If you love to read, then I highly encourage you to check out the website NetGalley. The purpose of NetGalley is to get Advanced Reader’s Copies (ARCs) into the hands of reviewers. Those reviewers may be librarians, booksellers, or professional reviewers, but they can also be anyone who loves to read and review books. Publishers and authors want readers to review their books before a book’s pub day (when a book is published) so that they’re already getting some attention before then. It helps sales if a book already has reviews online that potential readers can take a look at—I know I certainly check a book’s reviews when I’m not sure about buying it!
Through NetGalley you can request ARCs for upcoming books in return for reviewing them. While NetGalley favors reviewers who have some bookish clout, such as a popular blog, Goodreads account, or even BookTok account, Internet popularity is by no means a prerequisite to using and benefitting from NetGalley. Maybe you are a bookish influencer, but even if you aren’t, here are some steps to get started with NetGalley and use it even as a casual reader/reviewer.
1. Sign up for a NetGalley account.
It’s free!
2. Set up your profile.
This includes choosing the type of reviewer you are; you are most likely a Consumer Reviewer. If you have your own blog to review books, however, then you can choose Blogger.
In your bio, you’ll want to include where you review books and any type of credentials you may have. For example, if you do have a book blog, you can include how many people view your posts on average. You could also include how many friends/followers you have on Goodreads or The StoryGraph if you review there. In my case, I include my TikTok handle and number of followers, as I am involved in the BookTok community. It’s okay if you don’t have any kind of following on anything related to book reviewing, because there are ways for anyone to make use of NetGalley.
Don’t forget to include links to sites you review on in the Websites portion or link your Goodreads, Twitter, or LinkedIn accounts in the Where I Share Reviews section if those are applicable to you.
It’s recommended to fill out your profile as much as possible, including adding a profile picture, because if you choose to request a book (more on that later), your profile is a large part of what publishers will look at while deciding whether or not to give you an ARC.
3. Choose “Read Now” books.
Once your profile is set up, it’s time to read some ARCs! However, before you even have a chance at being approved for most books, you need to get your Feedback Ratio up to 80%. Luckily, there are tons of books considered Read Now, meaning anyone can read them without having to request them and be approved by the publisher.
Click Find Titles at the top, then Read Now under the Browse Books section on the left. There you can browse for ARCs to get started reading. There are books in all kinds of genres, and while they tend to be less well known authors and publishers, many are excellent books. Sometimes a book is temporarily made Read Now, so keep an eye out on your favorite authors’ social media. That’s how I found out that Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler and Primal Animals by Julia Lynn Rubin had been made Read Now for two days, and I ran to download them! Regardless, there are many great books that are Read Now for their whole time on the site, such as Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White and The Last Session Vol. 1: Roll for Initiative by Jasmine Walls and Dozerdraws.
4. Pay attention to the Archive Date.
Once you select a Read Now book (or, jumping ahead, once you’re approved for a book you’ve requested), you still need to download it. You lose the ability to download a book, even one you’ve selected or been approved for, once the Archive Date rolls around. Fortunately, you have access to any book you’ve downloaded until the Expiration Date. Gonna be honest, I’m a little unsure if every book has an Expiration Date or just specific books, but theoretically you have access to a book for 55 days after downloading it. It’s been less than 55 days since I even started using NetGalley, so unfortunately I can’t really speak for how that works.
The bottomline is, download a book immediately after selecting/getting approved for it, then read it relatively quickly. You can find some gems with fast-approaching Archive Dates, so don’t forget to check it! One Read Now book I selected was the Fierce Reads Winter 2022 Sampler, which was archived just days after I downloaded it. I’m really glad I saw that and downloaded it right away, because it included samples for eight really interesting books!
5. Send Feedback.
Remember when I mentioned a Feedback Ratio? That’s the ratio of how many books you have on NetGalley versus how many you’ve reviewed. After completing a book, write your review of it! Go ahead and post that wherever else you may review books, but don’t forget to post your review on NetGalley to improve your ratio.
If you plan to request books that aren’t Read Now, make sure to submit well-written reviews, as other publishers can look at them. They’ll also want to see a Feedback Ratio of at least 80%, as I said. Reviews should be honest, but professional. You don’t have to love every ARC you read, but be polite in your critiques, as they are sent to the book’s publisher. Make sure to include a line in your review indicating that you received the ARC for free from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review, especially if you post the review on another site, too.
At this point, if you never intend to request a book that requires approval, you know everything you absolutely have to know. You don’t even technically have to submit feedback, though it is a nice thing to do and will help if you one day decide to request non-Read Now books. I personally have yet to branch out into requesting other books. That said, I plan to do so one day, and I have more knowledge to share for anyone else who thinks they might as well.
6. Check a publisher’s preferences.
Before requesting a book, click on the name of the publishing company. From there, check Approval Preferences. You’ll want to do whatever you can to meet those preferences to have a shot at getting approved.
7. Request a book!
You’ve filled out your profile, you’ve gotten your Feedback Ratio up and written some thoughtful reviews, and you’ve checked a publisher’s preferences. You’re finally ready to request a book! Keep in mind that it may take a while to be approved (or denied). Frankly, books by big-name authors from well-known publishing houses can be really hard to get approved for. I see popular BookTokers complaining all the time about being denied, and some of them have hundreds of thousands of followers. You just gotta hope for the best!
8. Don’t go crazy.
Be careful not to request too many books, because if you do get approved for a lot, it’s going to tank your Feedback Ratio until you’ve reviewed almost all of them. I have to admit, it sounds like a nice problem to have. Still, it can be overwhelming if you find yourself with tons of books you need to read and review in a timely fashion.
9. Miscellaneous
Books you’ve selected from Read Now or been approved for are found under Your Shelf at the top. Then it’s broken down further into Start Reading (books you haven’t downloaded yet), Give Feedback (where you go after you’ve downloaded and read a book to submit your review), Feedback Sent (where you can see the books and feedback for books you’ve reviewed), and Not Active (books that are pending, denied, archived, etc).
NetGalley has recently added a feature to take back a request if you decide you no longer wish to read a book.
Audiobooks are also available through NetGalley, including a few that are Listen Now.
Books can be found by searching for publishers, genres, authors, or titles if you have a specific upcoming book in mind.
Pub dates for books mentioned in this article:
Primal Animals by Julia Lynn Rubin – May 24
Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler – June 7
Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White – June 7The Last Session Vol. 1: Roll for Initiative by Jasmine Walls and Dozerdraws – July 12