CONTACT: Michael Covington, Information & Education Director, ECPA
480-966-3998 ext. 209, mcovington@ecpa.org
PHOENIX, AZ — March 1, 2010 – The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association announces its official partnership with NetGalley, a web-based program that provides a robust toolset for publishers to store and deliver digital copies of their galleys to existing contacts as well as the ability to tap into whole new communities of professional readers. The new program allows publishers to cut the costs associated with mailing galleys to traditional reviewers as well as reaching out to communities of readers such as librarians, booksellers, retailers and bloggers.
The cost of NetGalley for an ECPA member publisher will depend upon the number of titles hosted on the site each month. Regardless of their level of participation, all ECPA members receive a 10% discount off the normal NetGalley rate.
“This new solution will have a direct bottom-line benefit for our members,” says Michael Covington, Information & Education Director for ECPA. “This service can dramatically streamline the way publishers work with their review communities, in the ways both content and reviews are delivered. The days of printing and shipping galley copies to reviewers and then playing the ‘waiting game’ can truly be over.”
NetGalley offers the real-time transmission of galleys and digital press kits, and still affords the reader the opportunity to request a printed galley if the publisher chooses. A major benefit of the program is the opportunity for readers to download secure digital galleys to their desktop or to e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes & Noble Nook. Publishers control who is approved to view their titles and are equipped with the tools necessary to manage those contacts. Additionally, publishers can tap into a whole new pool of professional readers because of NetGalley’s extensive network of members.
There is no charge for a reviewer to sign up for a NetGalley account and create a profile indicating their category preferences as well as their credentials as a professional reader. Each member account hosts a type of NetGalley inbox that links to title profiles of books they have requested to review by browsing the NetGalley catalog as well as books they have been approved to review. Finally, publishers are equipped with a marketing toolbox and assistance from NetGalley that utilizes social media as well as e-mail campaign management to communicate promotional information and help keep their readers engaged.
Still in its early stages, two major ECPA member publishers have already signed up for the service. Moody Publishers and Barbour publishing are the first ECPA members to subscribe. According to Mary Burns, Vice President of Barbour: “NetGalley has allowed us to offer more information about our titles to reviewers. Because of printing and mailing costs, we were limited in what items to send out to reviewers. Now with an electronic press kit we can really expand on the information we offer to our NetGalley community and save money.”
ECPA has already partnered with Firebrand Technologies, NetGalley’s parent company, to offer ECPA Title Management Web, an online solution that allows marketing departments of any size publisher to manage the data for their title listing in one convenient location.
###
About ECPA
The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international non-profit trade organization, comprised of nearly 200 member companies worldwide, representing a combined revenue of nearly $2 billion. Founded in 1974, ECPA is dedicated to serving the Christian publishing industry through equipping its members through cutting-edge technology, meaningful data, dynamic educational opportunity and unprecedented access to markets. For more information about ECPA, contact us at: 480-966-3998 phone, 9633 South 48th Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85044, info@ecpa.org www.ecpa.org
About Firebrand Technologies
Firebrand Technologies (www.firebrandtech.com) provides steadfast leadership and seamless information flow throughout the publishing process. Firebrand’s Title Management Solutions track titles from pre-acquisition through post-production; our Eloquence Metadata Solutions are the fastest, most accurate and cost-effective way to implement ONIX. NetGalley delivers digital galleys to professional readers; our Ecommerce Solutions help deliver direct-to-consumer sales and landing pages.