THE Group for Authors! discussion
Publishing and Promoting
>
NetGalley
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
J.W.
(new)
Oct 28, 2015 07:04PM
Has anyone used NetGalley to promote their books? It seems to be a popular tool for gaining reviews/media coverage for new released/soon-to-be released books by the big publishers. I'm thinking about using it myself but it's a big investment,that will munch a very sizeable portion of my marketing budget. I'd love to hear of anyone's personal experiences with Net Galley.
reply
|
flag
I chose not to spend my $$ on NetGalley. I do get a discount on their services from my membership in IBPA. If you are seriously thinking of using NetGalley, I would get a membership in IBPA so you can get the discount. The membership is very reasonable and there are a lot of other perks.
What sort of response did you get from posting on NetGalley? (No of downloads, reviews, media coverage)
I have looked at using Netgalley as an author, but will give you some experience from a Netgalley reviewer/reader - it is best when members of Netgalley are automatically approved to download a book. Some of us will start reading the books we take an interest in straight away, as soon as it is delivered to our Kindles. Those of us who do that can sometimes forget later on why we were so eager for a book, so if there is an approval process before you get a copy, that can diminish your chance of getting reviews. It also means the newcomers to Netgalley as reviewers/readers are a little more likely to give your book a try so that other publishers will let them be approved in future ;)Good luck. I have heard that some people will "rent" out a spot if they have bought the option for ten or so books. I hear that is often cheaper than buying a slot for yourself directly.
I used a Netgalley " co-op" I purchased through Expresso Book Tours. Much less expensive. Bought me a 30 day slot. So you may want to try this before plunking down the big bucks for a term of your own.Result? It did bring me a few reviews. BUT, quite a few of the reviewers posted on their blog and Goodreads but not on Amazon. AND, more importantly, more than a few of these reviewers were quite nasty. This is my fourth novel and I'd never had troll reviews before the Netgalley experience.
I got positive reviews too. But getting two or three truly hate-filled ones soured me on the experience.
As always, this is just my experience. You may have a very different one. Hope this helps. Best wishes
I submitted my first novel to Netgalley. About 13 reviews were done, with maybe twice that number of reviewers downloading it. There were a couple of reviewers who really didn't like the book, but all of the rest said they'd recommend it to a friend. Unfortunately, not many of the reviewers were members of Goodreads, so few of the reviews made it to my Goodreads author page.
Natalie wrote: " AND, more importantly, more than a few of these reviewers were quite nasty. This is my fourth novel and I'd never had troll reviews before the Netgalley experience. I got positive reviews too. But getting two or three truly hate-filled ones soured me on the experience."I used "Choosy Bookworm", which was much less expensive, and it was overall a positive experience. Even readers who didn't like my book were professional and not nasty - not using the venue as an outlet to be abusive. I only received about 13 reviews through CB, but it was enough to launch me into promos, followed by sales, followed by reviews, etc.
Suzette wrote: "Natalie wrote: " AND, more importantly, more than a few of these reviewers were quite nasty. This is my fourth novel and I'd never had troll reviews before the Netgalley experience. I got positive ..."Thanks for that info. Will try that with my next launch.
I have only one novel out, so my experience is limited.On NetGalley, my average review was 3.7, median 4 (StDev 1.25).
I had 2 bad ratings out of 13. Neither of those ratings provided a review. The average rating from NetGalley was 0.2 points lower than the averages for Goodreads or Amazon.
Again, this is based on one book with only 13 NetGalley reviews.
I will use NetGalley again, as I had 11 good to great reviews and 2 that I don't talk about.
Natalie wrote: "Thanks for that info. Will try that with my next launch."Best of luck! Though you have Awesome reviews and awards, Natalie!! I think what you are doing is working!
