Just a few weeks ago we were musing about how to get digital comics reviewed, and in our ongoing conversations about this, it definitely seems to be the wave of the future. And now Dark Horse has made it official by joining NetGalley, a service that has been automating galley distribution for book publishers for a few years now. Instead of sending out review copies to a kabillion different sites and magazines, publishers can just send them to NetGalley — reviewers sign up for an account and you’re off to the races.
Dark Horse is the first comics publisher to sign in with NetGalley; publishers must pay to join the service, a set-up fee plus a monthly cost based on how many titles they offer. While this doesn’t sound like a cost cutting measure, given the growing costs of printing and mailing review copies to the legions of comics-reviewing outlets, this could be a very big cost saving measure for Dark Horse.
We’ve never used NetGalley ourselves, having heard various different things about it. But looks like we’ll be starting soon.
Dark Horse has partnered with Diamond Book Distributors and NetGalley to make twenty titles available each month to reviewers, bloggers, librarians, booksellers, and media professionals! While there are currently one hundred publishers using this service, Dark Horse will be one of the first comics publishers to participate. By making its titles available for instant access in the NetGalley catalog, Dark Horse hopes to reach as wide an audience as possible, combining its current reach with NetGalley’s massive membership of over 26,500 professional readers.
NetGalley allows Dark Horse to offer full-color graphic novels and digital press kits (including book trailers, audio and video files, press materials, and images), all in a central location. Those with approved access will be able to download secure galley files to read on their computers and other preferred platforms, including the iPad.
“Dark Horse has a proud tradition of innovation and we’re pleased to work with another innovator—NetGalley—to make early reading copies of our titles available to reviewers, booksellers, librarians, and our partners in media around the world,” said Micha Hershman, VP of marketing at Dark Horse.
There is no charge for professional readers to register and use the site, and we encourage all of our partners in the media and book trades to sign up today at NetGalley.com.
I just put in two requests. Hopefully they’ll be granted.
I’ve used NetGalley a few times and I like it overall but I’m not a fan of Adobe Digital Editions. Now, that’s more on Adobe than it is on NetGalley, and I understand why it’s used, but it’s just an annoying program.
Still, I absolutely welcome the expansion of the comics/graphic novel section. I was probably a bit too excited when the Dark Horse stuff starting showing up last week.
I’ll tell you, Heidi, I’ve been astonished at how the publishing world in general has been so slow moving on digital review copies and have found comics to be much more enlightened in that area – with the exception of the Big Two, who I hope will step up. Comics in particular benefit from this because of the fast turnaround involved – and if you’re writing these things for an audience outside the comics world bubble, it’s hard to be timely. In my experience, DH has been great, along with Fantagraphics, Oni, and Top Shelf, and hopefully this move will just spur on more companies to follow.
On the other hand … sometimes reading longer graphic novels digitally is a big pain … maybe if I had an iPad it would be a happier experience for me!
Digital Manga’s eManga.com has been doing this for years now and their service is free. Good to see other publishers are finally getting into it too.