Association of American University Presses and Firebrand Technologies Partner to Bring NetGalley to University Presses

June 3, 2010—New York, NY and Newburyport, MA—The Association of American University Presses (AAUP) announces a new benefit program in partnership with NetGalley, a web-based service that provides a robust toolset for publishers to share digital galleys and press kits with their contacts as well as tapping into new communities of professional readers. In addition to reaching traditional reviewers and media contacts, university presses can use NetGalley to share digital galleys with the international rights market, librarians, booksellers and retailers, bloggers, and professors requesting desk copies.

The cost of NetGalley for an AAUP member publisher will depend on the number of titles hosted on the site each month. Regardless of their level of participation, AAUP members are eligible to receive a 10% discount off the normal NetGalley monthly subscription rate.

“Digital galleys are an important new tool for university presses and NetGalley’s elegant solution can offer our members savings in both time and money along with the chance for their books to reach a wider array of reviewers and buyers,” said AAUP Electronic & Strategic Initiatives Director Brenna McLaughlin.

Island Press is one of the first AAUP members to subscribe. “We have been using the NetGalley service since February 2009. It is an extremely valuable resource for a small press in our outreach to the rapidly changing media world. The advantage of offering early, secure electronic review and exam copies to media as well as professors, has allowed us to reduce our review copy mailings and to extend our outreach,” said Jaime Jennings, Senior Publicist, Island Press.

NetGalley provides the real-time transmission of digital galleys and multimedia press kits. Publishers can also allow readers to request a printed galley. A major benefit of the program is the opportunity for readers to download secure, searchable, full-color digital galleys to their desktop or to devices such as the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, or Kobo eReader. For university presses, NetGalley can aid in their desk/exam copy needs by allowing this process to be done faster, at lower cost and with real-time reporting on who is reading a title.