Taming Amazon discussion

As far as I can tell, NetGalley is forum for generating 'reviews' without needing to personally send ARCs around and it provides DRM controls to limit the risk of loosing control of the 'free' copies. It may also be useful for connecting with bloggers. The thing is, it's fairly pricey. Does anyone have words of wisdom they can offer?

I've never tried NetGalley, sorry. How much do they charge and how many reviews will they deliver?

Hey Jim,

From what I can tell, their are no promises on 'reviews delivered.' I checked NetGalley out because I've seen them mentioned in some other threads by readers who get 'free ARCs' in return for reviews. So if you're a reader and don't mind writing reviews, it's a good deal.

I asked this question in another thread and it appears that it's heavily used by the big five and some of the larger indie publishers. Once commentator noted that she rarely gets past page 5 of the listing before selecting a title and has not noticed any 'independent' or 'self-published' titles.

One contributor was very vocal that she only reviews through NetGalley because she doesn't want to be bothered with 'poor quality' books. However, I found no evidence of a quality filter in my interactions with NetGalley.

My communications have pretty much run that if I'll pay the $399, they will list a single title for six months. The marketing programs are additional $$. I believe it is through the marketing programs that books move to the front of the listings.

This is directly from their site and you will note that they expect publishers to add their own contacts and the 'value add' they are promoting relates to intellectual property protection.

NetGalley for Publishers

Publishers in the United States, Canada, the UK and Australia are using NetGalley to interact with our growing member community, and to invite their own contacts to view titles using the NetGalley widget. Ask us about security options for protecting your content and how to use the widget to provide direct, pre-approved access to your titles. We provide prompt, friendly support for you and for readers, and best practices for using digital proofs in your marketing and publicity campaigns.

There is no charge for professional readers to use the service; publishers pay a set-up fee plus a monthly cost depending on the number of titles you have on the site. We also have an option for publishers and authors who are interested in listing a single title. Finally, there are many ways to connect with the NetGalley reader community through our Marketing Programs. Please fill out this form for more information about listing your titles.

Right now, it seems like too much for too little, but I'm keeping an eye on it. The vocal supporter pretty much came right out and said that if a publisher can't afford $399 for Netgalley, they probably aren't big enough to be producing a quality product.

E.G., perhaps the $399 price tag is the filter! I recently met a self-published author who wrote a book that I think would appeal to the same readership as mine. The book was well-written and I was impressed that it had over 200 reviews. I contacted the author and asked how she had generated so many reviews since her book had been published less than a year. She said that the majority came from NetGalley. That was the first time I heard of the service, but her 200 reviews were pretty compelling. I was ready to give it a shot, expecting it to cost $49.99 or $99.99, but the $399.99 price tag really stopped me in my tracks.

That's $2/review, assuming your friend didn't pay for 'extra' marketing. The big question is to what extent do reviews turn into sales? Amazon uses some combination of sales/reviews in their ranking algorithms, but it's pretty much a black box. Jim's threads in this group will provide a lot of help working the rankings without the $399+ price tag.

I've never heard before that reviews affect a book's ranking. Everything I've read says that it all comes from sales and sales volume over time.

I've had my books on Netgalley with little return. Unless a reviewer goes there specifically looking for your book, it's buried among thousands of others. The Netgalley promotions are the least of what pushes your book forward. The big 6 (or 16 if you go down far enough) advertise their books months in advance including spamming every book blogger in existence. That is what prompts reviewers to go to Netgalley looking for a specific book.

J. wrote: "I've never heard before that reviews affect a book's ranking. Everything I've read says that it all comes from sales and sales volume over time."

From everything I've ever read, you're correct. All Amazon cares about is sales, though they do promote books that they publish (Kindle Scout) and those enrolled in Select over other books.

Hi, I'm new and just learning how to use Goodreads. As I understand it, what brings you up in the Amazon rankings is traffic to your book page and comments from verified purchasers. Which means you have to generate traffic to your book page (from book review sites, bloggers, YouTube, social media, etc.). I also feel Netgallley is expensive for what it offers. Rather invest in an offical review from one of the top 4 indie reviewers like Kirkus, it'll cost a fair amount too but they post their review in their newsletter (I think Kirkus has 20 000 subscribers) and on their website, and that sends traffic to your Amazon book page. Has someone done that? Care to comment?

Issia wrote: "Hi, I'm new and just learning how to use Goodreads. As I understand it, what brings you up in the Amazon rankings is traffic to your book page and comments from verified purchasers. Which means you..."

I'm really leery of paying for a book review. The Kirkus folks charge $425 and allow the author to keep a 'negative' review private. It does imply that they aren't unduly influenced by the fee, but it still feels off to me.

J. wrote: "E.G., perhaps the $399 price tag is the filter! I recently met a self-published author who wrote a book that I think would appeal to the same readership as mine. The book was well-written and I was..."

Some authors on an indie list I subscribe to banded together to get a NetGalley listing and it cut the price down to a reasonable level. I'm not sure how they did it, but I know it's a possibility.

I'm on Netgalley with my middle grade books... it resulted in some reviews/feedback, good too, but not that many. I do value them though, and I made great connections to readers and fellow authors. I didn't pay full price but found a co-op. To me, worth it.

If you write in a more 'popular' genre, like romance, you'll probably get more reviews than I did, judging from my experience on the site.

I think Andy may be onto something about genre and popularity. Net galley has a very small horror section and my book is a horror thriller.
About 3 weeks ago, I listed my book on NetGalley. I am an Indie author and a debut author so its really tough as I have no fan following or list of reviewers from past publications to write to.
I have had a few downloads in the first week and now it is week 3 and even the downloads have trickled down to just 4 or 5 a week.
I realise that when a book is listed, it is on the front page and then it slowly or quickly gets pushed further and further into the back as new books arrive.
Having said that I have had 7 completed reviews from Net Galley but i am not sure how many more I will get.
One advantage is the ability to send DRM controlled files and I have started using this to invite bloggers to download my book. Net galley does not have a "find reviewers" button unfortunately as this would be really handy.
I would be keen to hear from people who have used NetGalley before what a reasonable amount of downloads is over six months and how many reviews one could expect based on total downloads.
Also whether downloads increase dramatically if you subscribe to the marketing programs.

I recently was introduced to a review site called http://readingdeals.com/. Their prices start around $39, but they pretty much ensure that when someone agrees to review your book, the person does read the book and then post the review. Reviews are handled through a separate part of the site called the Reviewer's Club. I haven't heard feedback on this site, but from the books listed, you can see how many of the review-requests have been fulfilled. You can check the books by genre.