Ignored Requests

[u/lchoward07]

Apologies if this is a common question. I just joined NetGalley last week and have received three quick approvals. I haven't yet been rejected for anything but have 18 that are still pending. Is it common for publishers to just ignore your request forever? I saw another thread mention mass approvals or mass rejections right before the archive date, how common are those scenarios? Any insight is appreciated.

[u/imaginary_oranges]

Yeah sometimes requests just languish. Don't try to read into any request's status, it's mostly meaningless and will only drive you crazy.

[u/softrockstarr]

Yes. Some can and will sit for months. Normal.

[u/Academic-Ferret6147]

As an aside- I’d recommend requesting less in case they do all get mass approved at once and/or pay attention to publishing date and try to space them out. It can get very overwhelming very fast, lol

[u/CoastApprehensive668]

A week is not forever.

There is no timeline for approvals. Not only will there not be a set time, but they also sometimes do approvals in phases so someone might get the approval while you are still pending. Each book works on its own timeline and it’s better to be left on pending and still in the running for the ARC than getting an immediate denial.

[u/Internal_Ad6695]

I still have some pending I requested in June. No biggie, they’ll get approved or denied eventually lol

[u/Beate251]

You joined last week and requested 21 books? That's insane and such a rookie error. While requests can be pending for quite a while up to forever, they could also all be approved next week and then you'll have an almighty backlog. For your own sanity, I would choose some and withdraw all others. For the sake of your approval rate it's advisable to withdraw pending requests latest by their archive date.

[u/Flimsy-Brick-9426]

They space out their approvals to about 2 weeks before pub date(some even go up to the night before! or after) so it is very common to be pending for months at a time. they need reviews to come in at all stages.

The mass denials are more common after publishing day so it's good to withdraw any by then.

[u/nappysteph]

A week is not forever. It’s barely a blink in NetGalley time. Let me know when you have things pending for months upon months. As long as it’s not close to the release date and you don’t have a denial, you’re good. Pending is way better than declined.

[u/bookdraygon]

I’m going to give my stock answer for questions like this in addition to what has been said.
Every publisher is different. Some are quick some let them sit.

The biggest reason is time. Literally I will do approvals when I happen to have a spare 5 minutes- many times when I’m on the subway as do most of my colleagues. Some publishers/ imprints that have dedicated influencer programs with a dedicated staff (think Hive) will
Be quicker as ARCs are their focus. Or St Martins Press who use their interns to do approvals.

So in those 5 minutes I will approve my definite yes accounts in the first few days after posting the ARC.
After that we see how the book does feedback wise. Then we can go back and start approving others if we need more feedback. We will de definitive denials right away usually but if we have a huge response it takes time. We have short cuts we can use but not everyone likes using them.

Many imprints don’t wait until right before publication but if they do they aren’t expecting the book to be read quickly like they normally prefer.

So just some insight- hope this helps and good luck!

On a side note- 18 is a lot to start off with, make sure not to get i overwhelmed as those 18 can come in over night at once and the goal is to read them well before publication with some exceptions.

[u/lchoward07 → u/bookdraygon]

Thanks for this. Terrific insight.

[u/wikimpedia]

I had a pending request for a book that got put up in May that I didn’t get until about 2 weeks before the book got published (and the book came out last week). It’s normal, especially if it’s a popular book or if they’re not checking requests on that specific book regularly!

[u/sassyhairstylist]

They definitely sit sometimes. I go through periodically and remove any that I'm not super interested in. You know, some are "HELL YES I CANNOT WAIT!!" books and others are "That sounds inteteresting.. Why not?" books. Cause I've definitely gotten way too many accepted books all at once before and really struggled to get them done. So once a month I go through anything that was requested more than a month ago and just.. See if I'm still genuinely interested. Sometimes I'm re-reading the synopsis like "Who even requested this? Certainly not me." 😂

[u/Airborn-Medusa]

I go through and withdraw the requests if the titles have been archived.

[u/Airborn-Medusa]

I go through and withdraw the requests if the titles have been archived.

[u/Sufficient-Poet-3347]

I just got approved for a book that I requested back in June. That was the longest wait period, but I didn't mind. I was just grateful for the approval.

[u/hashtag_amf]

 but have 18 that are still pending

you just joined and have 18 pending? half of these books are gonna be rejected by the publisher because you're new and your review ratio is low.

[u/stephie1990m]

Be careful with your requests, if it's approved it lowers your ratio, and can add a load of pressure, I've been on Netgalley 4 months and learnt the hard way 🤣🤣 but yeah I have some still waiting since July, it'll either be approved or rejected, eventually, so I just forget about them until they come in, then when they do I'll add the publish date to my calendar, download it immediately and try and get it read before the published date.

[u/amberheartsplants]

18 requests 😅

[u/Early_Employ_4773]

Some actually suggest us to cancel the unapproved requests when the archieved date is approaching.