NetGalley Community Update

July 2023

Over the past year, NetGalley has diligently focused on re-engaging our community to ensure members actively return again and again to discover and request books, and share their reviews and feedback with publishers as well as their wider audiences. We also introduced some important changes to our Member Types (and subtypes), including better visibility into each member’s primary audience, to provide more meaningful ways for you to find the right audience for your books on a micro-level. We are thrilled to share the most updated stats about the NetGalley community!

With approximately 550,000 active* members using NetGalley.com, our diverse community of reviewers, booksellers, librarians, educators, media/journalists, and book trade professionals all share a common passion for books. They eagerly provide early feedback and enthusiastically promote books they discover to their respective audiences.

About 150,000 of these members also indicated their interest in audiobooks! This is an increase of 375% since summer 2021 (which was 1 year after audiobooks were first introduced on NetGalley).

150,000 NetGalley.com members have expressed interest in audiobooks, a 375% increase since 2021.

Members who listen to audiobooks are very likely to submit reviews & feedback. The Approval-to-Feedback rate for audiobooks is 53%!

All activity on NetGalley is like a funnel: The more Impressions a book has, the more overall activity it will receive. Once members submit requests, it’s up to the publisher to approve requests so they can start to read. Depending on how many requests the publisher approves, a portion of them will result in Feedback. For digital review copies (DRCs), NetGalley.com members submit over 90,000 reviews and other feedback each month, on average**.

NetGalley.com members submit over 90,000 reviews for DRCs each month.

Beyond the NetGalley platform, our members extend their influence across various channels, including on social media, retail sites, Goodreads, and their own blogs/vlogs or more traditional media, as well as using their powerful word-of-mouth with customers of their bookstores or patrons of their libraries. Our members find fulfillment in helping books succeed!

We are proud to partner with the American Library Association and American Booksellers Association to verify NetGalley members who are also members of these (and other) organizations.

10,700+ verified ALA members use NetGalley to browse, request, and purchase books for their libraries.
Librarians on NetGalley generate nearly 6,000 LibraryReads nominations monthly!
1,400+ verified ABA members use NetGalley to browse, request, and purchase books for their stores.
Booksellers on NetGalley generate nearly 1,200 Indie Next Nominations monthly!

NetGalley members read a wide variety of books, and can browse and sort the NetGalley catalog based on category, pub date, most-requested status, and more to find exactly what they’re looking for. Category or genre popularity on NetGalley closely mirrors the market as a whole. The charts below show the most popular fiction and nonfiction categories among members using NetGalley. Data includes NetGalley.com members who have opted-in to promotions in these categories, as of June 2023.

 *Based on member category survey conducted February 2023.
 *Based on member category survey conducted February 2023.

Our members love to be notified about books that match their interests! 56% of NetGalley.com members are opted in to receive newsletters and campaigns about books in their preferred categories, and our promotional programs are highly valued for their strong engagement rates. During Q2 2023, our U.S. eBlasts averaged a 59% Open Rate with 5% CTR! 

Our popular promotions continue to deliver outstanding results while remaining at a competitive price. Learn more in our 2023 Media Kit. It includes more examples, stats, and pricing! 

56% of active NetGalley.com members are opted in to receive newsletters and campaigns about books in their preferred categories!

Just as we feel privileged to work with publishers, authors, and your books, it’s also our sincere pleasure to work with our reader members! They are passionate book advocates who are excited to participate in each book’s success. As our community continues to grow and evolve, we’re committed to continuing to support them in this endeavor—while also guiding them to provide valuable reviews and feedback, all with the goal to help other readers learn about a book, and decide whether they want to read it. With this in mind, we continually provide tips and best practices like the following, which you’re welcome to share with your readers, too!

THERE’S EVEN MORE INFORMATION! Click here to view the full July 2023 Community Update.

All stats are from June 2023 unless otherwise noted.

*NetGalley.com Members with activity since April 2020

**Based on average monthly numbers for DRCs from June 2022 – June 2023 on NetGalley.com

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I Love My Librarian 2018 Awards

For ten years, the ALA initiative I Love My Librarian has been recognizing the best librarians in the country. Communities nominate the librarians who are best supporting their patrons, providing creative programming, increasing intellectual curiosity, and bringing resources to those who need them. Because we also love librarians, NetGalley attended the award ceremony for the ten winners of the 2018 I Love My Librarian Award at the Carnegie Corporation of New York on Dec. 4.

Winners thanked their colleagues for their support and their patron communities for letting them do what they love for a living. They affirmed libraries as places for patrons to explore their own identities and for marginalized groups to find acceptance and support.

One of the patrons who nominated Lindsey Tomsu, a teen and YA librarian from the Algonquin Area Public Library District, described the work she does to create an inclusive atmosphere. “She creates a haven for…teens questioning their identities and orientations, diverse teens, rich and poor alike…” Stephanie H. Hartwell-Mandella, head of Youth Services at the Katonah Village Library thanked the librarians who didn’t bat an eye when she was a curious adolescent who started checking out romance novels. Paula Kelly, library director at Whitehall Public Library, is committed to keeping her diverse community’s needs at the forefront of her programming. She sends a bus every month to pick up patrons (mostly elderly members of immigrant families) to transport them to and from the library. Her library also partners with its Bhutanese community to preserve their shared history and stories, and to share those stories with other Pittsburgh residents. Learn more about all of the 2018 winners here.

Librarians are an important part of the NetGalley community, so we are always curious to learn more about what makes their communities and their libraries unique. And we know that this information is valuable to publishers, as well! Check out our Ask a Librarian series to read more.

Congratulations to the 2018 I Love My Librarian Award winners from all of us at NetGalley!

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