For years I’ve noticed that some reviews on Goodreads include a thank you to the publisher for an advance reader copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review. As a voracious reader and new book blogger, I’ve been intrigued by the idea of getting access to books before publication and providing feedback to the publisher and author. Anything that gets me closer to the world of book publishing is exciting to me, so I decided to dive in and give NetGalley a try. 

After one month, I’ve read five novels – some of which were quite good – and two book advocate handbooks provided by We Are Bookish, NetGalley’s helpful blog for members. Here’s an overview of getting started as a reviewer with NetGalley and how my first month went.

What is NetGalley?

NetGalley is a platform that helps publishers and authors promote digital review copies to book advocates and industry professionals. Reviewers can be bloggers, librarians, booksellers, educators, journalists or other members of the media. It’s free to sign up and request books to review, but you must be approved by the publisher and publish an honest and meaningful review. As a reviewer and blogger, my reviews will be published on Goodreads and here at Fog & Fiction.

How to Get Started

To get started as a reviewer, all you have to do is register at NetGalley and create a profile. Your profile is like your resume as a reviewer: it’s what publishers will use to decide if you’re the right audience to receive one of their limited number of ARCs. I won’t pretend to be an expert on what makes for a good profile – We Are Bookish has good guidance in their Dos and Don’ts list.

Don’t make the same rookie mistake I made by downloading the NetGalley app and assuming that’s where all the action is. The app is for reading eARCs, which you may also be able to send to your Kindle or Kobo device. But all the requesting, approving, and reviewing happens on the NetGalley website, not in the app.

How to Request Books

Once your profile is set up, you’re ready to start requesting books. You can set your preferences to see a feed of books in your preferred categories or just browse what’s available. From there, requesting a book that you want to read is as easy as clicking a button. 

Requesting a book doesn’t always mean you’ll be approved. In my short time on NetGalley, I’ve learned that different publishers have different preferences on what they are looking for in their reviewers. Some are happy with reviewers who just post on Goodreads, social media and retail sites; others are looking for influencers with a minimum number of followers. They list their approval guidelines on their publisher page in NetGalley.

The Feedback Ratio

One rule that seems to be consistent: publishers look for an 80% feedback ratio. That means you’ve submitted feedback for 80% of the books you’ve requested. So it’s a bad idea, however tempting it may be, to go on a requesting spree and lower your feedback percentage by creating a giant to-read pile for yourself. I’m trying to keep a manageable number of books to read and review at all times so my feedback ratio stays high while I’m reading my newest ARCs.

The feedback ratio can be a bit of a conundrum for new reviewers. I think this is why I was rejected from my first request (sob) – after I had set up my profile, I immediately requested several books, and while I was waiting for approval my ratio went right to zero. If this sounds a bit chicken-and-egg to you, you’re not wrong. How can you get your feedback ratio above 80% if you can’t get approved for any books while it’s below 80 percent?

Luckily, NetGalley has a way to overcome this: Read Now titles. Read Now books are just what they sound like – ARCs that are available to read now without waiting for publisher approval. Once I understood this, I spent the month reading and reviewing Read Now books in order to get my feedback ratio above 80 percent. And guess what? Within a couple of weeks, I was approved for my first ARC!

Providing Feedback

Once you’ve finished your ARC, it’s time to provide feedback and a review in NetGalley. The guidance from NetGalley is to wait until closer to the pub date to cross-post to other platforms. Most of the books I read this month aren’t going to be published for at least several months, so I’m waiting to publish the reviews here until closer to publication date. The general consensus seems to be that it’s okay to post to Goodreads prior to pub date.

Overall Thoughts

One month in, I’m enjoying my experience as a NetGalley reviewer. I was a little disappointed when I got my first rejection, but I found a bunch of great books in the Read Now section and have managed to keep my feedback ratio above 80 percent. I’ve loved browsing the books that are available to request and seeing what’s going to be published in the next few months. And best of all, I’ve had the opportunity to read some great books, discover new authors, and hopefully provide useful feedback to the publishing and reading community.