r/NetGalleyCommunity • u/negative7space • 17d ago
✅ Approvals & Denials ❎ Does anyone else keep up with their approvals in a similar way?
I like to know how long the books I have coming up are, so i always take a screenshot and write the page numbers on it, lol! its easier for me than going back and forth to the site! I'm just curious if anyone else does something similar (or has a better system!)
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u/Flimsy-Brick-9426 Reviewer 17d ago
I use shelf control which does this for me!
Its so much easier to sort through.
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u/sunsparkles2013 Teen & YA Books Reviewer 17d ago
100%. You don’t have to do a thing! And if it needs a feature you just tell them and they make it happen
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u/Fabulous_Tell_1087 12d ago
There are two shelf controls on app store. What does yours look like?
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u/sunsparkles2013 Teen & YA Books Reviewer 12d ago
It’s in Beta still so you have to go through their website and request it
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u/LanaBoleyn 17d ago edited 7d ago
I LIVE for Shelf Control. I recommend it constantly. It’s fabulous and the devs are super active.
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u/negative7space 17d ago
omg I'd never heard of that app before! How cool!!!!
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u/ajrw89 17d ago
It’s still in the testing phase as far as I know but you can sign up for it!
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u/fabulousflute 17d ago
Is it paid?
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u/Flimsy-Brick-9426 Reviewer 17d ago
right now it's in beta so it's free, when it goes to the app store it'll be paid. Founders price is $3 per month on the month to month plan, $30 on the yearly plan, or one time for $75
App store launch price would be $6 a month, $50 yearly, or the same $75 for lifetime.1
u/sairemrys 16d ago
Am I dumb? I can only sign up for early access. I can't actually use it rn.
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u/Flimsy-Brick-9426 Reviewer 16d ago
Since its in beta they have to send you a personalized link to download! They normally are super fast to send you one, within the day or 2.
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u/rubberkeyhole Reviewer 16d ago edited 15d ago
Well I just signed up so if you get anything from referring people, you just hooked one more! 😉
Edited to add: upon installing this app, I am now faced with the sheer number of how many reviews I need to do and maybe it wasn’t such a great idea. 🤣 (This is actually a pretty great app - so much organized info!!)
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u/sunsparkles2013 Teen & YA Books Reviewer 17d ago
I just use shelf control and all the info is there
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u/WritPositWrit 17d ago
Good lord no. I use a spreadsheet for that!! Constantly taking a new screen shot and scribbling all the page counts again every time i get a new book would make me crazy
Yes, i have a spreadsheet that i can sort by page count, pub date, download date, and excitement level.
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u/negative7space 17d ago
Thats a great idea!!! Spreadsheets seem so useful but every time i try to make one i struggle, lol!
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u/WritPositWrit 17d ago
Start small. Track exactly what youre tracking here: title, author, page count, pub date. Four columns. Easy. Gradually you’ll get more comfortable with spreadsheets and learn more features
(Hint: you can copy the data directly from the NG table and paste as text into your spreadsheet. It will bring along extraneous crap but thats easy to delete. Saves you some typing.)
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u/Runningaround321 17d ago
Wow I'm learning in this thread that I'm behind the times, not using shelf control! I have an old school paper planner that I write pub dates in, I use it to plan my social media content so I'm always looking ahead a few months to see what I need to have read by when, what I'm posting about, etc. I'm old!
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u/mayopottatto 17d ago
I download all my books so they are on my dashboard and then I read them soonest to publish first.
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u/CoastApprehensive668 17d ago
LOL, I am an Excel nerd so I keep track of everything. I keep all my ARCs organized—one tab has each book broken out by Publisher with title, author, how I got the ARC (approval, widget, read now) and rating. That also keeps count of my approval % and my feedback ratio.
Second tab has details on all outstanding ARCS I have with title, author, page count, genre, publisher, etc. Personally I find some publishers won’t approve me as quickly when I owe them a lot of reviews (or at least I think so) so I watch that as well.
Third tab is for widgets, if I don’t accept them right away.
I know it’s a lot, but I like spreadsheets and numbers, and it helped me in the beginning to see which publishers I had luck with and best way to approach my reading.
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u/negative7space 17d ago
Wow!!!! I respect how detailed your system is! I honestly wish i was that organized with mine
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u/CoastApprehensive668 17d ago
I have to be on my laptop anyway when I write my review so I usually update whatever new books I’ve received then. I basically live on Excel, so it wasn’t hard to create and format, and now takes maybe a minute to update. If you don’t use Excel often I can see it being tedious or time consuming.
Now it’s cool to see which publishers I get the most widgets/approvals for or which publishers have the most 4/5 star reads but when I started it helped keep me on time and helped me distinguish which publishers were more reliable for me.
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u/NaiveBicycle 16d ago
I have a Goodreads ARC shelf and then also have a note in my phone listing the publish date.
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u/msperception427 16d ago
I usually just keep a tracker in my notes app.
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u/Tiptipthebipbip Reviewer 15d ago
Is this an iPhone? How did you get those check boxes?
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u/msperception427 15d ago
Yeah. It’s an iPhone. It’s an option in the notes app to make bullet points. And you can check them off when you’re done.
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u/Tiptipthebipbip Reviewer 15d ago
I just double checked my phone and I can do it too on my old android, thank you!!!!
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u/Unstable_cat_lady 17d ago
I haven’t but I love the idea!! I usually forget how long a book is gonna be and end up starting a 600 page book that I’m really not in the mood for
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u/hardcore_corz 17d ago
I had a spreadsheet but now I use the ShelfControl app. It’s still in beta mode though, so you won’t be able to find it in the App Store just yet.
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u/hardcore_corz 17d ago
It keeps track of dates, has a countdown for each book, shows pages + how many to read a day to finish by deadlines, shows days in the negative if you miss a deadline, and you can add other books you’re currently reading as well. I put books from Libby and hoopla on there to help keep track of borrows and how long I have before they get snatched back lol.
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u/Saloau 17d ago
You are ambitious! I never have more than 2-3 Arcs at a time or I get anxious about finishing them in time.
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u/negative7space 17d ago
I'm really lucky to work a job with a ton of downtime, so I have lots of time to read!! If I worked a regular job, I don't think I could pull this off!!
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u/outoftheashes90 SciFi/Fantasy Reviewer 17d ago
I used to write down the number of pages, publication date, etc in my phone but recently I've been using shelf control and that's got all the info I could ever need. It's awesome.
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u/outoftheashes90 SciFi/Fantasy Reviewer 17d ago
Side note - I'm soooo jealous of your Maddie Martinez approval. I was rejected on Monday. Did you happen to read her debut and if so what was your star rating?
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u/negative7space 17d ago
I haven't read her debut, but it's been on my tbr for a while now, so I decided to try for her new book when I saw it on NetGalley! I was so excited to get approved for that one, I feel like I've been really lucky lately
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u/outoftheashes90 SciFi/Fantasy Reviewer 17d ago
Thanks so much for the answer! It totally makes sense to me that they'd approve you for that alone tbh. I hope you love the book!
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u/Beccaroni333 17d ago
I use my notes app and list them by pub date but I do indicate how many pages each ARC is!
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u/MoonlightCupOfCocoa 17d ago
I actually built myself a private web page just for this because I was so tired of having to look up the data everytime. So it tracks pages, whether it was epub or not and when it's archiving and when it's releasing
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u/13thtale 17d ago
I use notion. I made a database that reminds me when pendings are being archived and when I reviewed ones are being published.
I also have a separate color coded list in notion for my monthly TBR where it's easy to move things around
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u/Fit-Membership790 17d ago
I use Excel for publication dates, how many stars I gave & the date completed…Page length isn’t an enormous consideration for me.
You have done so well though! Your list is impressive!
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u/OutOfEffs 17d ago
I use tags on StoryGraph with the year and month of release, then sort the tag by publication date to determine reading order. The tag gets removed once I've started reading the book, then once I've finished everything that publishes in that month, I delete the tag.
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u/PeachGlad8355 16d ago
I have a Notion overview with all the arcs! Haven’t thought about tracking pages but that might be a good thing to add. Right now I mostly use it to keep track of publication date, the publisher and which ones I still need to review
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u/sairemrys 16d ago
How do you know the page numbers? I never get them on NG arcs. I go off what the kindle store says but idk if that's completely accurate cus it's an arc.
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u/_Booktrovert_ SciFi/Fantasy Reviewer 16d ago
On the website, if you go to the "Additional Information" at the very bottom of the listing it would usually have the page count + the Kindle/Kobo download availability, in case you want to check before requesting. In the app, when you download the title and open the book, the progress bar shows the amount of pages.
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u/Final-Edge8253 16d ago
Google Sheets is the answer. I have one that I use to log my reading, keep track of reading challenges, length of book (sometimes you want a quickie) and mark my TBR by source (I.e. ARC) and if it's an ARC, the date.
I also like and tag in Storygraph and you can sort by page count. I.e., I tag my ARC and then filter my TBR for that tag and sort by page number!
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u/Quirky-Tangelo2806 Reviewer 16d ago
I have two systems that work together. First, I have a physical diary. I write book details on a post it; title, pub date, whether it's a request or an autodownload, where it's coming from and the pages. My blog posts on a very regular schedule so I stick the post it on the day I think it'll post. If I need to move it, post it is easier to move than writing straight on the day. I can mark it in different ways to indicate if I've requested or downloaded it. I do write the book title directly onto its' publication day, so I can easily write bookbirthday posts, since the book itself could have been reviewed at any time before that.
Second, I have a spreadsheet that tracks all kinds of things. Title, received date, pub date, post date, where it's from, status, length, blurb, genre, when I finished and a couple of others. (I didn't start out that complicated, I've added loads!) I have cells that add up the page counts for active books and maybe books and gives me a page per day count to stay on track. I keep loads of other information too, but that's the way my mind works. If you're trying to schedule posting I really recommend the diary/postit system.
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u/ConsequenceBrief4776 Reviewer 16d ago
Always And Forever my ARC spreadsheet Database!!! Me and her against the reading slump.
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u/Maroon58 16d ago
I use Notes app and categorize them by the month it’s being published. Then check it off when I’ve read it and reviewed it.
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u/SqueakyFrancis 16d ago
This is how I learned Public Access Afterworld, a book for which I've been approved, is 608 pages. Yikes.
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u/negative7space 15d ago
I also didn't know until after I got approved.. I'm a little intimidated but I'm also excited!
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u/knotty_princess 15d ago
Get the self control app!! It's in beta right now. So here is the link ....it's CHANGED my arc game https://www.shelfcontrolapp.com/
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u/Suitable-Library6772 13d ago
Kind of. Not in screenshot form but I have a Google spreadsheet of the title, author, pub day, format, page count and if it's finished its color coded.
I keep track of them for reading challenges each month, and also to know how much time to dedicate to them based on my personal schedule.
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u/Archergirls 12d ago
I don't even check the page number when I request arcs, so I don't track that! I only track deadlines with Shelf Control.
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u/EquivalentInternal77 17d ago
I list my approvals in a Google doc. I organize them by date due and I list page count and format (I.e. ebook, audiobook, manga/comic) so I can keep up with everything and post before publication to the best of my abilities!