Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

I think I need a NetGalley intervention...the promise of free books is too strong for me to ignore.

I just picked up and . That makes 15 currently on my reading shelf and only 5 have not been archived. They all just look so good...

lol
I'm trying to find one that may contain 'turmeric'

;)

I need to spend more time reading and less looking for words! lol I do plenty of planning. ;)

Haha. I hear ya!

Wow. Y'all show such great restraint!! I wish my shelf was back down in the single digits, or low teens at least. :) I have 31 books on my shelf and my ratio is an abysmal 68%. I have already read 3 on the shelf. It's just a matter of doing my reviews. :)

Karsyn- That actually makes me feel much better. Lol. I think my review rate is 74% right now. My want to read is definitely bigger than my ability to complete right now. I just had to talk myself out of clicking that button again.

Do you ever find that you have a book for a while, then don't really feel like reading it anymore?

Kristie wrote: "Do you ever find that you have a book for a while, then don't really feel like reading it anymore?"

Oh yeah, for a bunch of them! I have that issue with ones I requested ages ago and I'm like "why did I want that?" I requested one just because it mentioned Vegas (my favorite place in the world) but it really doesn't look like my kind of book. I'll probably like it, maybe, but making myself read it just hasn't happened yet.

Occasionally I'll have a NetGalley month where I read mainly NetGalley books. Perhaps that could be a challenge we need here, to work through your NetGalley books!

Good challenge idea! Glad I'm not the only one that loses interest in the books at times. I'm not a very fast reader, so I need a few NetGalley months to get caught up. :) If only I could stop requesting them for a few months too. Lol

I just reviewed a book on there and I noticed that I actually got it about a year ago. They were probably a bit confused when they got that notification!

Christina wrote: "Did you find that after reviewing lots of NetGalley books that your approval rating from publishers went up, or have you received approval from most of the books you requested right from the very beginning? "

I've only been refused one book out of nine, but as you can tell by the numbers I'm taking things slow. ;)

I just signed up for Netgalley today and I've been reading this thread for tips. I don't have a blog, so hoping they will approve me for some based on Goodreads only. I requested 6 books that sound interesting. Now I'm thinking I should find some "read now" books that look interesting to get my stats above zero.

Karsyn wrote: "Kristie wrote: "Do you ever find that you have a book for a while, then don't really feel like reading it anymore?"

Oh yeah, for a bunch of them! I have that issue with ones I requested ages ago a..."

Yes I've had that and I find I can be really pleasantly surprised sometimes when a book I wasn't expecting to take hold just grabs me :)

Joanne - I don't have a blog either and I get plenty of approvals. I think starting with a read now is a great idea. Your rating goes up to 100% as soon as you read it! Some publishers will approve you regardless of that though. Be prepared if several of your requests get approved.

Karen - I have been pleasantly surprised on several occasions, more often than those few times I've been rather disappointed.

Same here Joanne, I don't have a blog, but I think a lot of publishers have worked out that lots of people read GR reviews rather than go to individual blogs
Good luck with your requests! It is a good idea to do a "read now" or two. Do a search for Carry On and see if that is still available as read now? (assuming you like Rainbow Rowell)

Thanks all. I looked for Carry On but it's no longer there. I downloaded a comic that looks interesting. Should be able to read that tonight and get my stats up.

So, after I signed up for NetGalley, I read two Read Now books so I would get my approval ratings up. Then I requested 4 other books and one novella. So far I only received approval for one of the books. But the books I requested were pretty popular books, I wasn't really counting on getting approved. I figured the least they could do was to decline my request, so I tried for the books I was most excited for first!

I know what you all mean about requesting or buying a lot of books and then finding you're not as interested in reading some of those books. That's why I have a large TBR pile at home! This year I've decided to change the way I buy books. Now I only preorder books that are either books in a series that I already love and that I know I will read as soon as I get it in the mail, or from an author that I really love.

I utilize the library A LOT now, too. I usually put on hold books that will be released in the next month so I am at the top of the list for new releases I am interested in. I usually have about 6-10 library books or graphic novels out at a time. That way I have a choice of things I'm most exited about, but if I don't read them in time or lose interest in them, I can just return them and not feel bad about it.

So, with NetGalley I just requested the 5 things just in case I was approved for all of them. I'm going to try to just request 2-3 things at a time so that I only have books on my shelf that I really want to read. I also have about 3 books on my shelf that I won through the Goodreads First Reads program that I have to review, too.

I have a few questions for you all. One thing that was included in the decline emails I received was that I hadn't listed a company name in my NetGalley profile. For those of you that only review on Goodreads, what do you do for this? I don't have a blog and don't really want to start one at this time. Do I just list my name and then link to my goodreads profile page? I have included my profile page link but just haven't put anything in the company page section.

Also, I really like the idea of using NetGalley to read things I might not otherwise have picked up. I know that I will have better luck anyway requesting books from smaller presses and that are not popular. How do you go about choosing your books? Do you usually look up the books here on Goodreads to check out its ratings and some reviews before you request them? I don't mind reading non popular books, but we all have limited reading time, and I don't want to read something that isn't written that well. With library books that's not a problem because I can just return the book without finishing it, but with the NetGalley books I'll need to finish the book so I can review it. With so many other books I'm so excited for, it's hard to make the choice to read something I hadn't heard of before.

Maybe this is bad to say, but I kind of signed up for NetGalley just so I could read some books that I had heard of and wanted to read before they were released. I guess I have approval for one of those books already, so that might work for me some of the time, but with just reviewing on Goodreads, maybe that won't work out and much as I would like.

For those of you that get approved most of the time and just review on Goodreads, what is your secret? Are you just requesting books from smaller presses? I have 274 reviews posted here. I guess I only have about 275 friends here on GR, so that's not a lot, but I only friend people who asked me to be friends and share the same types of reading tastes, or those people I've met in groups or we've commented on each other's postings. Do you get approved on NetGalley after I have posted a lot of reviews there?

Sorry for the length of this post! I'd appreciate any advice you all have.

I was approved for a book!

*jumps up and down

So today I got emails about two of the books I requested yesterday. One was denied but I was approved for which I've been really excited to read since I heard about it awhile back.

Now I kind of hope the publishers don't look at any of my other 8 pending requests until I have the chance to read this one.

The "read now" book I read last night was a comic: which is about a world in which being beautiful is an STD. I really liked it!

Christina wrote: "So, after I signed up for NetGalley, I read two Read Now books so I would get my approval ratings up. Then I requested 4 other books and one novella. So far I only received approval for one of the ..."

I checked my profile and I have "goodreads" in the company field. I didn't even realise that, but they changed all of our profile set ups recently so maybe that field used to be called something else and that is how it landed there?!

To choose my books I started with adding publishers to my favourites. This is particularly because of the regional restrictions. Most of the books Netgalley advertises only want US readers, so those email newsletters they send are useless to me. So early on I went through AUS publishers that I like and then when I log into Netgalley I go to "find titles" and then on the left "favourite publishers". That way I find books that are the right region, and also, because I added publishers with books I like, it tends to narrow the field :)
I just checked my GR and I have 559 reviews and just under 200 friends so I'm not sure they look at it in that much detail. I do have both of the groups that I moderate in my netgalley profile though so that may help as they are large groups.

I also tend to target publishers in my region and because I have built up a record with them in terms of reading and reviewing a couple seem to have added me to their reviewer list which is great. I get the feeling from some they're mostly keen on Amazon reviews.

On one of your other points you don't have to read every book from NetGalley. If you start it and really don't like it you can give up and just tell the publisher why. I didn't realise that at the start and ended up forcing myself to read the worst book I've ever come across.

I went on a bit of a NetGalley spree yesterday and requested 5 books. Managed to get my hands on Serafina and the Black Cloak and the third book in Julie Kagawa' s Talon series. Both are available for UK and I think Aus if anyone is interested.

I signed up for NetGalley and requested about 5 or 6 books that seemed really good, including the prequel to Red Queen, Cruel Crown, with the two short stories, not thinking that I was going to get approved for any of them to be honest, as it was my first attempt and I didn't have any idea what I was doing. Then I had emails back that same day and the following day saying that I had been approved for them all. So I was shocked and extremely excited and now I just have to make sure that I read them all in time.

lol, Shayney. I think a lot of people do that when they first sign up. I know I did and I've never been without a NetGalley waiting for me to read it since.

Hi all! I'm glad to have found this thread. I signed up for Net a Galley a while back, got one book & it's still on my shelf but archived. Do you know if I should read it still, or can I just remove it from my shelf or just proceed to getting new books?

I still read my books after they're archived because it affects your review rate. Approvals are sometimes based on your rate.

Greta wrote: "Hi all! I'm glad to have found this thread. I signed up for Net a Galley a while back, got one book & it's still on my shelf but archived. Do you know if I should read it still, or can I just remov..."

You can still read/review books once they're archived as long as you've already downloaded the book. It will help your feedback ratio if you do.
If you really don't want to read the book, just send feedback and in the "notes to the publisher" section tell them you don't want to read the book anymore and why.

I don't think you can remove books from your shelf without a review or note to the publisher.
You can request new books as soon as you want, even if you have reviews pending. :)

Greta wrote: "Hi all! I'm glad to have found this thread. I signed up for Net a Galley a while back, got one book & it's still on my shelf but archived. Do you know if I should read it still, or can I just remov..."

As Amanda noted, you can't remove books from your NetGalley shelf. Once you have been approved you are expected to download the book and read and review it. The archive date is just the date it is no longer able to be donwloaded/requested.
I have had one book that I just could not finish that I marked on GR as DNF and sent feedback through NetGalley with the reasons why.
I also had a book I didn't download in time that was archived and when I contacted NetGalley it was "so sad too bad" basically! haha. So I had to wait for the book to be published and then get it from the library to read and review. I learnt my lesson and now always download them straight away even if I don't read them right away! :0

Oh, thank you both! That makes sense & helps a lot!

I have downloaded it & do still want to read it, so I will get going on it then.

-Note
I've moved this thread to the Chat Room (if you have it bookmarked your link will still work), just because we have expanded over time from more than just recommendations :)

Renee wrote: "Hi Karen! You passed your addiction on to me. I have 7 books to read for NetGalley. The latest one I was approved for was - the latest from Lisa Genova who ..."

I really liked Inside the O'Briens!

Kristie wrote: "I just peeked at my list and the only two that I can recommend, that haven't been archived, are:



The Opposite of Maybe by [author:Maddi..."

Invention of Wings was great!

Simple Money: A No-Nonsense Guide to Personal Finance was one of the better personal finance books I've read. It's accessible and focuses on helping the reader figure out individualized goals and then provides an overview of ways to reach them.

I knew that I shouldn't read this thread! :) All I need is more books to read....

It's probably good that I somehow locked myself out of my NetGalley account because I'd be running all over there adding books! Not sure what happened but no matter what login, email address, password I put in, it just won't work.

lol Angie

Oh no Greta! How annoying

Ok, they've reset everything & I'm back in! I've requested s few books. How long do you usually have to wait for a response?

I've gotten a response within an hour and I've waited over a month and still been approved.

Oh good to know, thanks!

Glad you made it back in :)
I usually find it takes a couple of days. But Some publishers are very good and get to it right away. Just remember to either keep checking your emails or your shelf and download the books as soon as you get accepted

Thanks, Karen! I was approved for 2 and rejected for one with one pending. That's enough for now.

Greta wrote: "Thanks, Karen! I was approved for 2 and rejected for one with one pending. That's enough for now."

That's great, Greta! Which two were you approved for?

I was approved for these two:

and

I had this one on my shelf from when I first signed up-

Those look really interesting! I can't wait to see what you think of them. Solace has a beautiful cover too. I'm such a sucker for a pretty cover.

Thanks! I agree about the cover, I couldn't resist :D

I personally was not a fan of but I was in the minority I think.

Netgalley has it as "read now" here if anyone is interested: https://s2.netgalley.com/catalog/book...

Joanne - is from Canada wrote: "I personally was not a fan of but I was in the minority I think.

Netgalley has it as "read now" here if anyone is interested: https://s2.netgalley..."

I loved it as a movie, but was luke warm on the novel (that I read after seeing the movie). Not often that it happens that way!!

I have been approved for two, but when I download them they aren't showing up on my Amazon app on my ipad. I've tried a lot of things, but no luck. I have my Amazon email entered correctly on my profile. Anyone else have any tips for me?

Maybe the kindle app? That's how I read mine sometimes.

Sorry I meant Kindle app, not Amazon. After I posted the comment I checked again and the two books were there. I downloaded them and I'm all set. Thanks for your response!

Glad it is all set!

Exciting :)

I know, right? Free books are fantastic! So glad to learn about this from my reader friends!

I agree completely, Nanci!!