A Book Reviewer’s Perspective on Galleys: A Q&A with Vivian Nguyen
For our final post in our #GalleyWeek series, Hederis team member Tiffany Watson reached out to Vivian Nguyen, a Los Angeles–based editor, designer, and book reviewer, to get her perspective on digital galleys and the changed landscape of book reviewing in the age of Covid. Vivian has been a reviewer with Publishers Weekly since before the pandemic began, and since she’s also a book designer, Tiffany picked her brain regarding some of the interesting design trends specific to digital galleys. Because so much still rests on book reviewers and their ability to find the books that readers need to know about, perspective from reviewers like Vivian can help guide publishers and technologists as we strive to create galleys that make an impact.
What was your experience with reviewing for Publishers Weekly before Covid? How long did it take you to receive your review copy?
I received mostly physical copies prior to COVID-19. Reviewers can dictate the timeline in which they receive their assignments; I personally review titles every two weeks. For physical copies, I’d usually have the title assigned to me, and the book would arrive a few days before my official two weeks started for my assignment. Since quarantine, I’ve received all my galleys digitally, which are automatically downloadable for us when we’re assigned titles.
When did you start receiving digital galleys and how did this change your review process?
I began receiving digital galleys toward the end of April. I fully support Publishers Weekly’s decision to go digital during quarantine for everyone’s health and safety. Though having a physical book is always nice, I’ve never minded ebooks, so digital galleys haven’t changed my reading experience all that dramatically.
Every editor’s process varies at Publishers Weekly, so I can only speak for my own experience under my editor’s direction. We’re asked to provide page numbers of plot points in our reviews so our editor can go in and fact-check what we’ve written; this is to ensure that Publishers Weekly is not releasing any false plot information about a book. Since digital galleys don’t always have page numbers (such as ebook formats), our editor asks us to detail short, specific phrases at the beginning of paragraphs. This allows them to search for the text in the file and verify plot points with a digital galley. Though this can sometimes take longer than simply noting the page number of a physical galley, it’s useful because my editor can go straight to the specific paragraph I’m referring to instead of scanning the whole page.
What kinds of formats are available for galleys? Do they come to you as PDFs? EPUB? Do you have to do conversions to read them on your laptop, ereader, or other devices?
Most of my digital galleys have come as PDFs, which is really helpful! You can open up a PDF on any device. I actually purchased a new Kindle at the start of quarantine because my old one was slowly dying. I bought it specifically for reading Publishers Weekly, as well as recreational reading. At the time, I noticed I was receiving more digital galleys as PDFs. I did my research and found that the Kindle Fire opened PDFs better than the Kindle Paperwhite, which is eventually what tipped me to buy the Kindle Fire. I can happily say I definitely made the right decision, since almost all of my digital galleys have been PDFs since.
I have received one digital galley as an .epub, which made it difficult to open on my Kindle,* which typically can only open .azw or .mobi files. I attempted to find an easy way to convert it for my Kindle, but the processes seemed too complicated for what it was worth. I ended up opening the file on my MacBook and reading it through there. This isn’t my preferred style of reading, but I adjusted to it and was able to enjoy the book as I normally would. Since quarantine, all of my digital galleys have been PDFs, which opens easily on the Kindle Books app.
[A Note regarding the digital galley reviewing process: It does require file transferring. I followed up with Vivian about this, and she confirmed that she downloads the PDFs from GalleyTracker, a database that Publishers Weekly uses to submit and store galleys, then transfers the file to her Kindle. You can also download PDFs from GalleyTracker to your phone or tablet and read them on it, but that isn’t always a user friendly experience as you need to zoom in on smaller screens to read the text. But it is possible for the Kindle-less reviewers who, like Vivian, aren’t huge fans of reading on the laptop.*Tech Tip: You can convert EPUB to Kindle-friendly formats using Amazon’s Kindle Previewer.]
What do you miss most about print galleys?
As a book lover, I cherish getting physical copies. It makes me giddy to see all the books I’ve read through Publishers Weekly displayed on my shelf. Though my personal reading experience is not diminished by reading a book digitally, there will always be a part of me that prefers physical copies for the nostalgia factor.
What are some things you like about digital galleys?
Digital copies are better for the environment and are instantly downloadable. You also minimize the chance of receiving a physical galley late or having it get lost in the mail (though neither of these things have happened to me). Though I’m sad that I can’t display digital galleys on my shelf or easily flip to a specific section I loved, I also find joy in purchasing the book when it is published to support the author. Usually, when I receive a physical galley through Publishers Weekly, I’m less inclined to buy the final printed book when it’s published.
One feature we have noticed publishers using in digital galleys is a watermark. Does this affect your reading experience at all?
Though I understand the need to watermark a digital galley, it can be distracting. This is particularly the case when the watermark is in big, bold font in all caps. From a design standpoint, it is a little visually off-putting to anyone reading the digital galley.
Furthermore, the bold lettering also can render improperly in the PDF; I’ve found that in some cases, I can’t search for specific phrases that I’ve noted for my editor because the watermark is right over the paragraph. Though I can see the phrase on the page, it’s not searchable through a PDF reader. I’ve had to find creative ways around this, such as noting a different phrase in the paragraph so my editor can gauge where I’m finding the fact. I haven’t had too many issues with this, but it’s something to certainly consider when watermarking pages for digital galleys.
Given your experience as a book designer are there any good examples of watermark use that publishers can follow to make them less invasive on the reading experience?
One of the best ways I’ve seen it done was with a digital galley I recently received, in which the publisher watermarked it with a simple, light grayscale version of their logo at the center of each page. It looked clean, didn’t interfere with the fact-checking process on my end, and was the perfect size (i.e. did not take up the whole page, but did its job).
Want to learn more about Vivian? Of course you do!
Visit her professional website at http://vivianqnguyen.com/
If you’re looking for a tool to quickly create a shareable digital copy of a book project for review or publicity, check out Hederis’s new Galley & Digital mode. You can create valid, clean ebook files for NetGalley, Edelweiss, or other galley review sites, or a watermarked PDF for your bound galleys or ARCs. Visit our site for features and pricing: https://www.hederis.com/pricing.html
