Writing Tip Wednesday: January NetGalley Report (Thunderstruck)

Last month, I reported on my first time using NetGalley to list a nonfiction (parenting) book.

Today I’m reporting on listing Thunderstruck, my latest contemporary romance novel, on NetGalley. Here are the results.

First, what is NetGalley? NetGalley is a paid site used by independent authors and publishers to obtain more book reviews. Authors and publishers can pay to list their books on the site. NetGalley subscribers (it’s free for readers to subscribe) can then browse books on their preferred genres and download them for free, with the understanding that they are strongly encouraged to leave reviews. Authors can also advertise the NetGalley free download link on their social media sites in order to obtain even more downloads and reviews.

NetGalley subscribers include book bloggers, librarians, and media professionals, so it’s definitely worthwhile to check out the site. Imagine if a librarian liked your book and ordered several copies for their library! Or if a book blogger published a positive review of your book on their site and many of their subscribers bought your book!

Of course, it is impossible to force readers to leave reviews, so all authors can do is cross their fingers and hope that everyone who downloads the book actually reads and leaves a review.

How much does NetGalley cost?

NetGalley is not cheap, but there are ways to get lower-cost subscriptions. First, check out  NetGalley’s rates for individual authors.

Second, NetGalley offers reduced rates through a partnership with the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). As of the date of this article, the IBPA rates are as follows:

• $399 Six-month title listing via IBPA
• $199 Three-month title listing via IBPA
• $100 Category Spotlight
• $110 Featured Placement

The rates through IBPA are still pretty high, especially considering that you are listing your book for free. To get even further reduced rates, you can become a member of BooksGoSocial (BGS) (it’s free to join). BGS has negotiated reduced NetGalley rates for its members. In May 2019 I paid $79 via BGS to advertise one book on NetGalley for one month. Afterward, I was offered an extra month for only $35. As you can see, the BGS rate is worthwhile even compared to NetGalley’s rates via IBPA.

Further, every once in a while, BGS has a sale for about 50% off the BGS reduced rate, which is an even greater deal. For example, when I listed Thunderstruck on NetGalley for three months using BGS, I paid $100 for the three-month listing.

Here are my NetGalley results for January 2020:

38 people downloaded the book, and 4 of them left reviews, which is a better performance than my nonfiction book I last reported on. Of the readers who downloaded it, 62% of them indicated that they downloaded it because of the description (yes, you get these data too!). 30% indicated they downloaded it because of the cover. 6% indicated that they downloaded it because of the author (fantastic!), and 2% indicated that they downloaded it because they “keep hearing about this book.”

It’s a good start. Of course, I hope that more readers will leave reviews as they get to their to-read lists.

Recontacting Readers:

When you get your NetGalley reports, you get a list of the readers who downloaded your book, including their email addresses. This is another great marketing tool. Of course, always be respectful when contacting readers and don’t be pushy.

I’m running Thunderstruck on NetGalley for two additional months, and will report back again next month!