u/bookdraygon

I wrote this as a comment in response to a newer user and figured it may help someone else.
It is “one” of countless strategies used but publishers but it can help some understand the process. While it may seem that some approvals and denials are completely random, I assure you, it’s not.

Why do some requests sit and others get approved or denied? There are many reasons but here is some food for thought.

Books get hundreds (sometimes thousands) of requests, and a human needs to get through them when it isn’t necessarily high up on their daily task list to do.

Think of it this way: you’re at the office doing your normal tasks that have deadlines and need to get done in the marketing world. You have five minutes to spare, so you jump onto NetGalley to go through the requests and are faced with hundreds. You quickly approve or deny as many as you can. That’s not to mention keeping track of other parameters.

Many marketers do not want to put books into “Read Now” status because, many times (not always), it means they aren’t getting the reviews and exposure they expected for a title and it needs
a bump. So they put up a temporary free-for-all in hopes they’ll at least get something out of it, knowing many of the takers won’t be accounts they would’ve originally approved for that title. At that point, it’s a write-off (not in the traditional sense). They take that chance hoping reviewers with exposure grab the book so it gets a bump in visibility.

So when they have 1,000 requests in front of them and only 500 copies to give out total, what do you do? Approve all 500 right away? No. You pick away at it because you don’t know your return.
Then say 10 people all request at the same time, so they’re right near each other in the queue. Five get denied (all around the same time of day), two get approved, and three are still sitting there. Meanwhile, another person who requested 15 minutes before or after those 10 gets approved. Why did they skip those three?
I think you can probably sort out the answer by now 😆 They scan for the accounts that are sure things. They can put notes and indicators on accounts to make them stand out so they can approve them quickly, even with many others waiting. Then the rest sit in case they need them. Those accounts may meet the base criteria but don’t have the extra ummph they are looking for, so they wait because by now they’ve already given out 300 of their 500 copies and are waiting to see the return and impact on the market (social media, large blogs, etc.).

Lastly: 200 copies left. It’s getting late in the process, and exposure isn’t happening. What do they do? Do they go back and spend the time hoping those pending accounts will fill that gap because they met the base criteria, even if they don’t have social media accounts and the like? Usually no. They flip it to Read Now, set it to 200 copies, and hope the statistics are in their favor.

But if they still aren’t getting good exposure or feedback after that, then they make other decisions. Do they release more copies because they really believe the book is a gem? Not usually, but it happens. They can even cut the original run number of copies for that particular book, which sucks for the author.

ARCs are a vital part of the process, depending on the publisher (they all have different plans). It’s why not everyone should be waiting until publication week to post reviews, and why late books absolutely impact your journey with a publisher.
Before someone says, “Yeah, but some publishers (like all Simon & Schuster imprints except Childrens (as they recently changed their email) say not to publish until the month of…” As I said before, every house and imprint has their own marketing plans. I’m just giving a common one that impacts eARC reading. It’s not one-size-fits-all.
Simon & Schuster has extensive influencer programs that get physical ARCs into influencers’ hands six-plus months ahead of publication to carry the load. The eARC reviews coming in during pub month are the gravy and final (and vital) push.

Just remember: a person starting their NetGalley journey in 2026 is going to have a completely different experience than someone who started in 2016. It’s a different world now.

Edit: I mean this next statement as a baseline for the reluctant social media person. Influencing is a different ballgame!! So please take it with the lightness it was intended! Carry on…

Get a social media page, even if it’s just to show a picture of the book with a few supportive words. It’ll take you much farther than outdated written reviewing (and yes, the caveat here is older, well-established review accounts, so don’t come at me — you guys rock).
At the end of the day, the marketers doing the approvals are balancing a lot more than people realize and what I wrote above is just the tip of the iceberg.

Just request your books and don’t overthink it. Decide what your goals are for ARC reviewing and make a plan. If you have questions and want to ask- I’ll answer to the best of my ability (and time. I’m off today and plan on not leaving my sofa)