Name: Kristina Radke, International Account Director at NetGalley
Website URL: www.netgalley.com
Social Media Links:
https://www.facebook.com/NetGalley/
Is there anything new or up-and-coming going on with NetGalley that you can share with our members?
NetGalley continues to grow and evolve, and we’re always excited to announce new features and partnerships. In the last couple of months, we’ve announced partnerships with the Australian Library and Information Association and the Christian Booksellers Association, and also updated the site to be more mobile-friendly. We have 320,000 influencers using NetGalley now—librarians, booksellers, educators, media, and reviewers and bloggers—who are visiting the site to discover new books and leave feedback for publishers and authors.
What are some ways authors of self-published books, or books published by small or educational presses can more effectively use NetGalley to help their book stand out?
The most important thing to do is to make a plan before you dive into any marketing or publicity efforts. Have a specific idea in mind of what you want to achieve and what steps you will take to achieve it. Which communities are most important to you, and why?
Once you have those answers, you’ll have a better sense of how NetGalley tools can be used to achieve your goals. Take advantage of things like the widget (an auto-approved link) to directly invite your own contacts or experts in your field to download your content; write specific messages to contacts to detail what you want them to do next, and why; use the reports in NetGalley to gauge your progress and follow up with readers.
What do you most enjoy about what you do?
The best part of my job is connecting with authors and publishers to better understand their goals, and what struggles they’re facing. It’s important to me to be able to help address those goals by offering strategies to use NetGalley’s tools. I learn a lot from our clients during conversations about their books!
Are there any people and/or books that have inspired you along your journey?
I know I’m speaking to the Nonfiction Authors Association, but I have to admit that fiction has always spoken to me most insistently. Books and authors I find myself going back to again and again include The Chronicles of Narnia, The Book of Lost Things, plenty of Ray Bradbury. The journeys in these books really serve to detail how we’re all the same at heart, and I love that about fantasy and science fiction.
In terms of nonfiction, biographies and memoirs are interesting to me for the same reasons. Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan was fascinating for its first-person unreliability and medical mystery. Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation by Judith Mackrell is about some of the most (in)famous women of the Jazz Age—a period of time of which I have a lot of personal interest.
Can you share something that people may be surprised to learn about you?
I came to publishing after having been a high school English teacher for a number of years. I always loved reading, personally, but I also had the opportunity to share that passion for literature with teenagers and see how it could transform their thinking and analytical thinking. It was a rewarding experience that always reminds me of the power of books and information.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
We’re pleased to work with a number of independent authors, university presses, and publishers of all sizes. I look forward to sharing more with the Nonfiction Authors Association about how NetGalley can expand and enhance all the efforts your authors are making on behalf of their books.
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Want to hear more of Kristina’s insights on how you can use NetGalley? Join NFAA for the teleseminar “How to Leverage NetGalley for Book Reviews” October 12, 2016 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST. Go to https://nonfictionauthorsassociation.com/teleseminar-kristina-radke-on-how-to-leverage-netgalley-for-book-reviews/
