We've now had another month in NetGalley, building up an advanced readership. NetGalley promises about an 80% response rate from their readership. As I've said many times, getting to 50 reviews on Amazon is key to triggering the automatic cross-marketing on that site. So, encouraging reviews is very important -- especially advance reviews.

So far, however, we are not seeing anything close to an 80% review rate. It's more like 5%. Of course, not all of the reviews are positive. But, that goes with the territory. What's difficult is knowing if/when we are going to see reviews posted -- and where we will find them.

Fortunately, NetGalley provides detailed information about the people who are downloading copies of your books. We are more than happy to share the names and emails of these potential reviews. We have heard from NetGalley that it is most effective if authors send a polite personal reminder to please post an honest review. You can even ask them to share a link with you when done.

We're committed to using this service for a while longer but will not continue it if we don't get positive results. What I would expect is more reviews and discussion about our titles -- and ultimately more sales than before. If this doesn't happen, then it was a waste of time -- and we gave away free stuff for nothing.

Here's a list of titles that have been or are currently in NetGalley. If your book is among them and you have not reached out to remind your readers, please send me a note and I will be happy to share an email list:

Redemption Courtney Frey 9781620066584

Seinsoth Steven K Wagner 9781620067161

Taking Lady Gibraltar Dick Schwirian 9781620066508

The Journey Called Life Christina Burns 9781620068519

The Mask of Minos Robert Walton 9781620066836

American Berserk Bill Morris 9781620068236

A Second Revolution C James Gilbert 9781620068281

Chasing Understanding In The Jungles of Vietnam Douglas Beed 9781620068021

Dead of Spring Sherry Knowlton 9781620068434

Planet Jesus Trilogy Douglas Brode & Shaun L Brode 9781620068458

The Silent Woman Keith Rommel 9781620064412

Tigers by the River Wylie Graham McLallen 9781620068045

What Waits Beneath Thomas Malafarina 9781620067888