I’ve put several of my books on NetGalley and for me it’s been a great platform to gain book reviews and exposure. But it can be costly. Is it right for you?

What is NetGalley?

NetGalley is a well-known and respected online community where ARCS (advanced releases) of books can be distributed to readers, librarians, and booksellers via a download link. This often results in reviews both at NetGalley and possibly at other online booksellers (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple etc…), such as well as Goodreads.

It’s a huge opportunity to be seen by people who have never heard of you. This can be a plus and a minus which I will explore in this blog post.

When considering using NetGalley ask yourself:

• Are you ready to take your writing career to a higher level?
• Are you trying to reach a broader audience of readers? If yes, will your book be of interest to a wide variety of readers. Does it stand out from the crowd?
• Are you prepared for strangers to read your book and review it as they see fit? If you are the type who wants to jump in and reply to every low starred review, I’d take a pass on NetGalley.
• You crave to be seen as legitimate to the book publishing industry. JMO but authors who are getting reviewed on NetGalley are taking it up to a pro level – and are willing to risk themselves to learn more.

NetGalley is expensive, so you need to know how you will use it in your marketing business plan before you commit that type of money.

Cost of a book listing on NetGalley

How do you submit your book to NetGalley?

You can go straight to NetGalley to list your book, but that is the most expensive option. I don’t recommend this option for an indie author, although a publishing house could go this route if they had enough authors to promote. They also don’t offer a three month listing option like the other groups I’ll be mentioning below.

NetGalley is one reason why I bought an IBPA membership, which offers a co-op benefit of members being listed on NetGalley for a reduced fee ($299 for 3 months and $499 for 6 months ** at the time of this blog post). ALLI (Alliance of Independent Authors) also offers something similar to their members the last time I checked.

Another option is to go with a PR group which offers a co-op option. These two are often recommended by other authors: Xpresso Book Tours ($65 to $180) and Victory Editing ($58 to $121). Either of these would be a good option to dip your book into the NetGalley pool of readers to see if it is right for you.

This is a much cheaper option but I don’t see any options to boost your listing, an important strategy in being seen on NetGalley. More on that below.

Why you should consider boost advertising on NetGalley

If you won’t be doing any additional boost advertising through NetGalley, I would choose the 3 month option. In my experience, after the first two weeks my visibility on NetGalley fell sharply. Visibility only picked up again when I did a category spotlight advertisement, a boost that cost me another $125 through IBPA (** price at the time of listing).

These boosts range in price depending on the level and type of exposure you want (with IBPA that is $130 to $400 *at the time of this blog post). If going with a six-month option, be sure you include boosts or you will drop to the bottom of the pile on NetGalley and the longer listing won’t be worth it.

My plan for Breathings of the Moon is a 6 month listing, with 3 boosts and a library blast because I want to market this book to libraries. Again, this is for my branding and may not be the best path for you. If new to NetGalley, I’d test the waters with a co-op listing first.

NetGalley reviews, the good, bad, and ugly

If you are ready to test your ability to write good, compelling stories this is another reason to try NetGalley because it provides reviews from readers who have no loyalty or prior knowledge of your writing.

NetGalley can be HARSH. Readers will not forgive typos, formatting, or a poorly plotted book with weak characters. You are getting read by people (sometimes librarians and booksellers) who take their reading seriously, so your book must be up for that type of critique.

In my NetGalley campaigns, it felt I was getting a star below what I would normally get from Goodreads, and at Goodreads I get two stars below what I get from Amazon reviewers. At one point every morning I woke to an email where my book had gotten a 3 three star.

That brings me to the downside of NetGalley – the reviews are mixed and will be from a WIDE RANGE OF READERS. Some will understand your genre, others won’t, and this will impact how they score your book cover and book.

Like many review platforms (i.e. Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple, and Bookbub), you don’t chose who is going to review or be able to edit or reject that review. That’s the open marketplace and if you are not comfortable with that FACT, do NOT do NetGalley.

Has your book been through professional editing and formatting? Does it have a professional cover? If not, don’t bother. You will be ripped to shreds.

Yes, it can gain you reviews and new readers, but indie authors have had mixed results. My results have been good but I’ve been told that is unusual.

How NetGalley increases your book’s visibility

Benefits: being seen by industry leaders such as booksellers and librarians. If your book has wide appeal, especially in paperback, this could be a reason you would use NetGalley. I did get some librarians who noticed my books and who left a review, so my purpose is building brand recognition.

Advance reviews can build interest in your book, and increase the number of reviews. For example, A Spell of Rowans which is a contemporary Magical Realism novel, had 128 reviews; the other three were in the Madame Chalamet Gaslamp ghost mystery fantasy series with Ghost Talker #1 gaining 104, Delicious Death #2 with 63, and Spirit Guide #3, 41.

I’ve seen posts from other authors that they got even less, so when you consider the cost of NetGalley this can be very discouraging. I was told that the amount of reviews I gained was unusual; I put that down to having books that interested readers, compelling descriptions, and boosting the listing.

For A Spell of Rowans and the first three Chalamet books I went with the three-month listing option. For Breathings of the Moon I plan on doing the six-month option with at least three advertising boosts. Let’s dig into those campaigns.

NetGalley case study: standalone contemporary fiction, Magical Realism novel

I put my book A Spell of Rowans on NetGalley back in August through my IBPA (International Book Publishers Association) membership. That was 2.5 months before the book would launch and the purpose was to build up some buzz about the book as well as broaden my author outreach to readers who might not know me.

Here is what the posting looks like:

Remember, each person who posts a review on Goodreads is seen by their followers. I believe this helped in increasing the number who entered my Rowans giveaway on Goodreads. This was the first time I’ve done a Goodreads Giveaway ($199) and the number signed up exceeded my follower number I had at the time. This let me know the listing was helping my book build steam.

During the time A Spell of Rowans was listing I had two editorial reviews come through: Clarion and Booklife (Publishers Weekly). I was able to add that information to my listing and I believe these editorial reviews also helped the book be noticed by the professionals looking for their next book on NetGalley.

It can be hard for a book in the Magical Realism genre to find an audience, so my hope was for the book to gain new readers and expose myself to a wider group of readers. I feel by the end of the campaign I accomplished my goals with 128 reviews, a four-star rating, and an increase in my Goodreads visibility.

NetGalley case study: showcasing a series with three listings

In doing the promotion for my Madame Chalamet Ghost Gaslamp mystery series, I decided to put three of the books up on NetGalley.

Each listing had a period of three months on NetGalley, and the times were staggered so 1 and 2 overlapped; and 2 and 3 overlapped. I did a boost advertising on the first book only for the first two months.

• Ghost Talker 1: 104 reviews, four-star rating.
• Delicious Death 2: 63 reviews, four-star rating.
• Spirit Guide 3: 41 reviews, five star rating.

I was happy with the reviews and it gave the series a good promotion, however, I do think more professional covers might have gained me more readers. Like many of my books this is also a niche genre (Gaslamp) so getting readers will be harder vs a romance book might gain, but OTOH there is a lot more competition in the romance genre.

In summary, I would only do the first book, maybe the second (if it can work as a standalone like Delicious Death #2 can) and not any more as the readership falls off and you don’t get enough return of investment (ROI) on the promotion. Overall, I was pleased with the amount of reviews and interest it built, and the Goodread giveaway numbers reflected that.

NetGalley case study: contemporary standalone 6 months listing with boost advertising

In my previous campaigns I noticed that after a few weeks my books fell off the reader radar at NetGalley, so it is obvious if I do a longer listing I will need to invest into a longer campaign. But what options would be best?

After doing A Spell of Rowans and seeing how that dropped off after the first month I am planning a six month listing for Breathings of the Moon and will boost it with advertising throughout the campaign.

This test will include a longer six month NetGalley listing ($499) with at least three major boosts to the book ($795). I am also expanding the number of editorial reviews. With A Spell of Rowans I went with Clarion and Booklife. This time around I am adding Blue Ink (since I use Ingram Spark I got a great discount).

This is a big investment for an indie author to invest and it isn’t for everyone. You might be better off using this money towards advertising. I have a long-term marketing strategy of building professional recognition for my books, and my plan is to submit this book to contests and work on getting it into libraries.

Below is my calendar on how this promotion combined with editorial reviews will be done.

NetGalley also reviews audio books

NetGalley can also review audio books! This is a feature I haven’t used but if you have audio books, check it out.

My final thoughts about NetGalley

When I first started, I was really hurt by the lower reviews coming into my inbox, as I thought I had spent a considerable amount of effort and money into making this a fantastic book. Looking back, I have a healthier attitude about it now.

My books won’t be for everyone. Not all readers will understand what I’m trying to achieve in my storytelling. And that’s okay.

I didn’t see a big uptick in sales, but I feel in the long run I was seen by a wider audience, especially on Goodreads, and with bookstore owners and librarians. The books got a lot of advance reviews on Goodreads and are maintaining a healthy review rating.

One of the outcomes I wanted was to be validated as an author – and NetGalley really ticked that box for me.

As an author only you can answer if the money spent on this is a wise investment. You might want to spend that money in advertising, buying editorial reviews, or in a better book cover or editing. Only you can answer if this is a wise investment for you at this time of your career.

Need more advice for writing, publishing, or marketing your book? Check out my Writer’s Life blog posts. You can also subscribe to the blog to know when I publish another one in the Writer-help series.