Tell us about your career trajectory: What brought you to book publishing and what led you to NetGalley?
My first foray into the book publishing industry was an internship at Penguin Random House during college. I was an intern for the Ebooks Development team, helping with the development and testing of tools used for ebook production. My experiences that summer really opened my eyes to how tech impacts the world of book publishing. I graduated college (with a degree in computer science and a minor in creative writing) and while job searching, I was telling people that I felt like I’d do something related to tech but not necessarily be a software engineer. I was also secretly hoping I could find something in the publishing industry. I kept an eye on the Publishers Lunch Job Board, where I stumbled across a job listing from NetGalley. It pretty much blew my mind how well the job fit with my experience and interests while also offering the opportunity to learn new things.
What does a typical day at NetGalley look like for you?
The first thing I do when my workday starts is check my email. I am part of the Product Management team and we often get emails with requests, issues, and questions from others on the NetGalley team. Throughout the day, I spend a lot of time researching and documenting, which helps with planning for improvements and new features. I also track progress on current projects, write and refine requirements for upcoming work, and help with testing to ensure the NetGalley platform looks and functions as expected.
What is your number one tip for new NetGalley members?
Take some time to look over and update your NetGalley Profile! Your NetGalley Profile should be up-to-date with the information that best represents you as a reader and book advocate.
What do you love most about your job? What do you wish people knew about your job?
I love working with so many dedicated and interesting people. I also enjoy researching, especially when we’re planning a new project. That’s always fun.
As for what I wish people knew about my job (besides what my responsibilities are and what my day-to-day looks like), not everyone knows that we work remotely at NetGalley. We’re all across the world, everyone works from home (or whatever location they work best in), and we have Slack, email, and scheduled Zoom calls as our main ways of communicating with each other.
What kind of reader are you: a mood reader, someone who crafts monthly TBRs, someone who participates in reading challenges?
Mood reader 100%! And I switch between books often. I read ebooks almost exclusively, but I’ll purchase physical copies of my favorite books and reread them. Occasionally I participate in reading challenges, but I use them more to keep track of what books I’ve read rather than to plan my next read. The Bookish Bingo boards are a lot of fun—after I finish a book (and draft my review), I look to see what box I can mark off on the board. I rarely get a bingo, but each board is a great visual of the books I read that month!
Do you have a 2022 reading resolution?
My 2022 reading resolution is to read 36 books. I would also like to read more poetry and more historical fiction this year.
An indie bookstore you love:TYPE Books in Toronto, where I spent a million hours during publishing school. Mabel’s Fables, the stuff that dreams are made of! Glad Day Bookshop, the oldest queer bookstore in the world. And I can’t forget my local indie, Someday Books, where I’ll be buying out their entire stock of board books. Sorry, did you say just one?
What does a typical day at NetGalley look like for you?
I work with publishers—both large and small—to ensure that their books and audiobooks reach the hands of book advocates and influencers. On the day-to-day, that means an inbox full of questions from publishers about how their books can see the most success on NetGalley, troubleshooting tech questions, and queries about how to best use the tools we offer to their advantage! I also do lots of one-on-one training with publishers, strategy calls, sales calls… all the calls.
What brought you to NetGalley?
I actually began using NetGalley as an intern for Second Story Press, a feminist publisher. It was my job to manage requests, and I had a blast doing it—sometimes falling behind on other projects because I loved using NetGalley so much. Studying members’ profiles and book blogs really appealed to me. After my internship was over, a sales assistant position at NetGalley happened to open up, and my former manager at the internship pushed me to apply! Nearly seven years and many job title changes later, here I am!
What recommendations do you have for anyone looking to follow a similar career path?
It was equally important to my career that I had a background in tech, as well as other more obvious publishing experience, like editorial and marketing. If you’re going through publishing school and they offer a technology specialization—take it! These types of jobs are in high demand and can be so fun and interesting. I love the tech side of my job.
What is your number one tip for new NetGalley members?
Utilize the Reader Recommended carousel on each Category page! This is where the real gems are. They’re highly rated books that were vetted by other NetGalley members, so you know they’re good! I find a lot of my future reads here, and I have yet to be disappointed.
How do you make time for reading?
That’s been a big struggle for me over the last few months! I’m currently 9 months pregnant and it can be hard to not fall asleep when I really want to be reading. A big help has really been my book club. It was formed during the pandemic and was not only a way to connect with my friends during that time but also helped me keep my eyes on a book regularly and in a way that kept me motivated and excited.
In what ways have you seen the industry change since you first started, and in what ways do you hope it continues to evolve?
I really love how much audiobook accessibility has grown over the last few years. From the dinky little one-shelf section at your local bookstore to the enormous amount of digital availability that we have now, it’s been a joy to watch the growth in this particular section of the industry.
And of course, I’m a firm believer that audiobooks are books, and listening to audiobooks totally counts as reading. Physical copy purists are just jealous we can read and eat snacks at the same time.
Do you have a 2022 reading resolution?
To find the best baby book of THEM ALL!! Seriously, my kid isn’t even born yet and his dad has read him half the library already.
Join us for a very special opportunity to connect with the NetGalley team and your peers from across the publishing industry! We have two very exciting keynote addresses for you during the Firebrand Group Community Conference, September 26- 28 in Baltimore!
Kirsty Melville
Kirsty Melville, President and Publisher of Andrews McMeel Publishing
When we connect, we feel less alone – Rupi Kaur, author of Milk and Honey
The term “Instapoetry” is used to describe short form, accessible poetry on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. It has been derided as superficial, and “not real poetry” because it originates from social media. Yet the “Instapoetry” label masks the incredible depth and intersection of creativity, marketing, technology and human connection represented by this form of expression.
In this talk, social poetry publisher Kirsty Melville provides a behind the scenes look at how this contemporary poetry phenomenon emerged, and how its impact reflects a significant shift in the publishing dynamic between authors and publishers. Rupi Kaur leads her poetry peers in kicking down the walls of publishing, and we have much to learn from their power to connect and engage with readers worldwide.
Alistair Croll
Alistair Croll is a founder, bestselling author of Lean Analytics, and conference organizer.
It’s no secret that the arrival of digital technologies has upended most aspects of human society, from how we live and learn, to how we fight and play. The pace of change can be overwhelming, and indeed has overwhelmed many of the established businesses across a wide range of industries. But these changes can be harnessed—if only we have a framework for understanding them to which we can align our organizations.
In this wide-ranging talk that borrows from science, philosophy, and technology, bestselling author Alistair Croll offers an unexpected—and often hilarious—look at how innovation actually happens. You’ll learn more about horse manure, lab-grown meat, tea clippers, the economics of coal, YouTube unboxing videos, child seats, and baggage carousels than you ever thought you wanted to.
Along the way, get a structured approach to different kinds of change, from keep-the-lights on incremental improvements to the unknowable discontinuities of complete transformation. You’ll leave with concrete concepts you can put to work immediately as Alistair shows you how to adjust your thinking so you can thrive amid rapid change.
NOTICE OF DATA BREACH
December 23, 2020
What Happened?
On Monday, December 21, 2020, NetGalley experienced a data security incident. What initially seemed like a simple defacement of our homepage has, with further investigation, resulted in the unauthorized and unlawful access to a backup file of the NetGalley database. Our database backup was stored in the Amazon Cloud. There was a temporary lapse in security protocol for one of our testing servers, and the credentials became easily attainable by a hacker.
What Information Was Involved?
It is possible that your NetGalley Profile information was exposed as a result of this incident. This information includes your login name and password, first/last name, email address, and country. Also, if supplied by you, your Bio, mailing address, phone number, birthday, company name, and Kindle email address. There is no financial information stored in the NetGalley database, so none was lost.
What Are We Doing?
We re-secured our testing sites and updated our protocols to ensure their security going forward. We have also:
Revised our database backup procedure to ensure this data is never again exposed
Changed all legacy passwords that had access to any NetGalley systems or data
Added new security features into the site to improve the security of your personal information
We are continuing to investigate this incident and ensure that no further damage is incurred.
To better protect your account security, NetGalley is requiring all members to reset their passwords. Starting December 23rd, you’ll be required to reset your password before signing in to your NetGalley account.
Other Important Information:
We have informed the FBI of this data breach, and the situation is under investigation. We will use this notice to update you with any definitive new information related to the breach. The California Secretary of State, and the EU authorities have also been notified.
Your privacy and the integrity of our service is very important. We are committed to improving our protection of your personal information.
NetGalley’s team is based across six countries and three continents, without a centralized office. As more and more publishers implement a work-from-home policy, we want to share our experiences as a virtual team. Over the years, we’ve had our fair share of trials with technology, the odd dropped conference call, and dodgy Wi-Fi connections, but we all love working from home and hope we can offer you some insights into how to work from home effectively.
A great work-from-home setup
Today we’ve gathered recommendations, hints and tips from the NetGalley team – but the important thing is to find a rhythm and routine that works for you. After all, working from home should never be more stressful than working from the office.
Make your own dedicated workspace
When we surveyed NetGalley staff, setting up your own dedicated workspace was by far the most common piece of advice. Amanda, for example, says “It helps me get in the mindset that I’m at work. For me, I have to make sure I have a door, too, that I can shut when I really need to focus on what I’m doing without any outside distractions.”
The same sentiment is shared by Alyce: “I set aside a small space in my home that I use only for work (a little desk by a window). When I sit down at my little work station in the morning, it helps me mentally focus on the work part of my day, and when my work time is done, it’s nice to be able to physically step away from my ‘work place’ and focus on other parts of my life.”
We know this isn’t always easy – as Katie points out, “Not all of us are blessed with a home office, but this doesn’t mean you should be working from your bed” – but we think you will certainly feel the benefit.
Give yourself time to adjust
For those who do not often work from home, the move can be quite disconcerting. Tarah acknowledges, “Working from home isn’t going to feel completely natural overnight – you’ve now merged your personal life with your work life, so you need to learn how to create (and maintain) boundaries.”
In those first few days, make a to-do list and look at what you’ve achieved at the end of each day. Try to think what worked and what didn’t and try to address these the following day.
Maintain a positive routine
As Brianna suggests, “Keep a routine and stick with your regular work hours.” Something echoed by Amanda:
“It’s so easy to overwork when you don’t have to worry about train schedules or beating traffic in and out of the office, and there have been many nights my husband has carried dinner up to my desk without me even realizing how late it got while I was nose-down in work.”
Dana, along with other NetGalley staff members, also notes the importance of having time before starting work. “I always aim to wake up, get ready for the day, and get that first cup of coffee in before the work day begins,” she writes. “It’s easy to fall into the routine of wake-up-and-start-work because there is no commute. Waking up and logging on immediately makes early meetings very difficult and it takes longer for me to be fully productive.
Communication is Key – (also, Don’t Fear the Phone!)
Regardless of which apps you use, make sure that everyone is using the same ones – you will be relying on them more than you’re used to. With this comes a tendency to rely solely on text-based communications. But don’t come to fear the phone, says Lindsey:
“We’re fortunate that virtual communication is easier than ever but the power of a real human voice cannot be overstated. Occasionally, email chains have the tendency to drag out longer than necessary when an issue or question could’ve been resolved quickly with a short phone call. Consider picking up the phone if it appears your words/tone/intent have been misinterpreted or can be easily clarified. Plus, talking through ideas verbally can really help to flesh them out in a way that is different than typing.”
In addition to business communications, Karina suggests that we don’t forget our working friendships. “Try to not only have business emails and work-related online conversations with your colleagues. It’s easy to just stick to those when you’re trying to work efficiently and you don’t run into each other in the office kitchen when grabbing a coffee. But it’s really important not to neglect those types of office-kitchen conversations when working remotely. It can get your mind off a current problem, lift your mood and maybe even bring you the solution to a problem from where you least expected it.”
Fran adds, “While schools are closing and major entertainment and social gatherings are being shut down, we still are human and need social interaction.”
It’s called Working from Home for a Reason…
Just because you’re at home, doesn’t mean that you are there to do all the chores. As Tarah says, “Sure, working from home has a lot of perks, including making lunch in your own kitchen, but when you’re just starting out I recommend putting on your blinders so that your work routine looks very different from your usual at-home routine.”
Israel agrees, “If there are other people in the house, they have to behave as if you were gone to the office. No interruptions, no ’quick questions’, etc. Send an email. If you’re not strict with this rule it quickly fails, so no exceptions.”
…But there’s more than one of us working at home!
If you are living with a partner, housemate or parent who is also working from home (or usually stays at home), there are all kinds of possible flashpoints. As everyone works differently at home, it is a good idea to talk about the kinds of routines you are likely to have. Designate areas, and agree on times that you can talk, perhaps having a run-down of times that you absolutely cannot be disturbed. Sharing your calendars is a good idea.
As Stuart suggests, “Do not comment on other people’s methods of working from home, and don’t be disappointed or upset if you suggest lunch together and the other person says no. You are both at work, and must try to maintain the idea that you are not working at the same office.”
Take Proper, Meaningful Breaks
This is one of the most important things to remember about working from home. It’s usual to feel that you need to be at work at all times, but just as you’re not ‘working’ every minute of the time you’re in the office, neither should you feel that you need to at home.
As Maria says, “I find it helpful to go outside (taking a walk, quick grocery shopping, walking the dog, etc.)”
And Alicia focuses on ways to stay healthy: “It’s very easy to slip into a routine that is less than healthy, but there are plenty of easy things you can do… some days I work on either an exercise ball (which is great for the back) or a standing desk. Many days I even add 5 minutes of chair yoga to my workday. Some days it is essential to take just a few minutes to recharge. Work hard, but don’t forget you can not pour from an empty cup!”
Keep comfortable
At the office, all the equipment is set up for business – ergonomically designed chairs, desks at a recommended height, big monitors – but at home, it’s a bit make-do-and-mend. Be sure you take care of yourself during the working day.
Tarah says, “Use the best chair in the house while working and make sure your laptop screen is at eye level (utilize the books you aren’t currently reading) and use a wireless keyboard and mouse. This will help your line of sight, and decrease the stress in your back. If you happen to have another monitor around, plug it into your laptop to increase your screen space – you’ll feel so much more organized.”
Stay Organized
Organization is absolutely critical when working from home. “Get even more organized than you need to when you’re in the office,” Kristina writes. “There will be fewer people checking in on your progress, so take responsibility for prioritizing your efforts and reporting to your team – no matter your job title! Everyone will appreciate a quick head’s up about the status of your projects, especially when multiple people are working on the same project. Come to an agreement with your team about what this looks like. For my team, it’s a quick end-of-day message on Slack.”
Try to enjoy yourself
At the moment it’s an unsettling time and for your own mental health, it’s best to be as positive as you can. Try to stay away from news websites for a good proportion of the day, and don’t let your social media usage increase compared to your usual day in the office. Trust us, this can be important!
Kristina also suggests looking for new opportunities. “Once you log off for the day, consider new ways to be social with friends and loved ones! I have friends who host a Facetime D&D game monthly, for instance. Or consider honing new skills–look around and you may find that there are many music and dance instructors who are offering virtual lessons if you want to get up and move. These types of gig-economists are struggling right now.”
We hope this has been a useful insight into the way we work! Please feel free to contact us at concierge@netgalley.com if there are any issues raised in this article which you would like to discuss with us. If there is anything we can do to help, just let us know.
Thanks to the NetGalley team quoted throughout!
Amanda Delatorre – QA Manager
Alyce Reese – Marketing Specialist
Katie Versluis – Client Relationship Associate
Tarah Theoret – Director, Community Engagement
Brianna Paulino – Email Marketing Specialist
Dana Cuadrado – Social Media & Administrative Assistant
Lindsey Lochner – VP, Marketing Engagement
Karina Elm – Managing Director (Germany)
Fran Toolan – CEO
Israel Carberry – Engineering Manager
Stuart Evers – Assistant Director (UK)
Maria Bodmer – Managing Director (France)
Alicia Schaefer – Customer Service & Community Assistant
Kristina Radke – VP, Business Growth & Engagement
How University of Nebraska Press uses NetGalley for their trade titles
Academic presses face unique challenges and opportunities in the publishing landscape. Their connection to universities, university funding, and grant funding is a great support as they often publish in more niche areas, but because of this they can’t always count on a built-in audience the way a big romance or YA publisher can. Plus, their books target a range of readers – from academics researching incredibly specific topics to a general trade audience. Because of the particularities of academic publishing, the way that they market books is slightly different from general trade marketing.
Here, University of Nebraska Press shares their NetGalley strategy – from how they decide which of their titles to make available to the NetGalley community, to how they help authors promote their own books, and how they capitalized on a surprise cultural zeitgeist months ahead of the publication of the memoir From Chernobyl with Love.
As an academic publisher, what is your overall NetGalley strategy?
We are an academic publisher and university press. However, we are lucky to have two trade imprints (Bison Books and Potomac Books) as well as a robust list of Nebraska books that are truly for general readers, i.e. creative nonfiction, poetry, sports history, and much more. Because of our unique list, and limited profile on NetGalley, we tend to make books available that we feel appeal to the larger NetGalley audience or books with authors who are well-connected, active on social media, and ready to promote their forthcoming book.
NetGalley widgets have been most helpful when a contact is overseas or they need the book asap for an interview or short deadline. I also love the feedback activity snapshot, along with the reviews. It’s so encouraging to see a cover that’s been “liked” 52 times or that a description is really resonating with readers.
How do you think about promoting titles to both academic audiences and to commercial ones? How do you encourage your authors to promote their books?
Each of our books are important, but not every book has the luxury of multiple audiences. The fact is, some academic books are meant for scholars in their respective fields and not for the casual reader interested in the subject. And that’s ok! NetGalley users can expect our digital review copies to be readable, different, and occupying an area where perhaps larger publishers wouldn’t publish. Those who Favorite our page will see trade books of Western fiction, memoir, poetry, and sports (usually baseball!).
Know your authors’ strengths (and weaknesses). If an author isn’t comfortable doing speaking engagements, set them up for success with an op-ed opportunity to share their expertise with a larger readership that normally wouldn’t come across their book.
I always encourage authors to talk about their book in public spaces. Whether that’s online or at a bookstore or library event; if an author is engaging with their potential audience their book will likely have more success. My advice for academic publishers is to know your authors’ strengths (and weaknesses). If an author isn’t comfortable doing speaking engagements, set them up for success with an op-ed opportunity to share their expertise with a larger readership that normally wouldn’t come across their book.
What are some of the unique challenges you face as an academic press competing with big trade publishers for reader attention?
It is a challenge going “up against” the big houses. I can’t count the amount of times we’ve had a very similar book set to publish and then a big house announces their title publishing right before ours. Usually their book will drown out our own because of the sheer volume of resources they have compared to ours. But on the other hand, sometimes those situations benefit us because our book will get grouped in with a bigger title’s national review. We also offer books that bigger houses are simply not publishing. That fact alone makes our list unique and hopefully intriguing to our readers.
How do you engage your authors in the pre-publication process?
Katya Cengel is a repeat author of ours. She’s a journalist and no stranger to how difficult it is to promote a new book. We wanted to give her the tools she needed when promoting her work and having the digital galley available [via NetGalley] was a part of that plan.
Katya’s previous books are Bluegrass Baseball: A Year in the Minor League Life (Nebraska, 2012) and Exiled: From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to California and Back (Potomac Books, 2018). The former was published just as I was beginning my career at Nebraska but the book’s topic came up years after when one of the baseball players, Jose Altuve, was named the American League MVP in 2017. For the latter, the focus for Exiled began as regional California but soon became a more national story as immigration and refugees dominated national headlines. She writes about that experience here. For her Chernobyl book, we knew there was interest surrounding the show, so even though it wasn’t to be published until November 2019 – we worked together to get coverage beforehand (Cengel wrote an essay called “Doing Homebrew Vodka Shots in the Shadow of Chernobyl” for the Daily Beast in May 2019, for example).
It seems like there’s a big surge of interest in Chernobyl lately, in part due to the HBO show, Chernobyl. And maybe a general anxiety about climate disasters. How does From Chernobyl with Love fit into this trend?
The interest in Chernobyl and the publication of Katya Cengel’s book was sort of fortuitous. She writes about it eloquently in a blog post here.
She writes, “I was counting on interest in Russia and the region [after the 2016 election] to help sales of my next book,From Chernobyl with Love: Reporting from the Ruins of the Soviet Union, but I didn’t expect the younger crowd to recognize Chernobyl. I had learned this the hard way while lecturing college students about Chernobyl—considered the world’s worst nuclear accident—and being met with blank stares.
Then the summer beforeFrom Chernobyl with Love [published], HBO released Chernobyl, a television miniseries starring Emily Watson that dramatizes the 1986 nuclear plant disaster. Suddenly Chernobyl was all over the news. There were stories in USA Today, the New York Times and Vanity Fair. A generation born after the explosion suddenly was interested in what happened more than three decades ago.”
You left From Chernobyl with Love on NetGalley through its publication date and into its post-pub phase for a month. Why is that the right timing for you?
We left the book available through its publication month because often times, that is when interview requests come in. It gives us and the author a bit more time to provide quick and easy access to the book. The extra time also gives NetGalley readers a chance to finish the book and post a review if they haven’t already.
Any academic press wanting to utilize NetGalley should! My advice is to be honest and realistic about your books – what titles cross into the trade market? If you are promoting a book on NetGalley, have a purpose or plan behind it.
How do you grant access to your books?
We tend to be pretty liberal when accepting requests to download our books. If you’re a reviewer for a widely known media outlet, ALA librarian, or a bookstore owner or employee, you’ll likely be Auto-Approved. But we love to see readers with blogs or book clubs as well. Some of the best reviews have been from dedicated readers and I’ll try to share those with the authors when we receive them. It’s always nice to hear someone has read and enjoyed your book whether they work for the New York Times or are an avid reader.
How important are consumer reviews to your trade books?
Speaking only for myself here, I think consumer reviews are so important for our books! With all the never-ending-online chatter thanks to social media, it makes it more difficult to promote a book. I think a lot of people are more likely to get a book from a friend’s recommendation. So when I see a bunch of Goodreads reviews that came from NetGalley users, it makes me happy! We normally wouldn’t see that kind of response without engaging in a readerly community.
We love that so many NetGalley members are posting to Goodreads! [As of Jan 28, 2020 52% of the reviews on Goodreads mentioned that they received the book via NetGalley.] Typically those are all organic reviews. For From Chernobyl with Love, I did follow up with users who hadn’t posted a review yet to let them know that the digital galley would be archived by the end of the month. And for users who did, I simply thanked them for their reviews, whether they enjoyed the book or not. All feedback is useful.
What advice do you have for academic presses on NetGalley? How can they get the most out of their title listings?
Any academic press wanting to utilize NetGalley should! My advice is to be honest and realistic about your books – what titles cross into the trade market? If you are promoting a book on NetGalley, have a purpose or plan behind it. Maybe the author is well connected and willing to share widgets often, maybe you expect a ton of review copy requests and can’t send physical review copies, or maybe you want to experiment and see what the NetGalley community is interested in. Whatever the reason, just have one!
Rosemary Sekora is the publicity manager at the University of Nebraska Press. She is on the board of the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and coordinated the Nebraska Book Festival for four years. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is currently working on her masters in creative writing. You can follow her on Twitter at @rasekora.
