Free review copy distribution and promotion

Jellybooks is offering all Independent Publishing Guild (IPG) members free use of the Jellybooks review copy service until 30 June 2020, subject to fair use limits.

Publishers who are not IPG members can also make use of the promotion but are limited to two free books in total.

Introduction

The purpose of the Jellybooks review copy service is to give publishers a data-smart, secure and efficient platform for distributing review copies to readers using the Jellybooks Cloud Reader.

We designed the Jellybooks Cloud Reader as an ebook reading system that is easy-to-use for readers, requires no file download and no app installation. It can be used on any browser-enabled device, be it PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone, smartwatch or internet kiosk.

Opening a Publisher Account with Jellybooks

If you are not an existing Jellybooks please contact us and we will set-up a free Jellybooks publisher account for you!

How to Use This Service

The service is based on the Jellybooks Cloud Reader and the Jellybooks data and analytics platform. It is designed so that publishers can securely distribute digital advance reading copies (ARCs), complimentary review copies or similar for free to journalists, reviewers, bloggers, Bookstagrammers, Booktubers and other influencers.

Once a week, we also distribute a newsletter with selected review copies to the Jellybooks community.

The platform supports narrative books in ePub format, illustrated books in fixed-layout (FXL) ePub3 format and audiobooks.

Please note that this service is not designed for ebook samples. We have a different service dedicated to this purpose. Send us an email if you would like more information on our data-smart ebook sample distribution platform. 

Distributing Review Copies

Jellybooks has an open format and a closed format for distributing review copies. This promotion covers the open format only.

Under the open format we provide a link (URL) to the review copy. This link can be distributed to readers by email, social media, as QR code on printed materials or similar. There is no limit on how many readers you can invite.

The link is accessible directly from the Candy portal after you have uploaded your book. Simply click on the cover of the book for which you want the link and go to the tab labelled “dashboard” where you will be able to retrieve the link.

The link is available as soon as you have entered all the meta-data and uploaded the required (ePub3) files. There will be a delay of a few days if you have asked us to convert a Word or ePub2 file into an ePub3 file for you.

Please note that you can modify this link with UTM parameters by using a UTM generator tool, such as the one provided by Google. We provide sign-up data on a per-link basis.

You can also generate reviews by requesting (and qualifying) for distribution through the Jellybooks community. More details on this aspect can be found later in this document.

Engagement Data and Analysis

Sign-up Statistics

Under the “Secondary” tab on the Candy dashboard, you will find a tab called “traffic sources”. Here you can view the number of readers who have signed up by channel.

Dashboard

Under the tab “Dashboard”, you can track how many readers and reviewers have signed up (purple bar) and are actively reading (yellow bar):

Completion rate

Under the tab “Completion Rate”, you can track how far readers have progressed in the book.

We also provide data (tables and graphics) on how completion rate varies by gender and age of readers and reviewers. Below are the results for a specific book after seven days.

Further KPIs

In addition to completion rate and velocity (observed user behaviour) we have three tabs that show the results of the survey at the end of the book (subjective user feedback) where we ask readers and reviewers if they liked the book (satisfaction index), if they would recommend the book (recommendation factor) and how well the cover matched the book (cover-match factor). We use a variation of the Net Promoter concept to calculate a single value which is then further segmented by gender and age. We use the data only for those readers and reviewers where we can verify they have read the book. (We collect details on reading data for all readers who use the Jellybooks Cloud Reader unless the reader has opted out of data collection.)

We send review nudges only to those readers and reviewers who have finished the book (i.e. read it) and gave a positive rating (“promoters”). We don’t prohibit others from reviewing the book, but we do not encourage them through a nudge either.

It is also possible to customize the survey, allowing publishers to ask targeted questions, but this option is not available under any of our free promotions and is reserved for paying Jellybooks clients.

Audience

A dedicated “Audience” tab shows you the age distribution of the readers and reviewers who sign up.

User voices

The dedicated “User Feedback” tab collects private feedback from readers and reviewers to the publisher. Under this tab we also list all the links that reviewers have posted.

Jellybooks Community

Jellybooks maintains a mailing list of several thousand active readers who regularly participate in Jellybooks test reading campaigns, also called classical test reading campaigns. Many of these readers have also opted in to receive review copies.

At regular intervals we send out invites to the Jellybooks community for review copies with high engagement data, provided the publisher of the book has opted in to wider review distribution.

Distribution to the wider community is by invitation only and not an automatic feature of any of our free promotions. This also applies to any review copies we feature on our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest channels or in our own paid promotions.

We select titles for distribution to the Jellybooks community based on the engagement data they generate through the publisher’s own distribution efforts.

We also organise extensive organic and paid social media outreach (“amplification”), where we focus on high engagement titles.

Note on registration: Readers and reviewers are NOT automatically enrolled in the Jellybooks mailing list when they register as a Jellybooks member. Registration is a security and access feature only.

More Information on the Jellybooks Cloud Reader

The web has made content delivery instant and personal. When you click a YouTube video you expect play to start instantly with no files to download, no app to install, no verification required.

The Jellybooks Cloud Reader leverages the Readium architecture to bring the same seamless experience to ebook delivery and reading. The Jellybooks Cloud Reader can achieve even more by collecting reading and engagement data to help content creators develop insights into how audiences interact with books and to develop data-driven marketing and sales strategies for connecting with the right audience.

We created the Jellybooks Cloud Reader to remove friction and create the simplest, most seamless solution for sampling books, accessing content or sharing ebook samples.

Many existing solutions either present a “walled garden” (Kindle), require a specific app to be installed (Apple Books) or a file to be downloaded for each book.

The Jellybooks Cloud Reader eliminates the need for the end-user to download or sync files. The user clicks a link and is immediately transported into the ebook itself, no matter what device or web browser they are using.

With many readers using smartphones and tablets for reading we created a fully responsive solution that escapes the restrictions that PDF files impose on readers.

Reading and engagement data that is currently captured and analysed by the Jellybooks Cloud Reader includes:

• If the user clicked on a link and opened the ebook
• Which link the user clicked (the same ebook or ebook sample might be distributed through many different websites or social media posts)
• Which operating system is being used
• Which browser and browser version is being used
• User’s approximate location (city or country) based on their IP address
• When the user starts reading
• Which chapters the reader opens
• How far the reader progresses in each chapter
• Which chapters the reader finishes
• When the user stops reading
• If the user clicks on a link in the ebook and, in particular, if they click on the “to buy page” or “to pre-order page” link
• The user’s total reading and usage time

Reader can also view their own reading data, which is a very popular feature among many readers and reviewers.

Summary

The Jellybooks Review Copy Distribution System is data-smart platform for generating additional reviews using the Jellybooks Cloud Reader.

You can use it distribute review copies directly to your contacts or by reaching out to potential reviewers in the Jellybooks community.

The platform supports narrative books in ePub3 format, illustrated books in fixed-layout (FXL) ePub3 format and audiobooks.

The platform allows you to monitor reading progress in real time and see how readers rate the content.

We also actively nudge participants to start reading, finish the book and review it after the specified embargo date.

You can use the service for both front-list and back-list titles.

Jellybooks Contact

Still have questions?

Contact us here.