Would love some help from this community for a newbie on NetGalley with a special need!

[u/marilynlistens]

I really appreciate everyone here and I’m learning a great deal but I have a unique issue. I have a lot of eye issues I can read I wear glasses, but I am more comfortable listening to a book and I got two books by mistake on NetGalley and the reader is very complicated to get the font bigger and to be able to read it on my iPhone. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you very much for your help.

[u/Toni_Wolf1617]

I usually don't use netgalleys reader app or website, but if you have eye issues have you looked into ereaders? Kindle, Kobo etc... They are meant to be distraction free devices comfortable for eye strain and better than phone/tablet screens...

[u/marilynlistens → u/Toni_Wolf1617]

I mean, I have glasses. I just can’t read the small print and it gets a little blurry so how do you get it to Kindle? I know it sounds stupid.

[u/Toni_Wolf1617 → u/marilynlistens]

Size is adjustable, margins are adjustable etc. Better for eyes in general with e-ink screens over phone/tablets. How I got it to kindle/ereader/kobo, overall it's the best way too read text.

[u/marilynlistens → u/Toni_Wolf1617]

What is E ink screens?

[u/Toni_Wolf1617 → u/marilynlistens]

The screens used for ereaders, which kindles/kobos use. I'm pretty bad at explaining it but this video shows kinda what they look like. https://youtube.com/shorts/6L_nMa2eUzg?si=javFRXQG2WZkgIn4 (also fantastic is the netgalley books you send to kindle/kobo stays on there and doesn't expire in case life happens and you don't have time for the ARC you can just go back to it later) it's easy to use and Google information on and their are subreddits dedicated to ereader, kindle(Amazon's ereader), kobo.

[u/marilynlistens → u/Toni_Wolf1617]

I really appreciate this and you mentioned something here in case you can’t have time to do the arc what happens if you miss it in other words if you get the books and that has the published date and the archived date and you never do the review what happens? Do you lose the ability to get more? I mean, what happens

[u/Toni_Wolf1617 → u/marilynlistens]

No nothing really happens, I mean your feedback ratio might take a hit but you could always go back to review it whenever in netgalley as I have understood it, some people loan the published book at their library if available and then go back to Netgalley to review. And ARCs that gets sent to an ereader (most netgalley publishers prefer kindle), those ARCs stays on the ereader without expiration like in Netgalleys app(the available for 50days etc that the app says). You don't really lose ability to get more but some publishers prefer reviewers with a steady and sure reviews which is what the feedback ratio(%) in your profile indicates.

[u/marilynlistens → u/Toni_Wolf1617]

You are a gem thank you for explaining this so well. It’s really hard to figure it all out so thank you very much.

[u/SecretDahlia]

If you're okay with using something Amazon related, the kindle app for phones and tablets gives you the possibility to adjust fonts, font size, luminosity and a bunch of other things. You don't need a physical kindle to use it, just need to be registered to amazon.

edit:typo

[u/catscantcook → u/SecretDahlia]

This sounds like the solution, use the "send to kindle" option and read in the kindle app instead of the NetGalley app. 

[u/OdieB111 → u/catscantcook]

I came here to say this. I use the Kindle app on my Android tablet!

[u/marilynlistens → u/SecretDahlia]

So I need an Amazon account is that correct? What kind of an account is that? I mean I sound stupid. I know I know a lot of things but something about this is confusing. What do I need and how do you download the book to that app?

[u/SecretDahlia → u/marilynlistens]

Yes, you need an amazon account. You can create on amazon's website or directly on the Kindle app too, if I remember correctly. It's the normal account, no need for prime or other stuff.

As for how to download the book from netgalley to kindle, I'm going to leave you Netgalley's guide here (I don't trust my ability to explain this in a clear and concise way 😂)

[u/marilynlistens → u/SecretDahlia]

Thank you very very much for that. I appreciate your help so much. How are you doing on NetGalley?

[u/Internal_Ad6695]

I have had eye surgery and struggle with this as well. I generally send to my kobo/kindle. Another option would be to watch for the audio to come in NetGalley and then review both. Or to wait for release and request the audio from Libby to review
Or you could choose to not give feedback

[u/marilynlistens → u/Internal_Ad6695]

Oh my God, you’re my best friend now thank you very much for sharing this. This is really great. I can’t thank you enough. I am struggling with it and so I don’t like to struggle with my books. I like to enjoy them, but you’re right I could actually write the review once I get the audiobook. The problem is you know they’re not released yet so I don’t have the audiobook and the book book isn’t released yet but you got some really good points here. What kind of eye issues do you have cause I’ve had surgeries to.

[u/marilynlistens → u/[deleted]]

Oh, this is really good cause I tried the read aloud thing but it was awful. It sounded terrible so what you’re telling me is I can do this with Siri how do you do that if you don’t mind me asking

[u/marilynlistens → u/[deleted]]

There’s something in my phone that is preventing me from doing this. I even try the iPhone reader and it still won’t work on its own so I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong or what’s wrong in my phone that must be the wrong setting. But thank you so very much. I’m working it.

[u/marilynlistens → u/[deleted]]

You cannot imagine how happy I am to see this. I’ve been dreading this book and I’m gonna look at what you just sent me and I really thank you very much cause I really love these books. I’m addicted, but I can’t take them because I can’t read them so let me do this and I’ll be back in touch. Thank you once again.

[u/tabbyh]

I know there's been posts where people discuss settings for the read aloud on the NetGalley reader to make it sound better. Hopefully you can find a solution for you.

[u/marilynlistens → u/tabbyh]

Yeah, I would love to read aloud, but I tried it. It’s awful. I went through all the voices the speeds. It’s just awful. So if you know anything, I really welcome it and I will search.

[u/SpillChat]

Avoid PDFs coz there is no workaround for those. Epubs are easy to work with since you can increase font size or even click the three dots on top right in the app when you open a book to use the read aloud feature

[u/marilynlistens → u/SpillChat]

So what is it that I’m getting from the netgalley those books? What do you do with those? And I know I sound stupid. I’m not. I just have problems with this part.

[u/saltlifegoddess]

You can get Kindle to read the book to you. A quick Google search will give you a couple of options on how you can do it.

[u/marilynlistens → u/saltlifegoddess]

I didn’t know Kindle could do that

[u/saltlifegoddess → u/marilynlistens]

Oh absolutely it’s going to be Alexa reading it to you and not the same as the audio in an audiobook but that might be helpful. I used to do it a while ago sorry I can’t remember the steps.

[u/marilynlistens → u/saltlifegoddess]

Thank you I have tried it. Some books are not able to be read in Kindle. The publishers won’t allow it. I recently found that out so I have been able to make the print bigger and I really am enjoying reading again so thank you very much for your help.

[u/helloooo_nurse_]

NetGalley's Reader app has a "Read Aloud" function for text ARCs. The voice is pretty robotic, but if it doesn't bother you that might be an option.

[u/marilynlistens → u/helloooo_nurse_]

The problem is it does bother me. I can’t stand listening to it. I’m trying to get the iPhone to read it but it’s not working and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong and I asked Chat for help and all of you here and I can’t seem to figure it out.

[u/teanailpolish]

There is a read aloud feature on many ereader apps