NetGalley is thrilled to announce an exciting new way for your books to gain national attention in Canada! Our expanded partnership with the Canadian Independent Booksellers’ Association (CIBA) supports a new initiative designed to amplify standout titles: The Booksellers’ List.
What Is The Booksellers’ List?
The Booksellers’ List is a seasonal collective marketing program created by CIBA to spotlight 20 new books that independent booksellers across Canada believe deserve broader visibility. Titles are nominated for the list by CIBA members and selected based on enthusiasm and relevance to Canadian readers.
As CIBA notes, “In a time of shrinking book media, indie bookstores can use their collective strength to ensure readers have a new way to discover a diverse range of books, recommended by Canadians for Canadians.”
For NetGalley publishers, this is a powerful opportunity to have your titles endorsed and elevated by Canadian booksellers who know what resonates in their communities!
How NetGalley Helps Publishers Connect with The Booksellers’ List
CIBA verified Canadian Booksellers can now nominate books for The Booksellers’ List directly within their NetGalley accounts. This means your titles can be put forward for consideration by booksellers while they’re actively engaging with your content via reviews and other feedback on NetGalley. No changes to your account are necessary to start receiving these nominations!
The information below was published in June 2025. For the updated demographics about Booktrovert users, visit our newer article (Oct 2025): Who’s the Audience on Booktrovert.com
For more info, or to get started with Booktrovert, reach out here.
We have been absolutely thrilled by the reception of Booktrovert from publishers and authors who are excited to be pre-scheduling campaigns! Today, we’re answering a question that many have asked – Who is the Booktrovert community, and how is it different from NetGalley?
Wait, first tell me… what is Booktrovert?
If you haven’t already heard about Booktrovert, please take a peek at our first announcement here or view the short Booktrovert 101 webinar we hosted in late April. Put simply: Booktrovert is a standalone consumer marketing platform powered by NetGalley, where any reader can celebrate their love of books by participating in fun bookish activities, digital book giveaways and special promotions created by publishers or authors. Booktrovert is exclusively for NetGalley clients to reach U.S. readers.
Ok, so who are these readers?
“Booktrovert” isn’t just a cute name. When we were deciding how to brand our new platform, we had a lot of conversations about why people love to read… Why do they pick up a book in the first place? There are so many reasons someone might reach for a book – to find escape or comfort, to learn something new, to understand other perspectives, etc. We talked about the fact that people who read aren’t just introverts who, by definition, ‘turn inward’, and they aren’t just extroverts who ‘turn outward’. A Booktrovert is anyone who turns bookward… for any reason! The name encompasses someone who reads one book a year as easily as it takes into account someone who reads 100 books a year.
The Booktrovert community includes anyone who might turn to a book. Imagine it like the venn diagram below. The green NetGalley community in the center includes book advocates and industry professionals like librarians, booksellers, educators, journalists, media professionals, and reviewers who discover and recommend new books to their audiences. (Between January – March 2025, the NetGalley.com community submitted over 430,000 reviews and feedback for books and audiobooks. Read the 2025 NetGalley Community Update here.)
The NetGalley community’s influence extends out into the world through their reviews and their work in bookish spaces to promote your books to the middle circle – that pink community of avid readers. And now, with Booktrovert, you can extend your reach even further into the purple circle, utilizing our tools to reach any consumer!
We’re cultivating a community you can activate to fill your sales funnel… in parallel, or in conjunction with, the NetGalley community. By creating Booktrovert.com as a standalone website, we are thrilled to offer publishers and authors a streamlined consumer marketing opportunity for the widest audiences, while still leveraging and retaining the professional community that exists at NetGalley.
How are you bringing readers to Booktrovert? What’s the community-acquisition plan?
Newburyport, MA (April 30, 2025)—NetGalley, LLC, the recognized industry-standard for digital galley distribution and book marketing, and Rakuten Kobo, global digital reading retailer, announced today a new technology partnership for the collaborative development of an integrated Kobo reading option connected to the NetGalley platform.
Starting today, NetGalley clients can bulk-enable a “Send to Kobo” reading option for their digital review copies in advance of a late May launch to NetGalley members. Once live, the Kobo integration will allow NetGalley members to seamlessly send NetGalley epub files to their Kobo eReaders or the Kobo app, offering greater reading flexibility and convenience without the need for sideloading. ePub files will be protected with Kobo’s proprietary DRM.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Rakuten Kobo to bring this streamlined reading option to the NetGalley community,” said NetGalley President Lindsey Lochner. “At NetGalley, we’re committed to making books easily and securely accessible to members, however they like to read—and we’re proud to have co-created a complete end-to-end connection between NetGalley and Kobo to ensure NetGalley members can access books on their preferred device.”
“This partnership with NetGalley reflects our dedication to a more open approach to digital reading, where readers have more control over the way they experience books,” said Rakuten Kobo CEO, Michael Tamblyn. “By launching with easy ‘Send to Kobo’ ePub support, we are giving to NetGalley members what we hope is the best possible reading experience, taking full advantage of the format’s flexibility and customization options on their Kobo devices and in the Kobo app. We’re excited to see how this integration enhances the way readers discover and engage with new books, and we’re committed to expanding format support as we move forward.”
Following NetGalley’s January 2025 launch of a new proprietary in-browser reader, the addition of “Send to Kobo” is a further enhancement to the list of NetGalley’s Reading Options in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and France. At launch, the Kobo reading option will be available for ePub files, with PDF support expected later this year. The Kobo reading option will be introduced on the Japanese domain once PDF support is available.
“Send to Kobo” will be available to NetGalley members starting late May. Additionally, once Booktrovert—NetGalley’s forthcomingconsumer marketing platform—is live in late June 2025, Kobo will be one of three default options for eBook giveaway fulfillment.
Both NetGalley and Kobo are excited about the positive impact this partnership will have on the book community. For more information, contact concierge@netgalley.com.
The London Book Fair 2025 was busy – both for NetGalley and for the book trade in general. Publishing Perspectives reports around 300,000 attendees and a 10% increase in activity in the International Rights center. It was certainly noticeable how busy all the halls at Olympia were, especially on the first two days of the fair. It felt like old times, even as we ushered in the new with our Firebrand Group stand moving to a bigger, better and more spacious area.
With more room in our stand, we were able to conduct even more meetings than usual and make the most of our whole Firebrand Group – NetGalley, Firebrand Technologies, Supadu, and Media Do International – being in the same place at the same time.
Clients & colleagues of the Firebrand Group at London Book Fair
While there are uncertainties out there for global publishing, this year’s theme, “Defining the Future of Creative Content”, hinted at the number of conversations surrounding AI. There was an energy and a spark across the fair as businesses weighed the threats and opportunities throughout the industry.
The announcement of Booktrovert – a brand new, standalone consumer marketing platform powered by NetGalley – was timed to coincide with the fair. Booktrovert will be launched in Q2 2025, as a destination website where readers can celebrate their love of books by participating in digital giveaways, special promotions, and fun bookish activities. Publishers and authors looking to reach U.S. readers will be able to start scheduling campaigns very soon!
Aside from the meetings and the long queues for coffee, London Book Fair is all about connections. The opportunity to discuss ideas in person with both clients and colleagues is always a pleasure. The energy of this year’s London Book Fair was welcome to see, and promises much for the rest of the year!
Stuart Evers (Director, NetGalley UK) and Kristina Radke (SVP, Business Growth & Engagement) at the Firebrand Group stand during LBF
The Independent Publishers Guild Spring Conference 2025 was subtitled “Going for Growth”, and it provided an opportunity for Independent and Academic Presses to discover new ways to innovate and to grow, despite the significant challenges facing the publishing industry.
After a fascinating insight into the use of data and statistics by Tim Harford, host of Radio 4’s brilliant More or Less, the conference moved on to a panel discussion on the lay of the land for independent publishers. Kate Wilson (Nosy Crow), Bella Lacey (Granta Books), and Karen Phillips (SAGE Publishing) gave a fascinating insight into what is at the forefront of all indie publishers’ minds, namely AI, increased National Insurance contributions, inflation, declining interest in reading among young people, post-Brexit trade regulations, and economic uncertainty with the U.S.
These were themes that were returned to over the course of the day, but for all the turbulence caused by these disruptions, the mood remained one of resilience and determination, looking for the positives and the opportunities available.
In this vein, Dan Mucha of World of Books shared insights on online book sales, emphasizing the importance of discoverability and reader engagement. Amongst the key takeaways was that reviews were very important for consumers, on which to base their purchasing decisions, and also to help with discoverability.
Discoverability was also covered in some detail by Michael Tamblyn, Rakuten Kobo CEO, in his session on the future of Book Subscription services. Data from Kobo’s digital subscription service, Kobo Plus, suggested that subscribers started six times more books per month than those who purchase individual titles. Furthermore, subscription sales did not appear to cannibalize traditional sales; rather, they expanded the readership.
Michael finished his session with a quick and highly informative look at AI for publishers. Ultimately, AI’s full impact remains uncertain. While it may disrupt traditional processes, it could also open new doors for creativity, efficiency, and innovation within publishing.
Closing the conference, Frank Cottrell Boyce raised an impassioned call to action regarding the decline in reading for pleasure among children. With 1 in 11 UK children growing up without a book at home, the industry must work together to find new ways to engage young readers. The publishing community, whether independent or not, has a unique opportunity to champion literacy, ensuring that future generations develop a lifelong love of reading.
The 2025 Winter Institute, presented by the American Booksellers Association, was one of the most high-energy, collaborative, and emotionally charged events we’ve attended. While we acknowledge the reports of a contentious community forum, the personal experience of the NetGalley team members who attended was one of optimism and hope. From booksellers eager to get started or learn how to utilize NetGalley even more to publishers discussing evolving industry trends, we found the gathering to be dynamic and insightful overall.
Booksellers: Learning, Listening, and Looking for Audiobooks
Tarah Theoret (VP, Community Engagement) and Darcy Piedmonte (Director of Customer Acquisition & Success)
Winter Institute remains an incredible opportunity to connect with booksellers at all stages of their careers. This year, we met many new booksellers who were excited to learn how to utilize new tools available on NetGalley (like the NetGalley Reader) and confirm that their staff could sign up for their own NetGalley accounts and use the ABA store number. Education was a key theme for us, ensuring that booksellers understand widget invites, auto-approvals, feedback expectations, and how NetGalley can help streamline their workflows.
One persistent misconception we addressed was the belief that booksellers are required to maintain an 80% Feedback Ratio on NetGalley. While it is recommended that all member types submit Feedback, we recognize that writing a review may not be a priority for booksellers in the same way it is for a journalist or consumer reviewer. As NetGalley continues to evolve, we are exploring ways to further customize the Feedback process for booksellers and other member types.
A recurring theme in our conversations? Booksellers want more audiobooks! Several expressed that audiobooks help them keep up with their TBR lists and allow them to be more effective handsellers. Our response? “Tell your sales reps how important audiobooks are to you and your staff,” because booksellers really care about reading books before including them in their inventory and selling them. In other words, hand-selling is alive and well and distinguishes the indies from other retail spaces.
Publishers: Digital Expansion and Strategic Conversations
A notable question from many publishers was, “Can you tell us more about NetGalley’s reach?” While the focus at Winter Institute remains the bookseller community, publishers are keen to hear how NetGalley connects them to independent booksellers, and also other member groups like librarians and journalists. They were interested in stats, reporting, and facilitation of communication with those who’ve interacted with their books, particularly when comp books, or additional titles by a given author are published. To learn more about NetGalley’s reach, check out our 2025 Community Update and Community Spotlight on Children’s and Middle Grade activity!
An additional trend in the Galley Room was the increasing use of QR codes for digital access. We were happy to show how easy and sustainable QR codes can be right at our table. A partnership with Patagonia Books allowed us to exclusively offer their book, Tools to Save Our Home Planet, via QR code. A number of other publishers incorporated QR codes alongside physical galleys in the Galley Room and we were thrilled by this interest in a growing digital shift. We encourage publishers to further streamline their processes by linking straight to NetGalley and ensure a seamless experience for booksellers. To that end, we also shared a QR code of our own Sustainability in Publishing post.
We also planted seeds for NetGalley’s upcoming consumer marketing opportunity, Booktrovert, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Publishers have long wanted to target both book trade professionals and consumers, but not necessarily in the same space. When they heard that “it’s coming,” excitement was palpable.
Looking Ahead: Opportunities & Next Steps
Overall, Winter Institute 2025 was an energizing reminder of the passion, dedication, and resilience of the book industry. As booksellers, publishers, and industry professionals continue to adapt and innovate, NetGalley remains committed to supporting the connections that bring books into the hands of readers everywhere.
