NetGalley Alternative for Indie Romance Authors

NetGalley is the name everyone knows. It's also expensive, competitive, and not exactly built with indie romance authors in mind. If you've looked at the pricing and wondered if there's another way, there is.

Here's a honest look at your options.

Why Indie Romance Authors Look for NetGalley Alternatives

NetGalley charges publishers and authors hundreds of dollars per title. For an indie author releasing two or three books a year, that adds up fast. On top of the cost, your romance novel sits alongside every other genre, thrillers, cookbooks, memoirs, competing for reader attention from people who may not even read romance.

For indie authors, the math rarely works out.

An Alternative Worth Knowing

Your Own Google Form Free and fully in your control. The downside is you're doing all the work yourself; promoting the form, vetting applicants, managing spreadsheets, following up on reviews. It works, but it scales poorly.

Pen Pinery A romance-only ARC platform built specifically for indie romance authors. Readers sign up because they want romance ARCs; contemporary, dark romance, romantasy, spicy, closed door, MM, why choose, all of it. Authors list their book for $10 per title or $10 a month for unlimited listings. No per-reader fees, no competing with other genres for reader attention.

Before picking a platform, it helps to know what actually matters:

Reader quality over reader quantity. A smaller pool of romance readers who finish books and leave reviews is worth more than thousands of signups who never open the file.

Genre fit. A platform where every reader is already a romance reader means your book is never the odd one out.

Transparent pricing. Per-reader fees sound small until your book takes off. Flat pricing is easier to budget around.

Ease of use. You're already writing books, marketing, and managing your life. Your ARC platform should make one of those things easier, not harder.

NetGalley made sense when traditional publishing dominated the ARC space. For indie romance authors working with real budgets and niche audiences, there are better options available now.

If you want a platform built specifically for romance, Pen Pinery is worth checking out.