do you do this though? Well, it's easy and something we library workers know how to do very well.... we use resources.

You can get a sense of WHY someone would enjoy a book without reading it yourself. Here's how:

1. Read the Novelist entry for the book: These entries contain just about everything you need to book talk a book to any reader. Reading the listed appeal terms and themes as well as reading the professional reviews gives you a sense of how to describe the book to its best reader. Then add the readalikes with their explanations as to why the books are a good match, and any information you learn from the "Lists and Articles" tab. I also love using the NoveList record while I am talking to a reader about a book, especially if it is one they have read and enjoyed already, because I can click on specific appeal terms or themes to pull up similar titles and then look at the results together, even combining appeal terms to see what else we can find. 
2. Pull up the Goodreads record for the book: I like to add this to my use of NoveList because NoveList is the professional reader portrait of the book while Goodreads gives us access to readers and their thoughts, for better or worse. Yes, you get some people give the book 1 star because the main character was named after their childhood nemesis, but there are also extremely thoughtful 5 star and 2 star reviews where the reader writes about exactly why they did or did not enjoy a specific book. And please, don't underestimate a thoughtful 2 star review. Often, the reason someone really dislikes a book is the exact reason someone else would love it [think pacing issues or took many points of view as examples]. I also like checking the shelves patrons put a book on to see how they are categorizing the books they have read. Often I learn even more from that information.

Spending 10-15 minutes "reading about" a book on these 2 resources gives you an excellent sense of the feel of the book, providing enough information that you could articulate to a reader why they might enjoy it.

Now everything I have written here I say during my live presentations all the time, and I know that while I convince some to give it a try, there are probably twice as many who do not believe this is possible. Because we love books so much, as library workers in general, many cannot imagine advocating for a book they have never read. It makes them feel like they are breaking some unwritten trust rule. 

Well, you are not. Never in the contract between patrons and library staff does it say we have to intimately know and have read every single resource we have ever used from cover to cover. In fact that is impossible. No one expects that. Why should leisure books be different?

[Plus, there is no library jail to lock you up in, so you are safe.]

Others feel like they can never do as good as job articulating the book's appeal if they haven't read it themselves. This one, while I don't agree with, I understand. First, I want to remind you all that it is actually easier to be impartial in articulating why someone would enjoy a book if you have NOT read it because you are not attached to it emotionally nor do you bring your preconceived notions and options to the table.

Second, and more importantly, I have a way to get around this and it is also a great team building, training exercise, one you can do virtually or in person.

Pair people up with each other to be partners in booktalking practice. It is best if they are two staff members who don't normally work together because the practice time can also double as a great way for staff to have a chance to connect. They can meet on the phone, over zoom, in person, whatever works at the time you do this exercise.

Each person brings 3 titles to the meeting. Titles they have read and enjoyed. They swap titles. I say bring three because the chances that the person receiving the titles has read all three is low. Each person has to pick 1 title, from the three given, to look up as I described above. They have 1 week to do this. Then the pair meets and the person who has never read the book should give a 1-2 minute book talk about the book, focusing not on what happens in the plot, but on why someone would enjoy it.

Of course, since the person you are booktalking the title to has read the book and enjoyed it, you will get immediately feedback on how you did. And I am going to tell you confidently and from experience, it works. I talk about book I have never read all of the time and have gotten praised for how well I articulated why someone would like it. You are not going to be perfect the first time, but this exercise allows for safe practice with immediate feedback.

When you don't focus on the plot in your booktalk, which you should never do because that is for the reader to discover while reading it, and you ground your talk in the resources listed above, it is very hard to fail.

Give it a try. If nothing else, you will give two staff members the chance to talk about books. And if people like this exercise you can shuffle up the pairs and do it over and over again. The result: your staff will gain more practice and confidence in their booktalking skills and when you reopen, those enhanced skills will allow your entire staff to serve patrons better.

Plus, it is fun!