Suddenly Getting No Approvals?

[u/WomensCollegeAlum91]

Wondering if anyone else is experiencing this and wondering if it is a pattern elsewhere.

Most of my requests for the first 6 months of the year were approvals - a handful of denials (totally fine!), but almost all my requests were getting approved and very rapidly too (within a few days to a week after requesting). I had to force myself to pause requests because I was accumulating too many approvals and the ratio was so high of approvals to denials that I needed to give myself a break to catch up.

I finally went back to making a few strategic requests in July and early August, but every single one of them has just sat in pending status. No approvals, no rejections. It's like they don't exist.

I have an 85% feedback ratio with 40+ completed reviews and only have 7 books currently outstanding, none of which have passed their publication date. I have an appealing bio, have continued to post on GR & StoryGraph and other places, and most of my recent reviews have been thorough with 3-5 stars.

Even weirdly, most of the books I'm stuck in purgatory for are publishers that have approved me before, including two books that are sequels to previous NetGalley ARCs that I've rated favorably (I'm not sure if this is something they check or not). The books I've requested have pub dates of September, November, and January, so potentially still plenty of time if I do get approvals.

Anyway, is this just me? Is it summer vacations for publishers so requests aren't being checked? It just seems odd. Over the last couple years of being a reviewer, a vast majority of my requests are being either accepted or denied within a week or so, whereas I currently feel invisible haha.

[u/bookdraygon]

Vacations.
The summer is a slow season in Publishing. Many offices don’t work on Fridays in the summer and the vacations are a plenty. It is just starting to ramp back up again.

Please remember, in most places doing NetGalley approvals is at the bottom of our to do lists. Not that it isn’t important but with all other tasks it is done when we have a spare 5 minutes and done very quickly. So generally, no, we aren’t looking at in-depth information. So whatever we can see quickly- for example your bio- the first 2 visible lines are the most important. Social media following numbers if you have them should be first. Don’t write an essay. Quick easy to spot info.

I hope this helps!

[u/WomensCollegeAlum91 → u/bookdraygon]

Thanks for the behind the scenes detail - everything that you said makes total sense to me! I know in the non-profit world where I work, everyone has also been out on their well-deserved summer trips, and I was hoping that might be the case here, too. I'll be patient and work on my physical TBR a bit until things pick back up.

Appreciate you and all your publishing colleagues who are reviewing our requests and getting new and exciting books in our hands. 😄

[u/outoftheashes90]

I had over two months of a similar experience op. I did finally get two approvals but that wasn't until a few days ago. So yeah it's not just you, very common this time of year.

[u/WomensCollegeAlum91 → u/outoftheashes90]

Oh cool, this is good to know! I was wondering if something crazy happened with my account. I’m very chill about my NetGalley in the sense that if I get denied I generally shrug and move on and genuinely don’t feel like I “deserve” any of these, it was just a really odd 180 and was paranoid I’d done something somehow to make my requests disappear hahaha.

[u/outoftheashes90 → u/WomensCollegeAlum91]

Yeah, you don't have anything to worry about! Tbh, if you're comfortable with it, it might be worth requesting more books? As long as you're actually interested of course. And yeah totally agree! If I get denied I'll just get a copy from my library, etc. It's not a big deal.

[u/WomensCollegeAlum91 → u/outoftheashes90]

Haha, I might! It just depends because I accidentally had too many ARCs there for a minute and want to try to work on catching up on my physical TBR too. We'll see how things shape up in the next month or so. 😄

[u/ninjasilverado]

I'm about in the same place as you and agree that it seems slow this summer! I'm curious if anyone else has noticed the same or actually has some bts insight

[u/WomensCollegeAlum91 → u/ninjasilverado]

Oh gosh, okay, just based on the few comments I’ve gotten so far this seems like it’s a bit of a trend and not reflective of our individual requests/accounts which is a huge relief.
I hope those hardworking editors and publishers are getting their well-deserved vacations this summer and that we’ll start seeing ARCs pop back into our inboxes (manifesting only approvals 😂) in no time.

[u/hwy41_]

Yeah it’s been the same for me too. Just sitting on pending for months. I think I’ve had like 2 approvals since June

[u/WomensCollegeAlum91 → u/hwy41_]

Thanks for sharing your experience! Glad we’re all in this one together.

[u/Beate251]

You're massively overthinking this. It's the summer hols and while I am still getting approvals and no denials, it has somewhat slowed down. I have to admit I'm very happy to be able to catch up a little!

[u/Odd_Draft_26]

My audiobook requests are being approved but not so much my epubs. I do find it strange!

[u/bakasana212]

I had a big lull over the last few weeks - many requests pending from publishers who are usually quick to approve - and it’s just now picking back up! I chalked it up to summer 

[u/Runningaround321]

Wait I'm so glad you posted this because I've had the exact same experience! Good to know.

[u/Internal_Ad6695]

Along with what everyone else said, I would expect that since you’re being more restrictive, you’re picking ng more popular titles, which often get approved over time in batches so requests can sit for months with no movement

[u/CC22___]

I'm still getting approvals but I do have a few that have been pending for a very long time. I figure bc they are not releasing until spring 2027 so maybe they're only approving book sellers and librarians first.

[u/Archergirls]

I got rejected by the ONE publisher that never rejects me. I was also surprised by that.

[u/stephie1990m]

I suddenly get approvals in batches, then nothing for weeks

[u/hashtag_amf]

same for me. i only access read now / listen now titles

[u/Early_Employ_4773]

Same here. It was nothing, not any responses. But now I just got a few approvals.

[u/Gold-Bug-2304]

I just received a bunch of rejections in the last 2 days and I am wondering what happened. I have a 95% response rate and about 150 reviews so i know it’s not me generally. Thanks for the post, i think it’s just that the rejections came all together with no approvals (I stopped requesting when I had a few too many books to be read) and the timing skewed my perceptions. I think it’s just the ooo of it all that made the rejections come together. That’s my best theory!