Genie Shares: Killing the Request Button on Netgalley

/ Louise / geniereads

genieshares-netgalley.png

(I’m bringing this back! Genie Shares is a feature of mine where I share some “personal book-related” stories, if you want to read my past posts just click here. But I decided to use this feature not only for sharing stories but also for discussing or just writing about any book and blog related topics that is important to me at the moment.)

It all begins when we pay a visit to Netgalley, either we’ll just submit a review/feedback or will casually look at the new releases. And then next we know is that we’ve already requested for like 38083438 books. I don’t know about you, but this happens to me ALL THE TIME.

tumblr_mhf34cEQ591ql2u1vo1_500

In case you didn’t know Netgalley is a site where you can request e-ARCs of the books available there. It’s really a great way to find new books and it gives us bloggers an easier chance to snag some ARCs. Click here to learn more about to the site.

I go to a “request-spree” thinking that it’s harmless because I SERIOUSLY get declined most of the time. I AM ALREADY NUMB from all the rejection e-mails I got. If we’re talking about numbers I got 107 declined times already. I think that’s because most publishers are looking for bloggers from certain countries and those with a larger reach.

Anyways, I’m not hear to complain about getting declined all the time but this is actually one of the reasons why I request for so many books. My mind is set on the idea that I’ll be accepted on 1 out of the 5 books I requested so there’s really no harm done, right?

tumblr_inline_n2sx12gOeK1qbolbn

WRONG. Eventually, the books that I got approved piled on. I currently have 34 books on my Netgalley TBR and almost half of those are either already released or archived. And the reality, which I’m slightly ashamed of, is I’m not really interested on reading most of them.

You see I get a little crazy when I go to Netgalley, let’s just say that I have no self-control. I request for books with pretty covers or an intriguing title without even skimming the synopsis! There have been times when I was surprised of getting approved of title I couldn’t remember requesting for. Now, I feel really guilty because I’m not doing the job I signed up for.

Ultimately these all lead to books not being read and reviewed, just forgotten on the endless TBR pile. I genuinely feel bad about it to the point that thinking about the books I need to read was bringing me anxiety which leads to not reading anything.

So I have decided to well, just screw it.

If I don’t want to read something, I won’t push myself to because it will just make reading something like an obligation and not a hobby that I enjoy doing. This may sound unfair because in the first place, I requested for the books and now I’m not taking up the responsibility but honestly, my feedback ratio on Netgalley is also suffering. Another confession is that I’m not a top reviewer, I haven’t acquired that 80% feedback ratio yet. So in the end, it’s really a fair-ish scenario.

I have some titles that I’m really excited and still planning to read but for the others *awkwardly laughs* meh. So what’s the lesson we learned today, kids? Uhm, I guess I won’t kill the request button the next time I go to Netgalley and just request for the ones I’m genuinely interested in.

This sounds like something given that I should have known from the start but seriously how do you resist all those free books? Netgalley can be so enticing sometimes, it feels like a spell is casted on you every time you visit the site.

I’m guessing I’m not the only one guilty of this offense? Have you also killed the request button before? Have you received reached the 80% feedback ratio yet? Tell me anything and everything in the comments!

Here’s to a not requesting for so many books next time—to the our wiser-reader selves! (if that makes sense lol) I’m not used to writing these kind of posts so I’m sorry if my thoughts were all over the place, I’ll do better next time. *winks*

Hope that you’re having a great day today, happy reading and blogging! 

Please do leave any comments, thoughts, messages, reactions, and/or suggestions! Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

louise.png

Twitter | Goodreads | Contact

57 thoughts on “Genie Shares: Killing the Request Button on Netgalley”

  2. Does anyone REALLY hit 80% feedback? I’m at 53% and I’m fine with that. I have finally gotten better about not firing off too many requests with too little thought, so it’s been inching up.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I’ve seen a few bloggers with the badge! Haha, 53% is definitely not a bad place to be. I’m really happy to hear that, I’ve also stopped requesting anymore books but I still need to give some feedback to pull my ratio up. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. 😊💕

      Like

      Reply

  3. That’s a lot of books! I try to not overuse NetGalley because it absolutely can get stressful when books pile up, so most of the time I try to request books one at a time. It’s definitely hard to do though!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. I totally get your point about being excited to read a book and then the pile becomes overwhelming and then…. *le surrender* Though I’m not a part of Netgalley, I feel that having set dates for reviewing a book can become stressful and you end up not liking the book as much because you’re trying to force gyourself to read it. So, what does Anj do? She lazes around procrastinating and then when a productive mood hits her *and stays for 2 hours, ahem* she writes a gushy book review! (Yaaay)😂❤ No, but siriusly, Louise, I love reading your review and just admire how very on point they are.❤❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Can I ask why you haven’t tried Netgalley yet? I can relate to that so well, self-imposed deadlines are the worst because I tend to be too hard on myself haha. I love that productive mood, haha I wish we have it more often. Thank you so much, Anj! Your comments really mean a lot to me and you never fail to put a smile on my face. 😍❤

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • I don’t even know why I haven’t tried Netgalley 😂 Maybe it’s all the school work threatening to become a huge tower of stress and regrets *all the work crushes my smol soul 😂

        Liked by 1 person

  6. I’ve been at 80 and I hover around 72-74% normally. I learned early on from the NG tips and help section what they look for when they check your request; they look at denials and they look at your ratios because they don’t want to give books to ppl who don’t review them. I’m a bit behind but I make a promise to myself not to go on until I review one. So I review one, and then if I want I can request another.
    It helps for approvals that I’m an educator but I wasn’t always labeled that. As a blogger, it was competitive. Once I learned my denials hurt me, I stopped requesting from big pubs and started from little ones. Now I get approved for a lot, so I try to keep it under control. Some ppl have low feedback scores Bc they have so many books; they might also though have a large following or be from a country where they need reviews (Canada, UK, Australia).
    I wish you luck on there bc Edelweiss is even worse!!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Thank you so much for your thoughts, Stephanie! I learned a lot just from reading your comment. I’m so happy that you’re doing so well with your feedback ratio, a 72-74% range is admirable.

      I actually tried Edelweiss once and I got declined on all my requests! So I didn’t go back there anymore even though some titles there are better. I’m sticking to Netgalley and try to be a more responsible reviewer. 😉💙

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • I went into NG blind so I am always hoping people have a better experience than I first did. (I get declined on Edelweiss more times than approved).
        I’m all about NG…I love what they do. I just wish I knew in the beginning all the stuff I could have done and I think they should make that info more available to reviewers. It’s not fair to hold our denials against us if we were just requesting in the beginning of our account – it’s not like WE knew!!
        I wish you luck and I know you will keep rocking the reviews! 😊😘

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Oh, yeah, I definitely have! My ratio was so good last month, but between now and then, I’ve received so many e-ARCs, and now I have way more than I thought I would. Not like I’m complaining; I’m excited to read them all. 😂 But, yeah, 80% is far, far way from me, and I’m not going to be reaching it anytime soon!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. I definitely haven’t hit the 80% mark! I just signed up for NetGalley in June and thought I wouldn’t get approved for anything so I went CRAZY! Now, I’ve got a huge list of ones that I wasn’t able to get to. I definitely learned from that first time as I’ve only requested 2 or 3 since but that unread shelf still bugs me.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • THIS IS ME. HAHA YOUR STORY IS EXACTLY LIKE MINE! 😂😅 I also started around June and I just killed the request button, I got declined all the time back then. But when I improved my info I got approved eventually and now I’m WAY behind my reviews. I’m so glad that you’ve gotten better now, hopefully we’ll be able to tackle that unread shelf soon! 😉💙

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  9. I used to do that a looooot. But lately I am able to control it, mostly by trying to avoid Netgalley, but oh well it works and now I have only 5 books sitting there.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. I have the same problem on a slightly smaller scale. I’m a little pickier about what I request, but my problem is I tend to zone out when I’m looking, request a whole bunch at once, and then approvals come through (or I get a bunch of Read Nows) and my feedback ratio plummets! I’m glad to know other people know my pain.

    One thing that pisses me off is that when you request, it doesn’t show you whether the book is available to be sent to kindle directly. So I’ll request something, get approved, only to be unable to even download the file? And then I feel like an idiot AND a failure lol.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I can totally relate with the zoning out while requesting, sometimes it feels like you’re just adding books on your TBR at Goodreads. I’m happy that you could relate to the post.

      I agree, it’s annoying when it’s not available to be sent on Kindle. I wish Netgalley would put an option where you could see if it’ll be available on Kindle or not. That’s really not your fault, so please don’t feel bad. 😉 Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts Christine! ❤

      Like

      Reply

  12. I love your honesty! It is hard not to go crazy. There are times I wonder if someone else is requesting books for me because I seriously don’t remember requesting them. But I think that’s just denial. I know darn well it was me.
    I have gotten better but it means staying away completely sometimes or just going submitting my review and getting out of there. Although, even then sometimes something catches my eye and off I go. I’m not sure what my ratio is right now. I think it’s somewhere in the 70s.
    Anyhow I really loved your post and all the replies.
    Here’s to not killing it 🙃

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I’m glad to know that someone else could relate to my dilemma! Haha, I totally relate with submitting your review and then getting out of there ASAP but then you see a title that’s in your TBR so you request for it and you get this sudden urge to check out the other titles *sighs* Good job on maintaining a high ratio though!

      Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. 💞💞

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  13. I remember my earlier days of blogging in this post. I used to request tons of books / adding some wishlist in NetGalley. My heart breaks a little when I get rejections but I brush it off. When I got multiple approvals it overwhelmed me and I had this mindset to beat the archived date. One point, I abandoned NetGalley for a year and went back by reading the books I left. It’s stressful.

    Lesson Learned: Only request a book you’re sure going to read & review. Keep doing this and for sure you’ll reach the 80% feedback ratio. I’m on the 87% and making sure I maintain it above 80.

    Wonderful post, Louise! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. It’s great to see so much honesty. I think we’ve all been there. I was too and then I flipped the other way! I try not to request anymore unless I really really want one (which means sleeping on it and everything). I’ve been on 96% or something for the last 5 months or so and have 2 books pending but I come from 65-70% too so everything’s possible ;-). Wonderful and thoughtful post!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Reading all your personal experiences about rising from the books you requested and achieving such a high percentage is really inspiring and admirable! Tbh, I was quite worried of posting this because I was scared of how others will take it but I’ve gotten such wonderful responses so far. Thank you so much Inge for sharing your thoughts! 💞💞💞

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  15. I have 80% but not the top reviewer badge which I feel like I see all over. I do get request happy and have regretted a couple I have received. Really netgalley helps you have a more open mind when you embrace books you thought you wouldn’t be interested in but read anyway for your numbers. I do just stay away from netgalley if I’m hovering too close to 80%, there are lots of places to get free books nowadays. Great post, I enjoyed it!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. Luckily, I had read somewhere that it’s best not to request a ton of books at once as you might be approved for a lot more than you think and once that happens you’ll just be really overwhelmed! So, I went slow and steady and yet I STILL fell really behind when out of nowhere I was approved for three eARCs within hours of each other! I really hope I can get to them soon and get my ratio up again because it really bugs me that it’s at 33% right now!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  17. I am newbie on Netgalley so my review ratio is still good.. since netgalley is on ebook format I only asked one that I really interested.. I had learn same lesson: asked books that I am interested through entering giveaway or book review contest.. Just like you, I entered because I interested in cover/title without check synopsis/goodreads review then I won them but when I got them, I lost interest and many of them still on my TBR pile.. Hahahahaa

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  18. I used to hit the request button a lot of times too … Now I’m actually proud that I have like 10 books to read, and most of them are quick stories, so I’ll get through them easily, I’m sure.
    I’m glad you made that choice! If you’re not interested in them, you might just end up giving it a bad rating, while you could have enjoyed it more if you were interested. The bad thing is that we’re keeping copies from people who are dying to read those books. I’ve been trying to request fewer books lately.
    Good luck ^^

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • That’s really good to hear, Marta! I know, I really wish I could still pick up the other books soon because it’s really an honor being approved by the publishers. But I have learned my lesson to stay away Netgalley as long as possible haha. Good luck to you as well and have fun reading! 💕

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  19. I’m REALLY strict with myself when it comes to netgalley. I only ever let myself request two or three and then I make sure I read them within a month and don’t request any more until I have. It pays off when you see something you really want to read as you have a better chance of actually getting it if your ratio is higher. I also don’t want to feel pressured into reading and not enjoy it. But it’s so difficult when there are so many books to choose from!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I admire your self-control and discipline so much! It’s really nice to hear that you’ve been managing well at Netgalley, I have been trying to restrict myself from requesting too much but yes like you said it’s so hard because there’s so many amazing titles there! 😂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  20. Pingback: April Wrap-Up || May TBR (2017) – She Latitude

  21. OMG I can totally relate! I get a lot of books sent to me through email (with a link to the book on Netgalley preapproved for like blog tours and such) then pair it with the 5-10 books I requested myself on there they pile up and I get so anxious and the idea of reading just makes me sick. I’ve gone through some of the ones that were archived and just sent the publisher a note saying why I never got around to it or if I’ll spotlight it some other way for publicity instead. That way it still helps me ratio without having to review. I haven’t looked at a single book to review on there in over a month and have only been posting my reviews then logging off. It’s helping me not go crazy. Great discussions post!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I’m SO glad that you could relate so much Ashley! It’s nice to see that I’m not the only one who have had troubles with Netgalley and reviews!! What you did or what you’re doing is a really smart idea, at least you gave your honest side to the publishers! Same, I haven’t checked out the new titles there because it’s so hard to resist the request button!! Thank you so much. 💕💕

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • That’s really nice to hear, Lauren! I’m glad that I’m not alone with this struggle, I don’t think I’ll ever have that kind of self-control so I just stay away from Netgalley haha. 😅 Hope you enjoy those books and have fun reading! 💕

      Like

      Reply

  24. Pingback: April Wrap Up 2017 | My Midnight Musing

  25. Pingback: Weekly Wrap-Up: 5/1 – 5/7/17

  26. Oh my gosh, this is so true. Haha… Actually, for me, there was pretty much just THE ONE bout of downloading books, and that was when I first signed up to NetGalley. When I say first, I need not just that ONE time, but the first few weeks of using it. I wasn’t even getting approved a lot, I just downloaded Read Now titles. Well, at least I read the blurbs, so that’s good, still interested in most of those titles. But gosh, I downloaded like 80, and I didn’t even have a book blog then. I didn’t care about my ratio. A half a year later, I become a book blogger, and… whoops. Turns out it matters 😀 didn’t even THINK it would matter or that there was a ratio!

    So yeah, I refuse to feel guilty about it or pester myself, but I did join a blogger shame challenge to get those read xD I AM still going to read them. But I’m not going to push myself. And now I get approved for most books I request (strangely!) so I’ve been requesting the ones that interest me and just focusing on the new ones, reading the old ones here and there. ONE DAY. Although it might take me years still. I had managed to raise my ratio to like 30%, but since my last spree… I don’t know where I am and I don’t want to look xD however, I don’t regret my last spree. The choices were all well thought-through, I DO want those books and I have even planned them out (cause when you blog for a half a year, you start realizing the timing of reading them and their publishing dates matter :D)

    But I totally know what you mean. The request button, Jesus… Like, I’m glad they SOMETIMES don’t approve? Lol. I have also just joined Edelweiss. Why did I do that 😀

    But I think I also like having the option. It’s just like going to a bookstore when you have the blues and shopping away, except not spending a penny. Sometimes we need it. I mean, I don’t shop for shoes, for clothes, I don’t do any of those things women get accused for spree-spending. But at least let me have the books. And I’m not even buying them. I’m on NetGalley xD

    That said, I DO hope I can get through my HOLY GOD I REQUESTED 15 BOOKS IN MAY AND 11 OF THEM GOT APPROVED (#truestory) and if this works out, well then yay! If not, well then… Ouch. But I hope it will. I’m through with like 3 already. I CAN DO DIS!!!!

    Anyway. Awesome, and very relevant post 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  27. Pingback: Sunday post #6 – AvalinahsBooks

Leave a comment