We’ve always been proud of the flexibility that NetGalley’s tools offer publishers and authors. For well over a decade, it’s been our pleasure to help connect our clients’ books with the reviewers, booksellers, librarians, educators, and media who make recommendations to their audiences. Now, as we’re expanding our tools and branching out beyond the NetGalley community, some may ask: Why is NetGalley introducing Booktrovert? And why now?
We’re thrilled to be introducing Booktrovert because we truly believe it’s answering a need that we’ve been hearing for quite some time in our industry. The NetGalley platform and existing tools have always been very flexible, by design, so publishers could offer free digital galleys or audiobooks to trade professionals — like librarians, booksellers, educators, and media or journalists, as well as book advocates who write reviews for traditional media outlets, or online like Bookstagram, BookTok, blogs, and of course retail sites like Amazon. The primary goal of NetGalley has always been driving reviews, building buzz, increasing discoverability for books.
NetGalley is uniquely positioned to introduce a platform like Booktrovert — We’re seated in this very special place among publishers, authors, & readers.
And as the NetGalley service grew over time, and became an industry standard for digital galley distribution & book marketing, we heard over and over from publishers that they wanted to use our digital fulfillment tools for their consumer marketing efforts, too.
Kristina Radke has over 15 years of experience in book marketing, publicity, and reader engagement. In her role as Senior Vice President of Business Growth & Engagement at NetGalley (and Booktrovert), she leads an experienced, international team dedicated to helping publishers and authors achieve their goals. Kristina is a member of the Women’s Media Group, formerly served on the Board of Directors and executive committee for the IBPA, and is a proud graduate of the NYU Master’s program for book publishing. She also holds an executive education certificate in book publishing from the Yale School of Management.
In this episode of the BookSmarts Podcast, she discusses plans to launch of Booktrovert, a new consumer marketing platform for books. Booktrovert allows for easy creation of marketing campaigns with digital giveaways and interactive tools for readers, designed to complement the existing NetGalley platform. Booktrovert campaigns are available exclusively for NetGalley clients to reach U.S. readers. If you’re interested in creating Booktrovert campaigns, reach out to concierge [at] netgalley.com.
June is Audiobook Month, and this year we’ll be turning up the volume to celebrate the power of storytelling on the go. From busy commuters to multitasking parents and avid readers who love a good narrator, audiobooks continue to redefine how we consume books.
Here at NetGalley, the numbers continue to tell an exciting story of their own!
📈 Audiobook Engagement at a Glance
Recent site data from NetGalley.com highlights the surge in audiobook interest. Over the past year (from 1 April 2024 – 31 March 2025), we’ve seen:
21% growth in Member Interest:257,000 NetGalley members have expressed interest in the audio format as of April 2025.
61% growth in Audio Availability: Publishers added close to 3,000 audiobooks to NetGalley for members to access and send feedback.
57% Feedback Rate: Approved members submitted approximately 13,000 reviews and feedback for audiobooks on average each month.
These figures reflect not just a growing audience but a deeply engaged one, eager to explore and discuss new audio content. Make sure to review these recommended strategies for promoting audiobooks on NetGalley!
During this year’s Audio Publishers Association Conference, the session “Marketing Like You Mean It” (led by Darcy Piedmonte, NetGalley’s Director of Customer Acquisition & Success) emphasized the power of intentional audiobook promotion. Here are a few key insights that align with what we’re seeing at NetGalley:
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.
