This is a Blog and Web site on a mission — to give libraries the earliest information possible on the books their customers will be looking for, so they can stay ahead of demand. By giving readers what they want, when they want it, we believe libraries can increase their circulation and their support.

We began daily blogging in early January ’08. Our hard launch was in mid-June of that year. As of April, ‘09, EarlyWord is receiving 20,000 visits a month.

On the blog, we’ve built a track record for helping librarians spot books that will be in demand early. A few of the successes of the year include:

• Wrote about The Shack in January, two months before articles began appearing in the press and before it hit the NYT bestseller list in June (where it’s still #1 on the Trade Paperback list).
• Identified The Story of Edgar Sawtelle as a potential bestseller (and, on EarlyWord, Jeffrey Gegner, Popular Materials Specialist at Hennepin P.L, correctly guessed it would be an Oprah pick).
• Alerted librarians to several important new editions that had not yet been ordered.
• Guessed, based on library hold patterns, that The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society would be the biggest-selling debut novel of the summer.
• Were one of the first to fall in love with the book Dewey; The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World.
• Spotted several drop-in titles that had not been reviewed, such as What Happened by Scott McClelland.

Early Word is co-founded by Nora Rawlinson and Fred Ciporen.

Nora Rawlinson, Co-Founder and Editor

Nora Rawlinson was editor of Library Journal and editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly for 12 years. Before that, she was head of Materials Selection for Baltimore County Public Library, a system renowned for its innovations under the legendary and often controversial director, Charles Robinson. Baltimore County was the first major public library to centralize selection. It was also known for buying for popular demand. Nora wrote a piece explaining this then-radical collection development philosophy, called “Give ‘Em What They Want,” which is still assigned reading in many Library Schools. At Library Journal, she introduced many new columns, which are still part of the magazine – PrePub Alert, the Collection Development series, Classic Returns, and Readers Shelf. She was hired in 2005 by Time Warner Book Group (later Hachette Book Group) to set up library marketing for their imprints. EarlyWord is an outgrowth of her belief that the more libraries understand about publishing, the better they can be as selectors and readers advisors.

Nora speaks often at publishing and library conferences.

To contact Nora, click here.

Fred Ciporen, Co-Founder and Publisher

Fred Ciporen was publisher of Library Journal and School Library Journal. Under his leadership, Library Journal’s revenue grew from $2 million to $10 million within four years. School Library Journal’s revenue grew from $3 million to $8 million in the same amount of time. As a result of this success, Fred was also made publisher of Publishers Weekly.

Fred has been a long-time advocate for the importance of the library market. He coined the term “the invisible market” and worked to make pubishers more aware of library’s importance to their bottom lines.

He created several influential awards in Library Journal; “Librarian of the Year”, “Library of the Year” and, as a way to recognize important library support, “Politician of the Year.”

To contact Fred, click here.