r/NetGalleyCommunity

Sometimes I see reviews on goodreads that just say something like "review to come," and was just wondering if this is a thing people do? And if so, is it frowned upon, or?

I had a very tumultuous month irl, so I've fallen behind on arcs, what would you say is the most ethical course of action next?

Read the ones with the closest future publication date, and then catch up on older ones?

Read in order of publication, starting from the oldest on the list?

Read the ones with the fewest reviews as they need the word of mouth the most?

Read first the ones from publishers I'm especially concerned to be in good standing with?

Read first the shortest books on the list to catch up with ratio?

Read the books I'm the most excited for? I've already decided to do this with an arc I'm contemplating buying, since I want to know is the book worth buying. I have high hopes for it, but alas, often my high hopes got dashed in the past... I'm trying to decide what should I read after this one.

Yes, I'm an overthinker, glad you asked.

I'm not an influencer, so my question is, where are my reviews making the most impact, if any? If I can't review them all, where do I make a difference? I try to give every arc a fair chance, but in cases like these, I have to prioritize.

I commented yesterday on a reel from Avon books publisher instagram on how I really hoped Netgalley would come through with the arc for Immortal Rose by Alexandra Bracken 🙏 and this morning I was approved lol

I do have the Instagram I commented from (bookstagram) and my Goodreads linked on my Netgalley profile

This could have been completely random that I got approved today but I also thought it was interesting I got approved on a Sunday. Who knows! But if you see a book you reallllly want, doesn't hurt to shoot your shot also on the publishers socials!

I've recently put book 2 of a series up on Netgalley, and unsurprisingly I'm getting fewer requests then I did for book 1.

I wanted to gauge wether people felt inclined to check out a book 1 if they see a sequel up on Netgalley, or if I might be better off putting book 1 back up on Netgalley as a read now title when each sequel comes out? As Netgalley readers, what would you prefer?

Hello! I’m pretty new at ARCs and so far I’m enjoying reading and reviewing. My ratio is pretty good also (like 75%). But now I’m in a reading slump. Why? Because I’m a mood reader.
I’m reading this quite enjoyable contemporary romance novel which is now, sadly, past due. The book has nothing wrong, it’s just…I’m not in the mood for it. So I’m reading other stuff even if I know I need to finish the ARC. I’m starting to think that deadlines are not the greatest thing for mood readers, they pull out all the fun. So my question is: mood readers like me how are you doing? Are you forcing to finish the ARCs nonetheless? Read several books at the same time? Or you simply don’t mind and finish them whenever you want? Tips to stay motivated? Thanks!

Hi! I tried looking for similar questions but I couldn’t really find any. I have a kobo and I must say many of the arcs I get have the send to kobo feature but there are some that don’t. Would emailing the publisher about including it in their books be worth trying? There are some arcs I have been given lately that I’m really excited to read but don’t have this feature and now that the summer is coming I won’t have my computer with me or my phone most of the time so reading on my kobo is easier for me.

Edit: spelling mistake

My feedback ratio is 100%, but my recommended feedback ration is 80%…does anyone know why they are different? I went back and checked and I’ve turned in all reviews for every book (hence the 100), only 1 review was late (so that would still be a 90), so what is the recommended feedback % then? And which are they looking at?

Thanks!

I emailed a few books to my kindle email yesterday which went through successfully. I tried to do the same with some other netgalley ebooks later yesterday and today as well. The latest set havent come through on my kindle no matter how much i refresh. Im out of troubleshooting ideas. Help!

I just read a book by Beth Revis (Chaotic Orbits) from DAW, which is in the Astra publishing family.

I liked it a lot so i looked for more from her. Shes got a book coming in January (Dragon of the Deep) but its from Sourcebooks, which is in the Penguin family.

I never paid much attention to publishers before i joined NG. So i dont know if authors often have books coming out from two different publishers? Both books are SFF, so its not like a big genre switch.

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)

Hello. I'm in a limbo. I'm currently reading Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore and I'm LOVING it. I would love to read Prudence Marsh Is Not a Nobody Anymore, but I'm wondering if it's better to wait a day or two with requesting because then I'll have the first one finished and review, or request now before they're all gone. I have a booksellers account btw. Would love to hear what you would do!

EDIT: I've requested, thanks for all your advice!

Since they changed the log in to email+password I haven't seen the "remember me" option on any of my devices, so I have to log back in everytime I want to use the website. Are you guys experiencing this too?

Hi all!

I'm quite new to Netgalley. Slightly over two weeks ago, both me and my partner joined, created our profiles, read and reviewed an Read Now book and requested our first ARCs. (2 for me, 1 for her)

Two weeks later, the ARCs are pending. I know that one of the two I picked is apparently famously picky, so I don't really expect much, but I'm rather more surprised that they're still pending and not rejected yet. With the little experience Ive got, I don't know if that is a standard time. I also don't if it usual for publishers to actually reject, or if it's more usual that if you don't get approved, you just don't hear anything back.

Just to be clear: its not out of impatience, but just to know what is usual.

I also greatly updated my profile today, although I assume that will no longer really reach the publishers I requested two weeks ago. Am I correct in thinking that?