Coalition for Books launches monthly NZ book campaign for libraries and bookshops

Aotearoa NZ Book of the Month, sponsored by OverDrive's Libby app, will promote one local title nationally each month from 1 November.

The Coalition for Books has launched Aotearoa NZ Book of the Month, a national campaign that will put one New Zealand book in front of readers each month through libraries, bookshops, digital platforms and media.

The library reading app Libby, from OverDrive, is the founding sponsor. Each pick comes with branded digital and printable material, paid advertising and book club questions, which booksellers, librarians and others can use free of charge.

To be chosen, a title must be readily available in print, ebook and audio, and its publisher must agree to take part. The coalition will work with publishers to get physical stock into libraries and shops, and with OverDrive so the ebook and audiobook can be borrowed through the month. Libraries will hold extra copies.

Picks will range across prize winners, new releases, backlist, children's books and non-fiction. A new title will be named on the first of each month, starting 1 November.

Booksellers New Zealand manager Renee Rowland, deputy chair of the coalition, described it as a long-term effort to lift the profile of local books, from rural libraries to city bookshops.