"How Libraries Are Bypassing Big Publishers To Build Their E-Book Offerings"

A PaidContent article reports on Library Journal accepting “romance e-originals” e-books  for possible review using NetGalley. Romance is the, “fastest-growing segment of the e-book market, comprising over 20 percent of all e-book purchases.”

Here’s how the company describe themselves:

NetGalley delivers secure, digital galleys to professional readers. If you are a reviewer, blogger, journalist, librarian, bookseller, educator, or in the media, you can use NetGalley for FREE to read and request titles before they are published.

As you just read they DO work with librarians. (-: Here’s a list of the publishers using NetGalley.***  You can register here. It’s free.

Laura Hazard Owen from PaidContent also reports that LJ plans to expand into other genres.

See Also: Full Text of News Release

Notes:

1. We wonder if other review publications (Booklist, Choice, and Kirkus are three examples) have plans to do the same type of thing?

2. The only issue we have with the article has nothing to do with the reporting but with the use of the word “library” and “libraries.”

As we’ve said in the past all libraries are not the same. This story focuses on public libraries, the primary type where romance titles are acquired. However, other categories of libraries (academic, school, and special) purchase other genres and formats and provide different types of services. Generalizing and saying “all libraries” is better than no mention at all but at the same time it can be confusing for all involved. With just a few extra keystrokes the problem can be corrected.

*** The list of publishers working with NetGalley grows regularly. In fact, as we were preparing this post, an email arrived announcing that NetGalley is now working with Dark Horse Comics.

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Libraries, News, Public Libraries, Reports