Boosting Online Reviews with NetGalley

To get Ana Lal Din’s indie YA fantasy debut Descent of the Drowned in front of an engaged YA audience, we knew online reviews would be key to the book’s success. And we also knew that one of the keys to securing early reviews is posting advanced reader copies on NetGalley.

The online platform caters to librarians, educators, booksellers, bloggers, media and reviewers, who can download early digital copies of books for potential review. Descent of the Drowned was made available to the site’s more than 400,000 subscribers for a limited time, and we managed a promotional ad spot on the site to boost exposure.

On NetGalley, the book received 220 reviews, 1,009 downloads, 285 cover up-votes, 68 5-star reviews and 82 4-star reviews.

We also personally followed up with every person who downloaded a copy of the book on NetGalley, to encourage them to post reviews on Goodreads, Amazon their blog and social media.

As a result, Descent of the Drowned had over 100 reviews on Goodreads at the time of launch, a number which only grew after the author celebrated her pub date! These early reviews were essential for helping a first-time author gain the following she deserved.