Shawn P. B. Robinson

Sometimes it can be hard to get reviews, yet we all need them!

There are many sites out there that offer review services. They vary in price and benefit. I’ve blogged on BookSirens and BookSprout as two great options, but today I wanted to post a really quick blog about NetGalley.

NetGalley is one of the really big review sites out there. It’s one that the traditional publishers will use, and you can get a huge number of reviews through their service. They have tens of thousands of books and hundreds of thousands of readers! Years ago they boasted 40,000 reviews posted each month. I find that it is hard to get up to date information on NetGalley (most sites post their stats right on their site, while NetGalley keeps a lot of info close to their chest).

But since NetGalley is so huge, they are a great way to go for authors!

The downside to NetGalley is the cost. They do not post their prices on their website, but as of a while back, it could cost upwards of $350-$500 to list your book. For reviews, even a lot of reviews, that seems like a lot of money to me. For all you super rich and successful authors out there, that’s pocket change. But for me, I initially discarded the possibility of NetGalley altogether.

However, there’s another option that will allow even cost conscious self-publishers to make use of NetGalley’s services.

That’s where a site like BooksGoSocial comes in. BooksGoSocial is a site that offers many different promotion options for authors. Some of them (such as their Silver, Gold and Platinum memberships) include a month on NetGalley as part of the package. I have used their Silver Package a couple times and have found it well worth it. They end up taking your book, posting it on NetGalley and fascilitating all the setup and more for it. With their packages you get some other promotion options as well, and all of this is done at a far cheaper price than you will pay just for NetGalley alone.

NOTE: Keep an eye out for discount codes for BooksGoSocial. At the time of writing this blog, there’s a discount on the Gold and Platinum packages. I’ve been able to stack up discount codes on their services, and it helps to cut the cost significantly.

When your book is set up with NetGalley (whether direct or through a site like BooksGoSocial), reviewers sign up and download your book and then are encouraged to leave a review for it. I’ve run three books through NetGalley (all using BooksGoSocial), and here is a little of what to expect.

Cover Reaction

Reviewers get to vote on your cover (a simple thumbs up or down).
The great thing about this is you get some actual feedback on how it looks to potential readers (as opposed to asking your mom if she likes your newest book’s cover). I have found mostly positive responses, and it helps me to know what the first impressions are for readers!

Quantity

Not all reviews are actually done. I found a lot of the people who downloaded the book do not actually leave a review. This is frustrating, of course, but considering the numbers of readers/reviewers, it might be worth it. BooksGoSocial gives you all the email addresses of the reviewers and encourages you to email them all directly when you’re done. This gives you the opportunity to say, “Hey, thanks for reading my book… can you leave a review now?”

Report

When you’re done, you get a report that shares a recap of the reviewers and their reviews, but also outlines the following:

1) Reviewers share what drew them to your book
In my latest submission (Annalynn the Canadian Spy), here is what attracted reviewers:

Author: 12% were drawn in because of me (Yeah, that’s right… 12%. That’s a blow to the ego… but humility is a good thing)

Cover: 39% downloaded the book because of the cover (that’s pretty cool)

Description: 44% were drawn in by the description (I recommend checking out Bryan Cohen’s How to Write a Sizzling Synopsis)

“I keep hearing about this book”: 5% said that. That’s cool, since I didn’t think that many people knew about it. 🙂

2) Opinons
In this section of the final report from NetGalley, you find out the opinions/reactions of Booksellers, Educators and Librarians to your book as well as how many of your reviewers would buy the book for themselves or for a friend.

Let me just mention this as well:

BooksGoSocial is a surprisingly great company to work with. You can email them with questions about anything, and they get back to you really quickly. They are laid back, relational, and professional (that’s a good mix and they manage it all well). BSG is a top-notch company to work with. They also offer help with Facebook and Amazon ads as part of their services.

So, for authors looking for reviews, I would recommend you use NetGalley through a company like BooksGoSocial. Reviews are often challenging to get, but making use of multiple sites (such as BookSprout, BookSirens, and NetGalley) help to encourage the reviews to come in!

Happy writing!

Shawn