Digital galley distributor NetGalley has partnered with the American Booksellers Association on a program that will facilitate broader distribution of galleys to independent booksellers. Through Digital White Box, ABA members will have access to electronic advanced copies of select print titles each month.
Beginning in February, an e-mail with the chosen titles will be sent to ABA members who have signed up for the service at the beginning of each month. Digital White Box is free to participants, and, for now, will feature roughly 10 to 15 titles in each monthly installment. The Digital White Box program expands on the existing Red and White Box programs, which provide physical galleys and book promotional information to qualifying ABA member stores.
“Every individual working at an ABA member store is a natural recommender," says Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, senior program officer at the ABA. "This program will give more of those individuals the ability to read titles early, and give more publishers the opportunity to introduce a broader selection of titles to indie booksellers.”
As the program evolves, the schedule may become more fixed as to when galleys are released in relation to publication dates, according to NetGalley president Susan Ruszala, but will still maintain the flexibility afforded by digital publishing. "Since one of the benefits of digital galleys is their use for rush titles, we don’t want to set [the schedule] in stone," says Ruszala. "Equally, on the other side, there might be a published title that is enjoying a surge of publicity…that publishers want to reintroduce to indie booksellers."
“If more individual booksellers can use our service to preview a more diverse selection of new titles, everyone wins," says Ruzsala. "We’re looking forward to working with more indie booksellers and expanding the features we offer to this community.”
