How Independent Authors Can Maximize the Benefits of NetGalley

Independent author M.J. Etkind recently shared her experience on Reddit about using NetGalley for her books — including landing a feature in the The New York Times and generating meaningful library sales. Her biggest takeaway? NetGalley is far more than a review tool. When used strategically, it’s a professional marketing platform designed to connect authors with booksellers, librarians, media, and industry professionals.

Here’s what indie authors can learn from her approach.

Remember Who NetGalley Is For

Many independent authors view NetGalley as a way to collect reviews on Goodreads or StoryGraph. And yes — reviews in these places absolutely matter, but M.J. believes they’re not the only thing that matters! 

NetGalley was built primarily to serve industry professionals, ranging from booksellers, librarians, media, reviewers and educators. But  M.J. has found that if your only goal is consumer reviews (meaning reviews shared on retail sites like Amazon or social sites like TikTok), you may be underutilizing the platform. Authors can, and should, think bigger! Trade visibility, library discovery, and retail relationships are all within reach when using NetGalley. M.J. discovered that one of her biggest long-term values came from focusing on professional audiences, particularly within libraries and bookstores.

Budget Conscious? You Have Options. 

For budget-conscious indie authors, M.J. recommends working with a NetGalley reseller to reduce the cost of the investment.

For independent authors, you have options:

  • Work with NetGalley directly: You have full control over your own account and title listing, with instant access to data. Plus, participating in NetGalley’s built-in promotions and Booktrovert are just a click away!
  • Work with a NetGalley reseller: Resellers may provide some discounts and/or shorter time commitments. Some even have marketing and PR options bundled into their offerings, which can benefit authors looking for a bit of extra help!

M.J. has used Victory Editing Co-Op, one of the longest-standing NetGalley co-ops/resellers available. Additional experienced resellers can be found here.

How to choose?

Authors who want full control, detailed data access, and the ability to actively manage and scale their campaigns may prefer working directly with NetGalley. Those looking for a lower upfront cost, shorter listing durations, or a more hands-off experience may find a reseller to be the better fit.

Anne Victory, owner of Victory Editing and facilitator of the Victory Editing Co-op, says, “My co-op gives authors maximum control while making NetGalley far more accessible. I focus on removing friction so authors can spend their energy where it matters—reaching readers.”

Know the Communication Rules

To maintain member privacy and trust, NetGalley has important guidelines regarding member contact. Based on her experience, M.J. recommends following these two lines of outreach to ensure broad engagement and relationship-building with readers: 

  • Send a gentle email to past ARC readers notifying them of a new book
  • Send reminders to approved members encouraging them to download and review

In fact, NetGalley offers template language to help you get started with outreach like this!

Plan your communication strategy carefully to ensure you’re following best practices that will help you stay on the right side of GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy-related regulations. 

Have Your Retail Infrastructure Ready

Timing matters. M.J. emphasizes making sure pre-order links are live everywhere, especially on Amazon, Goodreads, and through IngramSpark. This will ensure your retail links are available by the time your NetGalley listing gains traction! Metadata distribution through Ingram can take over a week from file approval to bookstore visibility, so plan ahead.

If industry professionals discover your book on NetGalley but can’t easily order it, you risk losing momentum.

Invest in Your Cover

M.J. saw a dramatic difference in performance between books with strong covers and books with weak ones.

On a platform like NetGalley where books are browsed quickly and feedback on the cover art is encouraged, cover quality directly impacts request rates. This is especially true of cover images that were generated by AI. While many indie authors are understandably conscious of budget, your cover image is not the area that you should scrimp on!

Include Industry-Focused Materials

In addition to the book file,  M.J. ensures that all of her developed marketing materials have been added to her NetGalley listing, so that industry professionals know how and where to reach her. She includes:

  • A sell sheet
  • Ordering information for bookstores and librarians
  • Contact details
  • Backlist catalog information
  • Direct links to social and retail sites for reviewers to cross-post reviews

This reinforces NetGalley’s professional purpose and makes it easier for industry members to act, as well as helping more casual consumer reviewers share their reviews widely! 

Integrate NetGalley into Your Bookstore Marketing Plan

For M.J., NetGalley isn’t a standalone tactic — it’s part of her broader bookstore outreach system. She includes her NetGalley link when pitching bookstores, giving them a frictionless way to preview the book in order to help them decide to carry it in their store, hand pitch to readers, and enhance sales. In this context, NetGalley serves not only as a review tool, but as a professional access point within a more comprehensive marketing strategy.

M.J. Etkind, author of the New York Times Featured book, The Witch of Wall Street.

M.J. Etkind lives a double life. By day, she is a corporate girly with a business degree. By night, she writes romance novels in a cozy book filled apartment in Boston. M.J. Etkind’s most favorite fun fact is that she once took an entire vacation to visit a bookstore. Etkind has previously published two romance novels. Dishwasher Safe (2024) and The Witch of Wall Street (2025) which was featured in The New York Times Book Review.

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Interview: Michelle Halket, Publisher, Central Avenue Publishing

Michelle Halket, Publisher of Central Avenue, occupies a unique position in an unpredictable book market. Michelle is a Canadian publisher, but the vast majority of sales come from the U.S. owing in large part to their authors’ expansive reach on social media and with the help of her distributor, Simon & Schuster.

We’re excited to share Michelle’s expertise about what works best for Central Avenue titles on NetGalley.




Michelle, you strike us as a publisher who is small and nimble enough to be creative, but data-savvy enough to never be reckless. What brings you to NetGalley with your books, even after trying different marketing strategies?

As any company will tell you, marketing is one of those difficult places to spend money because it’s nearly impossible to determine the actual ROI. I’ve been around long enough to have tried everything: print and digital advertising in trade journals, paid social posts, author tours (both in person and online), trade show booths, festivals. But the reason I have kept my NetGalley account active every year after I’ve pulled the plug on so many other avenues is because I can see the actual results. There’s three main areas:

  • 📊 Metrics: NetGalley shares with me so much data on who accessed the book, ratings of content and covers, impressions, review incidence, etc. These are the hard data that give me an idea of how widely the book was seen, read, and shared. 
  • ✍🏼 Reviews: Not only do I get those data points mentioned above, I get actual readers telling me their thoughts that get posted online in so many places. They all start with “Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher…” so I am not guessing where they got the book. I know that the money I spend every month is reaching readers who then share their reviews on socials and on bookstores. And the algorithms that favor customer interaction now favor our books because of how robust those reviews make our book pages. (For NetGalley’s take on the power of reviews, read here!)
  • 📨 Direct Consumer Relationships: I get to be able to contact each and every reviewer in a very targeted way – I can identify the ones who loved a book and let them know an author has a new one coming. Or I can ask people to join our newsletter where they can get even more freebies. All this goes so far in building reader relationships.

At NetGalley, we like to say our website is pretty easy to navigate and use. Can you speak about efficiency and ease of use while also addressing what it is that keeps you coming back?

The UX is simple, intuitive and attractive – from the colors, typeface and generous use of white space to how every aspect you might need links to each other. I can be on a book’s page setting up metadata and with one click access reviews, and then from there, set a custom outgoing message, or determine who I want to have auto-approval. Kudos to your designers for taking a complex and integrated ecosystem and making it easy to use.

You champion fiction—often literary—and poetry. This is not necessarily the “consumer literature” that follows trends, but rather a conscious decision to, in your words, “move readers, challenge perspectives, and leave a meaningful impression.” What do you look for when considering requests from the NetGalley community?

With nearly every request, we click through and take a look at the person requesting. I like knowing if they actually leave reviews, and when they do, are they honest and fair, or are they just there for the free books? I very much appreciate current and fleshed out bios with specific details, such as knowing they like to champion queer books. I always check out their approval rating as this tells me how my peers see that reviewer. And it was a great addition to be able to make notations on users as we often see the same users request our books. By making those notes, it feels like we have gotten to know them and then other people at our press can read our thoughts when they are answering requests.

You’ve shared that NetGalley data and reporting is vital to you and the success of your books. What are the marketing KPIs you’re looking at, and what ROI are you aiming for? 

We are realistic and have different metrics for each book, for example, a romance novel will garner more requests than poetry titles. Generally, with a poetry book, I’m looking for dozens of requests. With romance or upmarket fiction, I’m expecting hundreds of requests. While the review rates vary quite a bit, it’s the ability to reach out to reviewers to remind them for a review or to post it on socials or bookstores. I also pay attention to the thumbs up/down of the cover. Given how trends change in cover styles, it gives me an idea if we hit the mark, or missed it?

We are realistic and have different metrics for each book… Given how trends change… it gives me an idea if we hit the mark or missed it.

In addition to the number of requests, I’m looking at the people requesting. I don’t often auto-approve because we approve on a regular basis, and I like seeing the names and organizations. Knowing that booksellers from Germany are requesting a particular book helps us with selling foreign rights as I can bring this information to my agent. A request from a popular creator, or journalist means a possible huge reach and now I have that person’s email address to reach out with a more personal message.

My ROI is solidly founded on the contacts I’ve made and the relationships that have come from them. When I compare the cost of our NetGalley account to any other advertising or marketing initiative, I quickly see how much value I’m getting. This isn’t just a list of emails – these are people that I know asked for and liked what we do here.

When I compare the cost of our NetGalley account to any other advertising or marketing initiative, I quickly see how much value I’m getting.

Can you share specific examples of how your books have performed on our site? And how those results might compare to other tools you’ve used in the market?

I took a look at a group of titles across genres – each of which were posted to different galley sites at the same time. In every case, the number of requests on NetGalley exceeded the others – varying by a factor of 1.5x to 10x. In addition, the average review/request ratio on others was around 6%. On NetGalley it was 18%. My marketing dollars seem to work harder and are more efficient on NetGalley.

The number of requests on NetGalley exceeded the others — varying by a factor of 1.5x to 10x. In addition, the average review/request ratio on others was around 6%. On NetGalley it was 18%.

What books do you decide to list on NetGalley? How do you approach backlist?

Every frontlist book gets a stint on NetGalley, usually starting about 4 months pre-pub. We only have an account that allows for 5 titles at a time, so we don’t get much opportunity to list our older books. That said, I might have to look at this strategy a little more closely! 

When you think about a B2B community, who do you include? We know publishers need booksellers and librarians who will purchase and champion your books. Is your definition of B2B larger than this? 

Oh for sure! As I mentioned before, we often get requests from journalists, creators, media, rights acquisition editors at other publishers, and film/tv professionals. These groups are important as well and I love that I get access to all types of businesses here.

And, finally, please tell us a bit more about your motivation to create The Poetry Shelf on your website. It’s been a wonderful service to the industry and to readers. We congratulate you on its success!

Wow, thank you for asking about it! It came about after Winter Institute in 2025 when so many booksellers said they just didn’t know what to do with their poetry sections. Before my career in publishing I spent an equal amount of time in market research – much of that advising grocery and drug retailers how to optimize their sections. I decided to use these same principles of good assortment and shelf planning that large booksellers and other retailers use and adapt it for independent booksellers who don’t have a poetry expert on staff. It’s based on how consumers buy poetry (the same buyer doesn’t usually purchase a TikTok star’s book and Chaucer). It’s then coupled with data from the Bookscan bestseller list, and then I add in a bit of research on a feature section for the month. For example, March was Women and Spring, featuring books by great women poets about renewal and feminine energy. It’s been a huge hit and I’m honored to share it for free every month with booksellers via our website and an ongoing feature in Shelf Awareness. 

About Central Avenue Publishing

Central Avenue Publishing is a home for fiction and poetry about us at our worst – and best.

We are proud to publish books that have resonated widely—appearing on bestseller lists, earning awards, drawing support from literary heroes and celebrities, and finding readers around the world.

At Central Avenue Publishing, our mission is to publish fiction and poetry that reflect the best and worst of the human condition—stories that move readers, challenge perspectives, and leave a meaningful impression.

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NetGalley Promotion or Booktrovert Campaign – Why Not Both?


When publishers are planning their marketing strategy, a common question that we hear is: Should we invest in a NetGalley promotion or a Booktrovert campaign? The short answer is: both, but for different goals. By combining the strengths of each platform, Harper360 created a powerful promotional moment for The Violin Maker’s Secret that reached both industry professionals and general consumers.

Not Familiar With the Difference? Here’s a Quick Rundown

  • NetGalley Promotions reach book trade professionals: librarians, booksellers, reviewers, media, and educators who help build early buzz, reviews, and word-of-mouth.
  • Booktrovert Campaigns reach consumers: readers who are discovering books and deciding what to buy, with flexible calls to action like pre-orders, buy links, sweepstakes and giveaways.

Used together, NetGalley builds influence and advocacy, while Booktrovert captures interest and excitement.


How the Two Platforms Worked Together

On January 27, 2026,  Harper360 arranged aNetGalley eBlast to be sent to nearly 21,400 U.S.-based NetGalley members, spotlighting The Violin Maker’s Secret ahead of its February 24 on-sale date.

In addition to giving NetGalley members the option to request the book, the publisher also drove readers to the Booktrovert landing page from the eBlast’s “Available for Pre-Order” CTA. There, readers could:

  • Learn more about The Violin Maker’s Secret
  • Explore additional Evie Woods titles
  • Choose their preferred retailer via pre-order and buy-now links
  • Share the Booktrovert campaign with their own audiences/general readers

By positioning Booktrovert as the landing page for retail sales, the eBlast extended beyond NetGalley awareness and requests — giving readers a destination that supported multiple actions, all in one place.

But That’s Not All: Booktrovert as a Standalone Discovery Channel


Booktrovert works seamlessly for any special promotions you’re doing for your book (or books) without needing any in-house help to design or create a landing page. Plus, it also functions independently as a discovery destination for readers actively looking for their next great read.

For this campaign run by Harper360, Evie Wood’s books reached almost 15,000 additional readers who clicked in from the daily Booktrovert Digest Newsletter, and resulted in over 2,600 unique campaign clicks from readers looking to learn more. 

A Booktrovert campaign on its own drives visibility and engagement. When added to a corresponding NetGalley promotion, you expand the book’s reach beyond industry audiences and into consumer-first spaces.

When used on its own, Booktrovert supports:

  • Consumer discovery beyond publisher-owned channels
  • Flexible CTAs that meet readers at different points in their buying journey
  • Ongoing visibility throughout the campaign window

When used alongside NetGalley, it becomes a powerful bridge — transforming professional interest into consumer excitement and action.

Create Your Own Booktrovert Campaign

Click the “Booktrovert” tab within your NetGalley account to start using the simple campaign builder! Not yet a NetGalley client? Reach out here to get started!

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Driving Early Reader Excitement with Exclusive Sweepstakes to Author-Owned Community

Campaign Type: Private Booktrovert Sweepstakes
Audience: Abby Jimenez’s Private Facebook Reader Group
Title: The Night We Met
Copies Available: 250
Campaign Duration: 7 days

Campaign Overview

To generate early buzz and reward a highly engaged fan base, a private Booktrovert Sweepstakes campaign was launched exclusively for Abby Jimenez’s private Facebook reader group. This audience—comprised of deeply loyal, voracious readers—has a demonstrated history of enthusiasm for Jimenez’s work and a strong appetite for early access.

The campaign offered members the opportunity to enter for a chance to win one of 250 digital advance copies of The Night We Met. By limiting access to a private, author-owned community, the campaign capitalized on trust, exclusivity, and built-in excitement.

Strategy

The core objective was to activate an already passionate reader community while maintaining a frictionless, equitable entry experience. Key strategic elements included:

  • Private Access: The campaign was available only to members of Abby Jimenez’s private Facebook group, reinforcing a sense of exclusivity and insider access.
  • Sweepstakes Format: Rather than first-come, first-served, the sweepstakes model allowed all interested readers to participate over a seven-day entry window, reducing urgency fatigue while maximizing participation.
  • Automated Fulfillment: Winners were randomly selected at the conclusion of the campaign and notified via email, where they could seamlessly download a protected ebook file.

Execution – Ease & Challenge

Readers were invited to enter the sweepstakes through a private Booktrovert campaign page promoted within the Facebook group, ensuring that only members of the exclusive group had access to enter. Once the seven-day entry period closed, winners were automatically selected and notified, selected readers could immediately start reading their protected ebook file.

Ease: This approach minimizes the publisher’s administrative lift while ensuring a fair and transparent experience for participants.

Challenge: Abby’s Facebook group includes readers from across the globe and, for now, Booktrovert only offers eBook access to U.S. readers. In part due to feedback from this campaign, the NetGalley-Booktrovert team is considering plans to expand service to readers in Canada as a first step toward wider distribution.

Audience Engagement

The private Facebook group proved to be an ideal environment for the campaign. Members are highly vocal, quick to share excitement, and eager to engage with anything related to Abby Jimenez’s work. The sweepstakes format amplified anticipation throughout the entry period, with readers actively encouraging one another to participate and expressing enthusiasm about the upcoming release.

Because the campaign lived within an established community space, the promotion felt organic rather than transactional—more like a reward than a marketing initiative.

Key Takeaways

  • Leverage Superfans: Highly engaged, author-owned communities are powerful launchpads for early-access campaigns.
  • Sweepstakes Reduce Friction: Allowing a multi-day entry window increases participation and goodwill, particularly in large or enthusiastic reader groups.
  • Exclusivity Drives Excitement: Private campaigns reinforce loyalty and make readers feel valued.
  • Automation Scales Trust: Random selection and automated delivery ensure fairness while streamlining execution.

Why It Worked

This private Booktrovert campaign succeeded by meeting readers where they already gather, offering meaningful access without complexity, and pairing exclusivity with ease of use. For authors with passionate fan bases, private sweepstakes campaigns are an effective way to generate early momentum while strengthening reader relationships ahead of publication.

Create Your Own Booktrovert Campaign

Click the “Booktrovert” tab within your NetGalley account to start using the simple campaign builder! Not yet a NetGalley client? Reach out here to get started!

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How Indie Author M. Kevin Hayden used Booktrovert to Generate Visibility

When it comes to early adoption of new tools for audience engagement, independent authors are often the first to experiment, and the first to see what works! For author M. Kevin Hayden, Booktrovert.com has become a key part of that journey. As one of Booktrovert’s earliest adopters, Kevin has used nearly every campaign type the platform offers—Giveaways, Sweepstakes, and Buy Now CTAs—to reach new readers and drive ongoing visibility for his work.

In this Q&A, Kevin shares how he approaches each campaign type with a different goal in mind, what he’s learned about building momentum, and why Booktrovert has become an important part of his marketing strategy as an author.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your books!

Certainly. I’m originally from the South Side of Chicago. An Old Soul is my debut novel and my first published work of fiction. It follows a young man who feels quietly displaced in his own life and in the world around him. The story is set in my old neighborhood of Gresham in 1996… or is it? It blends grounded realism with elements of synchronicity and speculative fiction.

Willow Rose is my sophomore novel and is also now available. It leans into literary cosmic horror and follows a doctor who flees his past for rural northern Minnesota. A strange knock at his door one night sets off a chain of events that pulls him and others into a fight for survival against a malevolent monster, all in the wake of a comet that appears from nowhere.

You’ve been part of Booktrovert since it launched! What helped you decide to take the leap with a brand-new platform?

I’ve always been an early adopter. I’m naturally drawn to the new thing. I get excited about previously unknown possibilities and love being among the first to explore what something can become. Since NetGalley already has such a wide reach in the bookish community, I was genuinely excited to see how Booktrovert might build on that and help me connect with new readers in a different way.

And honestly, I’ll probably be among the first in line for whatever you all come up with next—because why not?

“Since NetGalley already has such a wide reach in the bookish community, I was genuinely excited to see how Booktrovert might build on that and help me connect with new readers in a different way.”

– M. Kevin Hayden

Your recent Sweepstakes for Willow Rose had a mysterious, cinematic hook. How did you approach writing the campaign title and description to capture readers’ attention?

Honestly, I wasn’t sure how it would land. I just put myself in the reader’s shoes and asked, “What would make me click?”

Willow Rose is intentionally a mysterious story, and some of the early reviews were very critical of the unanswered questions. In a way, the campaign was also my way of signaling what kind of experience the book offers — so the right reader would be more likely to lean in. I’ve learned the hard way how important that match really is.

Our goal is to reach as many of those right readers as possible. To do that, you have to hang the appropriate sign.

You’ve also used Booktrovert for a Buy Now campaign, promoting a punchy limited time sale. How are your goals different when considering these various CTAs? When and why would you run a Sweepstakes versus a campaign that drives to retailers?

My goal early on was to reach more readers. I needed to gather early reviews — get the story in front of more eyes — and the giveaways helped with this. Booktrovert has proven an invaluable tool for overall visibility. I found that interest had a slight bump during those campaigns in the way of follows and Goodreads shelvings. I found that the new sweepstakes seemed to pull more interest than the earlier first-come giveaways from Booktrovert. 

As far as the “Buy Now” CTA campaigns, I plan to utilize those also to help buoy dips in sales.

Of note, as I work through this Q&A, I feel it’s time to setup a CTA campaign on Booktrovert.com now as my sales and visibility are dipping slightly. 

The goal is to be seen. There are multiple shouting towers out there and it’s best to use as many as possible to avoid vanishing in a crowd. Millions of books are published a year and that crowd is dense.

Willow Rose sweepstakes campaign stats as of Dec. 2, 2025

As an independent author, what do you think is the most valuable outcome of running an ebook giveaway, whether that’s exposure, engagement, or something else entirely?

As an Indie author, it cannot be understated that you have to make yourself findable. At baseline, we are all invisible. There isn’t a cadre of marketers, promoters or word of mouth spreaders working on our behalf. Usually, it’s only the author themselves. Even with well placed ads, campaigns, and giveaways, we are still relatively unseen. Even when visible, we can be looked over for traditionally published titles. Giveaways are a way to get the book in front of more eyes, pique interest, and gather reviews. Sometimes, you run into gold just because someone influential just happens to win a title. 

For me, those are my main reasons for running the giveaways. To gather more potential reviews and increase visibility.

“Booktrovert has proven an invaluable tool for overall visibility.”

How does Booktrovert compare to other giveaway platforms you’ve tried? 

Booktrovert is a very user-friendly and efficient tool. I can set up a campaign with minimal friction and get it live quickly, similar to NetGalley. Some other giveaway platforms require more data entry and have longer approval timelines. That said, I use Booktrovert in conjunction with other platforms. Visibility across multiple services is important because different readers prefer different ecosystems. Also, seeing the same title appear across platforms seems to increase interest and engagement.

“Booktrovert is a very user-friendly and efficient tool. I can set up a campaign with minimal friction and get it live quickly, similar to NetGalley. Some other giveaway platforms require more data entry and have longer approval timelines.”

What’s next for you?

I recently completed a prequel short story for Willow Rose that will be available on my website and linked by QR code in future printings of the novel. I’m excited to gift more story to readers, and I hope it answers a few lingering questions while still preserving the intended mystery of Willow Rose.

For those knocking at the door — remember the password: stay together 

I’m also deep into a new project called Locked-In, a speculative dystopian novel set in the same universe as An Old Soul. There are several other stories brewing as well, and I’m hoping to finish Locked-In before they hijack my attention. Other storytellers know exactly what I mean. Ideas never wait their turn.

Create Your Own Booktrovert Campaign

Click the “Booktrovert” tab within your NetGalley account to start using the simple campaign builder! Not yet a NetGalley client? Reach out here to get started!

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True Crime, Real Results: How a Booktrovert Sweepstakes Boosted Black Dahlia by William J. Mann

Campaign Snapshot

Campaign Title: The first definitive account of the Black Dahlia murder
Featured Giveaway: Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood By William J. Mann
Genre: True Crime, Biographies & Memoirs

Overview

For nonfiction and true crime titles, building anticipation is all about visibility, intrigue, and credibility. With Black Dahlia, author William J. Mann delivers the definitive account of one of America’s most infamous unsolved murders—one that continues to fascinate readers nearly 80 years later.

To reach those readers, Simon & Schuster ran a Sweepstakes campaign on Booktrovert, offering 100 digital copies for readers to enter to win. The newly-introduced Sweepstakes CTA keeps entries open for 7 days, giving readers ample time to discover and enter to win, sustaining engagement over the course of the week-long campaign.

At the end of the campaign, winners were automatically, randomly selected, and all entrants automatically received a confirmation about whether they won (including retail links to prompt purchase if they did not win). Winners received automatic digital access to the book, leaving nothing for the publisher to do except peek at their results!

This structure makes Sweepstakes an excellent fit for discovery-driven genres like true crime, biographies, and memoirs—where intrigue builds over time and awareness translates directly into sales potential.

Why It Worked

Sustained visibility and steady engagement
With seven days of open entry, the campaign maintained strong visibility in the Booktrovert Feed, giving readers ample time to discover and share the promotion.

Built-in post-campaign conversion
When the campaign ended, every participant who didn’t win a copy received an email driving to the retail links for the campaign, turning curiosity into measurable clicks and ongoing sales activity. Plus, no one is left wondering about the result of their entry! 

Balanced exclusivity and accessibility
Offering 100 digital winners created excitement and urgency while still keeping the campaign open and accessible. The best part? Entrants don’t need to fill out any additional personal information (like mailing addresses) and publishers don’t need to do anything at all for fulfillment since it’s all automatic, instant, and completely digital. No shipping required!

Publishers don’t need to do anything at all for fulfillment since it’s all automatic, instant, and completely digital. No shipping required!

The Results

1,917 Total Entries | 100 Winners Selected

“The Sweepstakes campaign was a great addition to our pre-publication strategy! The detailed analytics provided helpful consumer behavior insights, which will inform where and how we connect with readers through publication day and beyond.”

– Elizabeth Venere, Associate Director of Marketing

Curious how your results stack up? Check out some benchmarks here: Understanding Your Booktrovert ROI

Takeaway for Publishers

Sweepstakes campaigns are a powerful way to extend your reach and engagement on Booktrovert—particularly for nonfiction titles that thrive on intrigue and discovery. By allowing readers to participate over several days and then guiding all entrants to retail at close, Sweepstakes keep attention high and drive meaningful follow-through. Whether paired with a Giveaway for instant buzz or used independently for steady awareness, Sweepstakes help turn reader interest into lasting momentum.

Create Your Own Booktrovert Campaign

Click the “Booktrovert” tab within your NetGalley account to start using the simple campaign builder! Not yet a NetGalley client? Reach out here to get started!

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