2026 U.S. Book Show Recap

NetGalley + Enchantress Marketing: Mastering Perpetual Discovery for Backlist

Last week we had the pleasure of sponsoring the U.S. Book Show, where we attended many excellent panels focused on how data, modern discoverability, and emerging technologies are shifting the landscape and addressing industry-wide challenges. Topics ranged from shaping trends by leveraging data for strategic acquisitions to reacting to trends using social listening tools and surfacing backlist, and, of course, experimenting with AI to streamline workflows. It was within this context that we took the stage with our session: “Beyond Launch: Mastering Perpetual Discovery for Backlist.” 

Moderated by Darcy Piedmonte (Director, NetGalley + Booktrovert), and including Kristina Radke (SVP, NetGalley + Booktrovert) and Ashleigh Heaton (Founder, Enchantress Marketing), we focused in on ideas for how to maintain sales velocity once the initial launch budget is spent. Here are a few highlights and takeaways from our conversation:

Photo: Enchantress Marketing

1. Marketing is Applied Human Psychology 

Ashleigh said it beautifully, “Marketing is applied human psychology. It is both an art and a science.” As with all science, robust data is essential. Marketers often rely on intuition and emotional connection with a project to fuel campaign decisions, which should always be the throughline of that work. And rich audience data can confirm intuitions or point out potential internalized bias or assumptions.

To get at the data, social listening tools can help publishers identify social media influencers, understand the online conversation for a brand or book, highlight top-performing platforms/accounts, and offer a big-picture summary of an audience or trend. Ashleigh specifically mentioned Brandwatch or Meltwater for deep consumer insights. And other social scheduling tools that also offer social monitoring for your owned channels: Sprout, Metricool, Hootsuite.

2. Reviews as the Cornerstone

Overlapping with social listening, Ashleigh recommended digging into consumer reviews to understand consumer sentiment. These reviews are dynamic data that help publishers identify common themes, keywords, descriptors, tropes, tags, and comps. Kristina reinforced the idea that publishers should leverage data from reviews to ensure the best positioning for backlist titles. For instance, ensuring that a trending trope is explicitly mentioned in the book description, or adding new words, like “romantasy”, to your metadata. That is the type of information that may not have been relevant 10 years ago, but will ensure better discoverability today.

Sentiment has always been among the most important things that marketers need to understand about their readers, and now it also matters for online search and discovery. Sentiment signals are one way that AI search models (like the “AI Overview” in your Google search, now powered by Gemini) understand how to answer a particular question that readers ask. These AI models synthesize information from online sources, including book reviews, to learn how to talk about your book. Reviews give these tools a more nuanced understanding of which books to mention when someone asks for a “standalone romantasy book”, for instance.

3. Leveraging All Your Data

There were many sessions about AI throughout the conference, and Kristina called forth a number of points made in other sessions related to context, clarity, and intent (Cameron Lennon’s session on GEO) and the opportunity to use data across all parts of the publishing workflow to create “superdiscoverability” (Brooke Dobson & Keith Riegert’s lunchtime session). 

Kristina emphasized that AI now makes it possible to surface backlist in a more nuanced way than before. Where publishers once relied on institutional knowledge and keywords to search for backlist books that might match a hot trend, now they can connect data across title management, social listening, and consumer analytics tools to prompt a more specific search: “Look at books published 5 or more years ago, identify the top 10 titles to be included in a Pride Month marketing campaign, filter based on LGBTQ+ main characters and openly LGBTQ authors, with high lifetime sales that have slowed in the last 12 months, and focus on currently-trending themes like queer joy or found family.” 

This relies on publishers doing the work to connect these databases (ask your technologists about “Model Context Protocol”), and to fully understand what types of robust searches they want to do. Kristina encouraged managers to ask team members to deliver specific questions like the example above to share with technologists as an example of what they want to achieve.

In Conclusion

What this all points to is a future where data supercharges marketers’ intuition. By treating reviews as dynamic data and utilizing advanced search, publishers can move past the initial launch hype and establish an ongoing ROI for the true backbone of their business: the backlist.  The conversations we had both on and off the stage reminded us that while technology continues to change rapidly, our core mission as an industry – helping readers find the most relevant books for them, whether newly launched or deep in the backlist – remains the same. Beyond the excellent programming, the U.S. Book Show remains one of the best places to meet our clients and partners who share this dedication to driving discoverability. 

Want to dive deeper? Check out NetGalley’s article: Discoverability in the age of AI.

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How Featured Reviews Help Readers Discover Your Books

Every publisher has reviews they wish more readers could see: a glowing 5-star review that name-drops a perfect comp title or author, a reviewer who perfectly captures the emotional hook, or a librarian explaining exactly why a book will circulate well for a certain target audience. These are the reviews that help sell books and, on NetGalley, you can choose to spotlight them directly on your Title Details page.

Featuring reviews is quick and easy to do, and can have a meaningful, lasting impact on discoverability, requests, and reader engagement.

Help readers choose your book

Featured Reviews appear prominently on your book’s Title Details page, making them one of the first things NetGalley members see when browsing titles. 

That visibility matters, especially for pre-publication books. NetGalley members look for signals that a book will be a good fit for them when deciding to request a copy. Visible reviews from fellow book industry professionals can be incredibly persuasive!

Featuring reviews also gives publishers more control over the messaging surrounding a title. You can highlight reviews that emphasize the aspects of the book you most want readers to notice, whether that’s a standout trope, ideal audience, emotional tone, or strong comp title. Plus, now that Featured Reviews automatically appear on book pages on Booktrovert too, one small action can reach multiple bookish audiences!

In short: Featured Reviews help you curate the conversation around your book.

Increase discoverability beyond NetGalley

Featured Reviews are publicly visible, which means they can contribute to how books appear across search engines and AI-powered recommendation tools.

As search engines continue to incorporate AI, publicly available review language plays a growing role in how books are surfaced in search recommendations. Featuring strong reviews gives your books more high-quality, descriptive content tied directly to the title. See our article “How Book Reviews Power Discovery in the Age of AI Search” for more info.

Reviews emphasize human sentiment, emotional moments, and the cultural zeitgeist. When thoughtful, personal opinions in the form of reviews are associated with a book, context recommendation systems have the fodder to connect readers with titles they may enjoy.

This makes Featured Reviews especially valuable not only for frontlist promotion, but also for strengthening long-term discoverability of your backlist!

Reward and encourage engaged reviewers

Featuring reviews is also a meaningful way to recognize the readers who are actively championing your books.

When a NetGalley member has three or more reviews featured across the site, they earn a special Top Reviewer badge on their profile. For reviewers, earning that badge is a meaningful marker of credibility within the community, and for publishers, it helps strengthen relationships with engaged advocates who consistently provide thoughtful feedback.

It’s a small action that helps reinforce a healthy review ecosystem: reviewers feel valued, and publishers benefit from stronger community engagement.

A simple step with lasting value

Featuring reviews only takes a few clicks, but it can help increase requests, shape reader expectations, strengthen SEO and GEO discoverability, and reward your strongest advocates.

If you’re already receiving great feedback on your titles, let the world know!

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IBPA Publishing University Wrap-Up 2026

The NetGalley team recently returned from an energising weekend in Portland, Oregon, where we attended the Independent Book Publishers Association’s 2026 Publishing University, along with over 400 indie publishers and exhibitors. We came back with full notebooks, new connections, and a whole lot to think about!


Getting the Conversation Started

We kicked things off at the pre-event Think Tank, which set a great tone for the days ahead. The format was simple but effective: questions were posed to a rotating cast of industry voices, including Victoria Sutherland of Forward Books, Brad Farmer of Gibbs-Smith, and Matthew Mansfield of Nielsen IQ Book Data. Those same questions were then turned loose on the room to encourage conversation and peer learning. It broke through the typical conference stiffness fast, and by the time breakout groups formed, people were already mid-conversation.

Marketing Insights Worth Bookmarking

Two Sales and Marketing breakout sessions during the Think Tank discussed a wide array of challenges and solutions. The biggest takeaway is that indie publishers are nimble. They know how to market and sell to niche, hyper-focused communities and reach broader audiences. A few highlights: podcasts are most effective when longer episodes are broken into shorter, promotable segments; Threads is the social platform to pay attention to right now; and the group had a frank conversation about galley ethics, touching on both the environmental cost of print galleys and the growing problem of galleys being resold online.

Notes from the NetGalley Booth

Day 2 of the event reminded us of one of the best parts of in-person industry events: spontaneous conversations. In fact, our team was so busy connecting with attendees at the NetGalley and Booktrovert booth that we missed the morning welcome and keynote entirely (but we loved Publishers Weekly’s recap here). There’s no better problem to have than too many good conversations! Throughout the conference, we loved meeting publishers, authors, and publishing students face-to-face and hearing about the creative ways they’re building buzz for their books. 

From SEO to GEO

On Day 2, we attended a breakout by Sarah Bean of Booklaunchers titled A Post-Funnel Approach to Book Marketing, a session that dovetailed nicely with our own panel at this year’s London Book Fair on metadata, search engine optimization, and generative engine optimization. Sarah made a compelling case that AI has fundamentally changed how readers discover books, but that traditional marketing tactics (like press releases — a forgotten relic for many in the room!) still work, with some tweaks. She outlined how traditional SEO aims to land an author or publisher’s website on the first page of a Google search, and pull readers into their sales funnel. GEO shifts the goal entirely: instead of capturing clicks, the aim is for a book or author to become the trusted source that AI tools surface and cite directly. It’s a meaningful evolution in thinking, and one the industry is only beginning to grapple with.

Tapping Into Fandom

Day 3’s keynote zeroed in on the booming comic, graphic novel, and manga markets, and the fierce, devoted communities driving them. Creator Matt Braley and a panel including representatives from Tokyopop, Mad Cave, and Dark Horse Comics hammered home that fandom isn’t just an audience, it’s a responsibility. Every element of a graphic narrative, all the way down to the spine art, is simultaneously a commercial product and a work of art, and publishers have to honor both.

For indie publishers eyeing this space, the panel boiled it down to four honest questions: Do you have secure IP access? Can you commit to a long-running series? Do you know how to reach highly connected fan communities? And can your cash flow sustain the longer road to ROI?

Until Next Year, In Baltimore! 👋

Publishing University was, as always, a reminder of how much energy and creativity this industry runs on. We loved every conversation we had at our booth, in the breakout rooms, and in the hallways in between. See you next year!

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From the NetGalley Community: Ethics, Algorithms, and Advocacy


Each year, the NetGalley Community Survey offers insights into how reviewers, librarians, booksellers, media, educators, and industry professionals are engaging with books—and what they need from the publishing industry.

We’ve been conducting a community survey since 2018 and, while we’ve seen some changes over time, one thing remains consistent: readers are passionate. They are literacy advocates, professional book recommenders, and truly committed to spreading buzz about books they love!

Every survey also brings new confirmation, and sometimes surprises, about what our members want as book professionals. Last year, 2025 feedback centered mostly on personal challenges, like finding more time to read. This year’s 2026 survey results reflect a shift to a more external focus. Members are looking beyond their own reading habits, instead calling attention to broader industry issues. They’re advocating for ethics, access, and improvement to systems that shape how books are created and discovered.

Here are four important themes emerging from this year’s data, collected from nearly 12,000 respondents: 

NetGalley is a human-centered website that depends on technology to allow our members and publishers to connect and share content. Transparency about use of AI, from both publishers and reviewers, is an important part of this relationship.
  1. AI Transparency

The most dramatic shift in our 2026 survey results is members’ escalation of concern related to AI transparency. We first saw a reaction to AI in 2025 when stories of stolen literature to train LLMs first hit the news cycle, leading to the landmark Bartz v. Anthropic settlement involving the use of pirated book content. Now, survey respondents are almost universally calling for 100% transparency of AI usage, including jacket covers, book text, and audiobook narration.

While most understand a complete ban is nearly impossible in any workplace, respondents are  asking for absolute transparency and acknowledgement when AI is used in any part of the book-making process, including editing and marketing. At the forefront of those concerns is the protection of human talent.

  1. Algorithm Fatigue

NetGalley members also expressed burnout with algorithm-driven discovery. They reported frustration with what they perceive as limitations to organic discovery, particularly on mainstream platforms. While Instagram and Goodreads remain widely used by NetGalley members, many survey respondents told us they’re leaning toward smaller, book-focused spaces, where recommendations feel more intentional, human, and less driven by trends.

Readers are also pushing back against what they see as “TikTokification”: an environment where visibility is driven by popular buzzwords used for views rather than fit. A major point of friction is mismarketing, especially the overuse of popular tropes or genre labels that don’t accurately reflect a book’s content (e.g., labeling every fantasy “Romantasy”, even when romance has a minor subplot). This is an evolution of an historic frustration with mismatched “comp” titles. 

  1. Readers Hold Tight to their Values

One thing that hasn’t changed year over year: Intellectual freedom and censorship is a primary professional challenge cited by Librarians and Educators. These groups continue to fight a rising tide of book bans, and readers looking to support these efforts can find resources and action steps though Unite Against Book Bans, created by the American Library Association.

Rising book prices was also a repeated concern. Librarians point to digital licensing models as unsustainable with high costs and long wait times for patrons. However, some publishers have begun to address price sensitivity. According to the 2026 Readers First Publisher Price Watch, “the annualized average library eBook price increase is flat over the last four years,” (if you ignore one Big 5 publisher). Readers and institutions want to keep up and support the industry they love, but hope that publishers continue to address price sensitivity.

Our survey respondents also expressed support for midlist, debut, and independent authors, who may not have access to major marketing backing or budgets.

  1. Readers Want Half Stars!

Even as readers raise bigger questions about the publishing industry, their day-to-day habits remain consistent: most are still reading daily, still tracking their progress, and still wishing—above all else—for DNF and half-star ratings across the various platforms they use. 

At NetGalley, we’ve long supported this through our “Will Not Give Feedback” option, which is our version of a DNF that allows members to provide professional context for why they didn’t finish a book and are unable to provide constructive feedback. 

Plus, as we designed Booktrovert—our consumer marketing platform—we made sure to include built-in reading tracking tools. And because we know an evaluation of a book is often more detailed than a standard five-star scale, we recently introduced the option to rate books by half (and even quarter) stars on Booktrovert—which perfectly compliments the customizable “Stacks,” complete with sortable columns, filters, and DNF status options. 

Read on for other ways we’re addressing our members’ feedback!

How We’re Responding

  1. AI Transparency: Members can indicate if they suspect a book is AI-generated as part of the “Will Not Give Feedback” option and, likewise, publishers can flag reviews where they suspect the same. As publishers continue to incorporate AI tools in parts of the book-making process, this year’s NetGalley survey results point to a community who will reward deliberate communication and prioritization of human creativity.
  2. Algorithm Fatigue: On NetGalley, members have the option to choose their favorite categories and publishers, and there are plenty of opportunities to see “new to you” books, including our “Recently Added” page—which is one of the most browsed of any page on NetGalley! Plus, on Booktrovert, readers discover new books while playing bookish games, completing reading bingo challenges, and via giveaways, sweepstakes, and special deals. Booktrovert does not use algorithms to interrupt readers’ feeds. The community is an opt-in experience where discovery is the reward, not a side-effect of scrolling.
  3. A Value-Based Industry: NetGalley is proud to help bridge the gap between marketing budgets, giving independent voices side-by-side visibility with Big 5 publishers in our catalog, and access to promotions designed for any budget, goal, and type of book. Plus, with the introduction of Booktrovert, any publisher or author can extend their reach with direct-to-consumer marketing as well.

We are so grateful to our robust, active community for their incredible feedback—not just about the books they’re reading, but about their hopes for the industry as well—and that we can pass along their message. These nearly 12,000 survey respondents are aligned with our vision: a world where the publishing community is empowered through technology to contribute to cultures of belonging and inclusion through content that connects and carries us forward. We believe that intelligent technology paired with human expertise is the key to increased accessibility, sales, and efficiency, igniting publisher success and bettering lives.

More 2026 Community Highlights:

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Audio Publishers Association Wrap-Up 2026

The 2026 Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC), held virtually on Monday, March 30, 2026, gathered publishers, distributors, retailers and suppliers, narrators, and other professionals in the audiobook industry. As a nonprofit organization, APA has the ability to bring the industry together to share ideas, discuss challenges, and make the most of formidable growth opportunities in the spoken word market.

The new Executive Director of APA, Jim Dinegar, brought together panelists from some of the biggest publishing houses—as well as Spotify—to discuss trends and “What’s Next in Audio?” for the keynote. Everything from children’s literacy rates and access, to format switching (audio to physical) mid-book, to transparency in AI usage was discussed. Rapid technological advances are happening in real time. Voracious listeners reward both experimental programming and also beloved narrators who can pierce through cultural noise. It’s a great moment to be a book professional in the age of audiobook momentum.

Models and Methods—Adapting to Trends and Change in Audiobook Marketing

NetGalley’s Director of Client Acquisition & Success, Darcy Piedmonte, moderated a discussion with Allison Carney, Executive Director of Marketing, HarperCollins;  Corrin Foster, Vice President of Book Promotions and Marketing, Advantage Media Group; and Anna Goolsby, Content Marketing Manager, Dreamscape Media LLC. 

This session was a perfect segue to the keynote. Panelists gave the audience a behind-the-curtain look at how marketing compares between a Big 5, an audiobook-specific, and a hybrid publisher. Allison shared HarperCollins’ approach to format agnostic marketing goals, while simultaneously illustrating how they quickly respond (and proactively create) audiobook viral moments. Anna spoke of diving deeply into niche audiences, particularly on Reddit, to bring her own social acuity and recommendations to the right people in the right moments. Corrin spoke of helping authors develop their own “authority” and how audiobooks pave the way for speaking gigs, drive rapid consumption of books, and garner enthusiastic, additive feedback.

Other session themes included audiobook production, how to manage the format as a self-published author, and many narrator-specific professional sessions. If you attended the conference, it’s not too late to access the recordings of sessions you missed!

Next year’s conference will be live in New York! If you’re a professional in the audiobook space, you won’t want to miss the resources APA delivers. 

Additional Audiobook News:

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We See Books in Your Future

Bringing the Magic of Discovery to BookCon 2026 

After a six-year hiatus, BookCon came roaring back to the Javits Center this year, and the collective energy of thousands of people who live and breathe stories was electric! As marketers, you know that there’s power in building momentum beyond a single touchpoint. We’re proud that our Booktrovert booth brought this concept to life, combining both at-show and online promotions, spanning multiple weeks before, during, and after the event. We saw firsthand how a strategic hybrid approach can drive massive engagement while keeping the focus on what matters most: guiding more books into the hearts and minds of more readers. 

The Magic in the Cards: Our In-Booth Experience

We gamified discovery by inviting Booktroverts to choose from eight identity-driven bookish personalities to reveal which book the cards had in store for them. Our team handed out over 3,000 custom tarot cards, each serving as a gateway to start reading a free ebook. The results were immediate: 2,264 ebooks were claimed by attendees using the QR code on the card. This digital-first approach, paired with a simple yet beautiful keepsake, generated buzz both at the event and in social spaces online.

Beyond the Show Floor: Online Communities

We amplified on-site energy and activated audiences who could not attend with a massive multi-channel campaign across Booktrovert and NetGalley channels. Our strategic series of eBlasts, newsletters, and social activations resulted in serious engagement:

  • Booktrovert Newsletters: We targeted engaged consumers with a BookCon Sneak Peek (47% open rate), a Sweepstakes Sneak Peek (48% open rate), and an especially high-performing edition of the Digest Newsletter (57% open rate).
  • NetGalley Newsletters: To reach our professional tastemakers, we deployed two massive sends. Reaching over 430k members each, our BookCon Sneak Peek eBlast (36% open rate) followed by the Sweepstakes Announcement newsletter (35% open rate) drove strong participation—especially from those who weren’t at BookCon.
  • Social Integration: Our Instagram strategy was equally robust, featuring a mix of group promotions and spotlight posts for individual titles across both the NetGalley and Booktrovert channels. Tagged and collab posts with publishers and authors ensured wide-ranging engagement across communities.

By connecting these digital touchpoints with our physical presence, we ensured that the discovery process extended far beyond the event, creating sustained visibility for every featured book.

Expanding the Impact: More Chances to Win

In addition to the giveaways during the BookCon event, publisher sponsors also offered any reader a chance to win a limited number of the same ebooks in a post-show Booktrovert sweepstakes. 680 ebook copies were available across all 8 featured titles, and to say that our Booktroverts were excited is an understatement! The sweepstakes for these books saw more than 21,596 total entries in the week following BookCon.

Perhaps most impressively, the engagement rates for the sweepstakes campaigns were through the roof. Across all 8 books, the average campaign Conversion Rate was 50%. In a digital landscape where attention is the most valuable currency, it’s validating to see such strong participation! 

Until Next Year!

At BookCon 2026, we proved that digital discovery doesn’t have to feel like the runner up to a physical ARC drop. By facilitating thousands of connections between publishers and their fans, we demonstrated how a sustainable, reader-first approach can scale word-of-mouth marketing without losing the human touch. We can’t wait to see what’s in the cards for next year! No matter what, our mission will remain: To guide more content into the minds of more readers, in partnership with publishers and authors. 

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