The Millions Most Anticipated Lists As a Backlist Resource

Last week, The Million released one of the popular Most Anticipated Lists; this one-- The Great Spring 2025 Book Preview. 

This list obviously helps you to prepare for the coming months. Those of you who do collection development will want to use this list to double check that you already have these books on order and get your orders in for those you missed (although, most of you work way more than 3 months in advance, so you are probably only going to find a few titles here that you think would be good for your library that you might have missed.)

Those who work at the services desk need this information to get ready with their "while you wait" readalike suggestions for many of of the high demand titles and to get ready to promote some promising new voices.

But this post is not only about reminding you to be aware of upcoming books, it is also here to remind you that these "anticipated" lists make an even better recourse after the fact. Let me explain.

Use this link to see all of The Millions' "most anticipated" coverage. And there are a lot because The Millions is always doing lists of upcoming titles to be excited about. Vetted by their editors and contributors, these lists feature fiction, nonfiction, poetry, graphic novels, books in translation, literally everything of note that adult services library worker who are helping leisure readers should be aware of. These lists are diverse and inclusive as well. But, most importantly, they are also annotated! This means for every title you have a talking point about it to share with a patron. You don't need to know anything other than how to access these lists; then you read the annotation written by an expert, and viola, you have a booktalk for that title, as well as a way to start a conversation about upcoming books.

[Remember you can and should use the words of others to book talk a book.]

Not only are the titles all annotated, you can pull up every "most anticipated" list in reverse chronological order with this link.

Why use the backlist? I mean if you read this blog you should know, but it always bears repeating, especially when lists like this come out-- bright, shiny, new-- and distract us from our day-to-day work on the ground with readers.

The anticipated lists are there to catch readers' attention. To remind them that there are good reads out there, just over the horizon. To get them excited about their next good read. A sizable number of those who encounter these lists will go into their local library or bookstore to look for these titles, and of course, they are not there yet.

The people who make these lists know that. They know that they are creating a situation where people's interest will be piqued but they will need to place a hold or a pre-order. It's in the title-- "anticipated." 

The Millions is doing the marketing for us. A flashing billboard reading-- HERE COME SOME GREAT READS! Yeah we don't have the books yet, but we have THE BOOKS. We have thousands of them. And many of them were anticipated once upon a time. 

And guess what? If  your reader hadn't read them yet, they are still anticipated. We cannot lose sight of that. We need to use the free marketing from The Millions to our advantage and take a hold but then steer 

those readers to any of their "most anticipated" lists, especially those from 2-5 years ago, while they wait. 

Here are the reasons as to why the full database of ALL of The Millions Most Anticipated coverage is one of your best year round resources:

1. The titles were vetted by experts meaning they are worth your attention at any time, not only when they are new or upcoming. Appearing on this lists is equivalent to a review-- for those of you who cannot order a book without a review. But also, think of the thousands of books that come out every season. If a title makes it to this list, there is a very good chance someone at your library wants to read it.
2. There is a good chance if they were on lists like this that you ordered them for your collections so you own them and probably have not weeded them yet. Looking back 2-5 years means they are probably still relevant as well. 
3. The book talk for you to handsell the title-- verbally or on a list [on the Internet, Libby, or in the library building]-- is right there for you on that list. No work beyond knowing where to click to pull up these lists, look for a good title and read the annotation.
4. Any book on any of the most anticipated lists is a great suggestion anytime people are looking for a good read any time of year. Try the 2024 Spring list first. Why, you can easily start the conversation with your patron saying-- well you want a good read and you aren't sure exactly what type of book, let's look at what everyone was MOST excited about a year ago at this time. These are out and I can help you find the one that will work best for you. (It is the same advice I give all about using LibraryReads as a resource in the intro to every month's posts-- go to the same month's list but from the year before). 
5. And finally, the most important point, when you suggest titles to your patrons that they could not have found on their own, that's when you shine. Reminding people of the treasures that are in the stacks is fun and useful. We need to show them that we are here to help with their leisure reading needs so that they continue to value and seek out our services. When we recommend great titles they may have missed, our users understand the breadth of our collections  and the care with which we have built them, which is something we are not great at communicating to the public.

So yes, go look at the bright and shiny list for Spring 2025 from The Millions, but also make sure you are also using the backlist of  "most anticipated" content to help readers all the time.