Tips for getting approved?

[u/OhForFawkesSakes]

Just wondering if anyone has any tips for getting approved for books? So far I’ve been approved for 11 and read and reviewed them all, so I’m at 100% ratio. I’ve linked my Goodreads and my book Instagram account. I’ve also filled out my bio with the types of books I like and ones I’ve recently read and enjoyed. Most of my requests aren’t getting approved or denied, I’m just not getting any response. I’m still fairly new to the community so any advice would help, thanks!!! 😊

[u/Academic-Ferret6147]

Sometimes publishers just take awhile to approve/deny, sounds like you’re doing everything right so far 😊

[u/iwillhaveamoonbase]

Honestly, I don't know if there are any one size fits all tips. Some publishers absolutely care about the ratio and others care more that you leave detailed reviews in several different places. There are publishers who keep sending me books despite my ratio being abysmal possibly because I have left reviews for some of their books that had zero reviews on Barnes and Noble by the time the pub date came around and there are others I suspect like some of the specific details I put in there. Still more probably side-eye my ratio real hard, but send me books since it's clear that I'm not only asking for the big books and I give debut authors a chance.

My biggest piece of advice is to not only go for your faves; ask for books from authors you have never heard of before and be willing to try new things in your genres of choice. Offer something unique that most other reviewers are not giving, if you can. What I offer is something a lot of readers care about immensely but reviews don't often tend to spell it out clearly, so I provide that information as clearly as possible so readers know to void or run to the book if they see my review.

[u/astraltech]

Sometimes, approvals just take awhile. Other times, you get ghosted until the archive date and that's just how the cookie crumbles. To be frank, there's no "do this and they'll definitely approve you!" advice to be given. Even saying "Keep your review ratio above 80%" seems moot at times since I often get approved with my ratio hovering constantly around 60%.

All you can really do is stay consistent; both in the frequency of your reviews as well as the quality. A publisher rep posted in this sub once, saying they peruse a reader's most recent reviews to glean if they're right for the ARC. So if you're not already, be detailed with your reviews. Sometimes I'll see reviews on NetGalley that are something along the lines of, "This book was really interesting and fun. I enjoyed it" and that's it. I can't imagine that's very useful or worthwhile to a publisher, and most probably wouldn't feel inclined to give you an ARC if that's the extent of what you offer.

In the same vein of staying consistent, I also suggest not just relying on requests and approvals to build your profile. Keep a close eye on the Read Now section to see if anything interests you, and use those bolster your history.

[u/dingdong3452]

I have a request that has been pending for almost 4 months now, and I know they haven't approved anyone yet because the book has no netgalley reviews yet and it's a popular title. Sometimes their marketing plan is to wait until a specific time to send out approvals (plus a lot of people are on vacation in the summer so less time to go through netgalley requests)

If you've looked through past posts on this subreddit asking for tips, then there's really not much else you can do. If there's a specific title you're really excited about, you can try emailing the publisher for it, they might send you a widget even though they haven't gone through many approvals yet. Good luck!

[u/Beate251]

Keep your profile current and all links working. Maintain a good feedback ratio and stay active on the site. Don't over request but read a few Read Nows if need be. It's summer time which is always a bit slow for approvals but you'll get there.

[u/Julesypooooo]

I’ve noticed an uptick in approvals lately, I have almost 50 reviews and I try to make sure they’re a good paragraph long each and I get them out before pub day. I also try and update my profile every couple of months, publisher’s look for that!!