After a four-year gestation period, Rosetta Solutions is rolling out a new Web service that will allow advance reading copies to be transmitted electronically. "When we first thought of this four years ago, people weren't that interested," explained Rosetta president Ted Treanor. "Now lots of publishers are interested." Currently undergoing beta testing, www.netGalley.com is expected to launch officially May 31, right before BookExpo America. Last week, Treanor signed his first client, Hachette Book Group; the publisher's new science fiction imprint, Orbit, will try out the service. Treanor said he expects to have several more publishers on board before the formal launch.
Through netGalley, publishers can manage the distribution of ARCs, be it in print or electronic form, from one place. Rosetta assigns participating publishers a netGalley password that gives authorized personnel access to a particular section on the site; digital files can be placed there by the publisher or by Rosetta. Once a title is on the site, publishers can alert reviewers to the availability of the galley and deliver it in either traditional print form or in various electronic formats. Audiobook editions can also be sent via netGalley.
Although the final pricing has not yet been determined, Rosetta will charge publishers on a per-title basis and will offer volume discounts. Publishers can send out as many electronic editions of the galley as they want. While it may be difficult to persuade traditional reviewers to accept electronic files rather than print galleys, Treanor said the electronic dissemination of galleys should encourage publishers to send copies to bloggers and other possible reviewers in the new media world.
That is what Orbit will primarily use the service for, said marketing and publicity director Alex Lencicki. "This is a practical way to get galleys out to more reviewers," Lencicki said. Although several reviewers have expressed interest in receiving digital galleys, Lencicki doesn't expect to eliminate printed ARCs any time soon. "We'll look at how people respond, but I suspect we'll be doing printed galleys for quite a while," he said.
Treanor is pitching netGalley to the review media as well as publishers. NetGalley allows review publications to redistribute galleys to their reviewers. In addition, since both parties can track galleys, the site has the potential to reduce friction between publishers and reviewers over the status of galleys, Treanor said. Over time, Treanor also plans to make netGalley available to other industry members, including booksellers and librarians.
