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Comparison

NetGalley vs BookSirens

NetGalley puts your advance copy in front of librarians, booksellers and reviewers for a fixed fee. BookSirens finds readers who review on Amazon and Goodreads and charges for each one. They are less alike than they look, and for most indie launches only one of them fits.

NetGalleyBookSirensArcRoster
Best forReaching librarians, booksellers and educatorsReader reviews on a small budgetKeeping and scoring the readers you already have
Who reads your bookReviewers, bloggers, librarians, booksellers, educators and mediaIts community of readers who review, matched by genreReaders you recruit and approve yourself
Price for one book$575 for a six-month listing; no public price page$10 per ARC + $2 per reader it findsFree plan; $7, $17 or $39 a month
Cheaper routeCo-op listing, e.g. IBPA members: $179 for 1 month, $299 for 3, $499 for 6$100 a year for unlimited ARCs on 2 pen namesFree plan: 1 pen name, 1 campaign, 50 reviewers
How long the book is listedSix months direct; one or three months through a co-opPromoted for three monthsAs long as your campaign runs
Review rate the vendor statesNone publishedAbout 75% of downloads, averaged across all booksShows your own rate, per reader and per campaign
Measured in one same-book campaignAbout 41% of copies reviewed72% of readers it found; 93% of invited readersNot part of that campaign
Inviting your own readersYes - a pre-approved linkYes - an invitation link; invited readers are not billedYes - that is the whole product
Getting listedRequest terms and pricing from NetGalley, or join a co-opSubmit the book; it must be acceptedNo acceptance review (content terms apply)

Comparison compiled November 2026 from NetGalley's How It Works page, IBPA's NetGalley programme and BookSirens' pricing page. NetGalley does not publish its prices; the $575 rate is the one it quotes, and IBPA co-op prices are for IBPA members. The measured rates come from one published campaign. Check current prices before you pay.

The short version

Trade readers or reader reviews.

Pick NetGalley if you want the book in libraries, bookshops or classrooms, or you write children's books, nonfiction or literary fiction where a few professional readers matter more than review volume. Look for a co-op listing before paying $575.

Pick BookSirens if you want star ratings on Amazon and Goodreads around launch day and would rather pay per reader than a fixed fee. Your book has to be accepted first.

Add ArcRoster once you have readers worth keeping. It holds one roster across every launch and shows which readers review and which only download, wherever you first found them.

What it costs

One launch, priced both ways.

A NetGalley listing bought directly costs $575 for six months, whether ten members request the book or three hundred. Through a co-op such as IBPA's, a member pays $179 for one month or $299 for three, and the co-op manages the listing.

On BookSirens, 50 readers found by the platform cost $110: $10 for the listing plus 50 × $2. Readers you invite yourself are free, and you can cap the number of readers to cap the bill.

So for a first novel that needs reviews, BookSirens costs about a fifth as much. NetGalley earns its price when the readers you need are the ones only it has. The fuller picture, with who each platform suits, is in NetGalley for indie authors and ARC sites compared.

Questions

Good to know.

Is NetGalley or BookSirens better for a self-published author?
For reader reviews on Amazon and Goodreads on a limited budget, BookSirens: you pay $10 plus $2 for each reader it finds, and it states that about 75% of downloads end in a review. For reaching librarians, booksellers and educators, NetGalley: that audience is what its $575 listing buys, and BookSirens does not have it. Many authors who use NetGalley at all use it for one book where trade attention matters, and a consumer platform for the rest.
How much cheaper is BookSirens than NetGalley?
A NetGalley listing bought directly is $575 for six months, however many members request the book. On BookSirens, 50 readers found by the platform cost $110 ($10 plus 50 x $2), and readers you invite yourself cost nothing. The closest NetGalley gets to that is a co-op listing: the Independent Book Publishers Association sells its members one month for $179 and three months for $299. Prices checked November 2026.
Which gets more reviews, NetGalley or BookSirens?
NetGalley does not publish a review rate. BookSirens publishes a site-wide average of about 75% of downloads. In the one published campaign we know of that ran the same book on both (a romantasy launch), about 41% of NetGalley copies were reviewed, against 72% for readers BookSirens found and 93% for readers the author invited through BookSirens. That is a single book in one genre, so it shows a direction, not a guarantee.
Is NetGalley legit?
Yes. NetGalley says it works with over 300 publishers in North America, the UK, Australia, Germany, France and Japan, and describes itself as an industry-standard service. Authors who are disappointed by it have often paid for trade readers when they wanted consumer reviews.
Can I use NetGalley and BookSirens for the same book?
Yes, neither requires exclusivity, and they reach different readers. Plan the timing separately: a NetGalley listing bought directly runs for six months, while BookSirens promotes a book for three.
Where does ArcRoster fit?
ArcRoster does not find readers, so it replaces neither. It is where you keep the readers who turned out to be worth keeping: one roster you own across every launch, a record of who downloaded and who reviewed, reminders before the deadline, and a reliability score for each reader. Authors typically find readers on a platform like BookSirens or NetGalley, then invite the ones who reviewed to their own ArcRoster sign-up page. There is a free plan, and paid plans are $7, $17 or $39 a month, with 20% off for life if you upgrade during the public beta.
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