NetGalley

Lately, I've been thinking of sticking my neck out by reaching out to authors and publishing houses and offering my services as a book reviewer. It's true that my reading list has increasingly come to feature titles of more recent publication (more so now that I'm armed with a Kindle); yet putting myself in a position to write about upcoming and soon-to-be-published titles has so far been an elusive goal.

Then I discovered NetGalley.

To put it simply, NetGalley is a service that gives people who write about books access to electronic galley proofs or advance copies of titles due for publication. Users (that is to say, reviewers) sign up for an account, provide information about themselves such as where their writing may be featured (note: blogs count), and then browse catalogues made available by a variety of publishers. Any user can request access to a title that catches their fancy. These requests are then processed by the title's publisher; if granted, the requesting user is then provided the galley, access to press kits about the title (if available), and a facility to send their written review to the book's publisher as a courtesy, if so desired.

Galleys can be read a variety of ways once approved. Naturally, the site itself has a preview function for quick and easy viewing; but there is the added convenience of downloading the title or having it sent to one's Kindle. In the former case, Adobe Digital Editions is required, and the galley will be presented in a pre-publication PDF format with a time-bound DRM license. On the other hand, the alternative is to have NetGalley send a converted version of the file in .azw format directly to one's Kindle (you'll need the appropriate settings for this). However, it would appear that the Kindle option is not available for all titles, nor can one tell beforehand which titles support it.

My first foray into NetGalley perhaps provided me with the entire spectrum of possible outcomes one can expect from the service -- a baptism by fire, so to speak. I requested three titles, and was approved access to two (it seems you get a polite email stating that your request has been denied, if that happens to be the case). Since I hadn't tried the Kindle's document conversion feature, I had the first title delivered to my Kindle's @free.kindle.com address. Although that galley was readable and I could now take it anywhere, its formatting unfortunately left much to be desired (like most PDFs on a Kindle). It was readable, though, and I was willing to live with it.

The second title for which I received approval did not have a Kindle option, forcing me to download it to Adobe Digital Editions. In this format, the downloaded copy was a pre-publication proof with a license that would expire after 55 days. Personally, it would seem this route is a better way to go about reading these materials, especially with a supported tablet (or in my case, an 11" Macbook Air).

These quirks notwithstanding, I'm glad I happened upon the site. It's a valuable resource for book bloggers, a great means to discover new titles, and an accessible way to build one's portfolio of reviews as a writer. Who knows? Maybe in the not too distant future I'll make a name for myself as a celebrated book reviewer, all because I signed up at NetGalley.