Ten Reasons To Join Netgalley

Hello everyone! Today I want to introduce a new feature/meme on my blog—“Ten Reasons Thursday”.

 

For my first Ten Reasons Thursday post, I want to discuss 10 reasons why all you bookish people should join this incredibly amazing website called Netgalley. What makes this site is amazing is that on Netgalley you can connect with publishers and receive books for free—no catch, no gotcha’s. As far as I know, it is one of the best places to get e-ARCs (electronic Advanced Reader’s Copies) as well as released copies of books that publishers put up for everyone to read. Have I piqued your interest yet? If yes, read on for more.

1. Absolutely Free Sign Up

A downside of living in Bangladesh is that our online shopping system sucks is nearly non-existent. Yep, we’re still stuck in the cave-man age. Also, our libraries are just plain awful very limited. We can only order certain items from abroad (thank God books are included in the list) but the shipping charges are very high and not all online stores offer shipping to my country (even the great Amazon or Book Depository who provide free international shipping). Naturally, Netgalley is a dream come to true for me. Not only do I not have to pay for books, but the sign up is absolutely free, super easy and super quick.

2. No “Royale” or “Premium” Features

Since I cannot participate in online monetary transactions I always feel my heart break a little when I see all the cool stuff “royal” or “premium” members have access to.  Thankfully there is no such thing on Netgalley. Here, all members have equal privileges and the amount of books each user gets approved for depends on personal factors such as how relevant the information in your bio is (hence the reason why I suggest you all to take some time to write up a  good profile) and on your feedback to approval ratio (will explain this in a bit).

3. Read Books Before They Are Released

Netgalley is an amazing place to easily get Advanced Reader’s Copies, or ARCs as we call them, in electronic format. ARCs are basically review copies of unreleased books that publishers send out to create buzz about the book. They are more expensive to make than the actual copies of the book since these are potential sales that the publishers and the authors are giving up. For those of you have a limited book shopping budget like me, ARCs are a great way to decide in advance which books are worth keeping on that bookshelf and which are not.

For example, I was sure that I would love Somewhere In Between by Katie Li–a YA fantasy book with a gorgeous cover and a very promising blurb. It even had many good reviews. I was never so wrong. If it hadn’t been for Netgalley, I probably would have wasted my money on that book.

 4. Easy To Get ARCs Even Without A Blog

That’s right bookish people! You don’t need to have a book blog or work at library to get books on Netgalley—sure it will boost your chances of receiving books, but it’s not a requirement. For newbie bloggers, I have even better news: you don’t need to have a huge amount of traffic to get a book. Some publishers will require you to have at least 6 months of blogging experience and a minimum of 1000 followers…but you can easily steer clear of those publishers without losing anything, thanks to Netgalley’s huge collection of books.

I myself requested 10 books on Netgalley when I was only one month old blogger with only 55 followers and less than 60 monthly views. I got approved for 7 of them, got rejected for two, and the last one I refused to read because I didn’t notice it was the third book in a series (rookie mistake).

5. You Are Not Required To Review Every Book You Recieve

Please note that when I say “review” I mean a detailed analysis of a book containing all the things you loved and hated about the story. You are not required to do that on Netgalley for every book you receive. While it is true that some people have received email notifications from Netgalley asking them to send feedback for the books they received, please understand that it doesn’t mean you have to type up a thousand words about the book. Your feedback can be as long as 4-5 paragraphs (or even more if you like ranting about a book like I do) or 2-3 lines short if you are a real busy bee. Not too difficult right?

Also, make sure to give honest feedback. No one expects you to love a book just because you got it for free.

You should also not that you don’t have to send feedback for all the books—about 80% will do. That much is enough to earn you a special badge and boost your chances of being easily approved by publishers.

Newbie bloggers or new NetGalley users are very likely to make the rookie mistake of requesting too many books at once. It’s alright. We’ve all been there, but try not to request more than 3 books at once. As easy as it is to get approved for a book, publishers will notice if you aren’t sending enough feedback and they may stop approving your requests. Remember: receiving an ARC is an honor, not a privilege.

6. You Can See Publisher Approval Preferences

One of the best things about Netgalley in my opinion is that I can see what the publishers expect from me when I receive a book from them. It also helps me avoid publishers who are likely to reject me for whatever reason as well as finding publishers who are willing to send books outside the US.

7. Huge Collection To Choose From

If you happen to come across a book you really want but you don’t fit the publisher approval preference, there’s no need to feel disappointed. You’ll never get tired of browsing through Netgalley’s ginormous collection until you find the perfect book.

8. The “Read Now” Section

Don’t want to wait? You can always choose books from the Read Now section where publishers make certain books available for everyone to read instantly. You’ll be happy to know that many great books become available here, but you need to drop by every now and then to stay updated. Books in this section stay up for only a short period of time.

9. Get Badges Just For Being A Bookworm

Who in this world does not like being made to feel special? On Netgalley you get two badges super easily—one by simply signing up, one by sharing your Netgalley widget. There’s also the 80% Approval badge, The Auto-Approved Badge, and The Reviewer badge. Cool stuff in exchange for doing the one thing you love: reading.

10. Chance To Make Contacts With Publishers

This is especially for bloggers. Since Netgalley is kind of like the middle man between book reviewers and publishers, chances are you may get to make contact with the publishers themselves if they like you enough. Again this is purely chance, but it’s worth the try.

So that’s it for today guys! If you’re still unsure, here are what some other bloggers have to say about Netgalley. Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments below, and if you have any specific topic you want me to discuss for next Ten Reasons Thursday, do let me know.