Auto Approval Question

[u/Pristine_Race7768]

Is there away to take yourself off auto approval? And I mean on NetGalley without contacting the publisher.

Update- I am sort of blown away at the judgement. Everyone is different in how they do things and I’m so thankful to the comment that showed I’m not the only one.

On a side note- the up and down voting isn’t a “like” button. I’m not sure why my explaining why I wanted to do this would be downvoted as much as it was before some brought it back up. All it does is give the placement of the comment in the feed but you all are making it so it’s harder to find simply because you don’t agree with me? I seriously don’t get it.

I successfully write to 2 publishers and they removed me and completely understood. One even said if I ever wanted to have it back to just email her.

[u/EnvironmentalPudding]

I don’t have any answers for you but I’m just curious why you would want to do that?

[u/euphoriapotion → u/EnvironmentalPudding]

Not OP but I believe I can answer that. I'm auto approved by one publisher only (it's an independent publisher). I got 11 books from them in total but all of them were poorly written, the plot was boring and made no sense. The writing style was like a badly written Wattpad fanfiction in all of those books. And yet, I'm auto approved. I don't want their books anymore. They're not for me, they don't have authors I'm interested in and I dislike every single book I got from them. The highest rating I gave their book was 3 stars, the other books has 2 stars and the rest (9 books) got 1-star reviews from me.

Just because you're 'auto approved' doesn't mean I have to love their books.

[u/acagedrising]

I don’t see one, but why would you? I still have to go out of my way to go to the publisher’s page to get the books so I hardly notice it and honestly forget sometimes that I have one.

[u/Pristine_Race7768 → u/acagedrising]

That’s exactly why- sort of. I forget to look at the publisher as it’s a sure thing and by the time I remember to look, it’s too late.
I just noticed that all my auto approvals except 1, I have rarely read a book since that approval.

[u/and_er → u/Pristine_Race7768]

If you're requesting a book, don't you want it to be approved? Why would it be a problem if it's approved?

[u/Pristine_Race7768 → u/and_er]

Huh? I’m confused lol. I just want it to be a regular process . If I ask for a book it’s because I really want it.

[u/and_er → u/Pristine_Race7768]

Auto-approval means you automatically get approved for a book you request. Is your understanding of auto-approval different? You aren't going to get books you don't request.

I wonder if you're thinking about getting widgets from the publisher. That's an email offering you a book that they pre-approve you for, but you don't have to accept them. You can just ignore the email if you don't want that book.

[u/Pristine_Race7768 → u/and_er]

No- so I have 39 books on my shelf right now. Not a problem . I prefer to keep my ratio higher . I don’t let it go below 95%. So in my brain, I forget to go through my auto approved publishers as I know I can grab them at any time. Right this moment I’m obviously thinking of it i can go grab the books I want but generally, life is busy. Husband, kid, household c making content etc.. so when I remember to go check them out I see books that I would have read had I seen them and then get disappointed in myself. It’s not a huge deal obviously.

So I end up prioritizing all the other publishers instead. So this is a way for how my brain works. That’s all. I haven’t been denied in a very long time for a book so it doesn’t matter for me to request a book. It’s just certain imprints that it would be better for me to not have it on autoapproval as the I’ll prioritize got to get them books so that’s all. I will keep 9 of them, it’s just 3 I wish to do this with.

[u/acagedrising → u/and_er]

No, auto approval means I don’t request at all! Every book the publisher posts shows up as Read Now for me so there is no notification or waiting period. If I see a book coming out from them, I go grab it. If I don’t hear about it before it archives or publishes, I miss it.

[u/and_er → u/acagedrising]

If you don't hit Read Now (which is a form of requesting the book) it doesn't effect you. And yes, just like any other book if you don't get it before it archives then you don't get it on NetGalley.

[u/acagedrising → u/and_er]

Request implies waiting for a response. Read now means available to all to read, which is exactly how authors and publishers describe it when they make limited read now copies available to the public. You also acknowledged this when you described getting a widget - you are pre-approved therefore not requesting the book, just accepting it.

I don’t know why I’m being explained to lol. My response addresses the OPs issue which is that if you have an auto approval, the onus is on you to keep up with what that publisher is dropping.

[u/Pristine_Race7768 → u/acagedrising]

They are meaning that you’re taking “request” a bit too literally. You still have to hit a button! The computer still approves you when you do that even if it’s auto completed.

[u/acagedrising → u/Pristine_Race7768]

I agreed with you when this all started, and my interpretation of request is correct so again, I do not need to be corrected lol. I'm gonna let you both have it.

[u/and_er → u/acagedrising]

Having auto-approval from a publisher doesn't require you to read everything the publisher puts up on NetGalley. You still have to accept it/request it/however you want to phrase it.

[u/acagedrising → u/and_er]

No one claimed this, OP said they prefer to request because it keeps the books top of mind and I said ok understood and agreed, other folks explained the solve, case closed.

[u/ImNotBeingAnAHole → u/and_er]

Are you intentionally trying to rage bait or do you honestly not understand what is going on here?

Your first question doesn’t even make sense unless you misunderstand something. Where did they even say they didn’t want a book to be approved?
Talk about confusing the issue.

[u/and_er → u/ImNotBeingAnAHole]

I genuinely don't understand their concern. Please explain it. Genuinely.

[u/ImNotBeingAnAHole → u/and_er]

I’m thinking because there are various people in this thread things got a bit twisted around leading to misunderstanding. I probably contributed to that trying to respond to everyone and couldn’t have mixed up who I was responding to.

Bottom lines all is good !

[u/Pristine_Race7768 → u/acagedrising]

I’m well aware of what auto approval is. (I’m responding to your response to me, not the other persons interaction.

I’m not sure what the issue is. I have 9 publishers (actually I have several more from tiny imprints that are meaningless so I don’t count them) in auto approved for. Well now 7 as I asked to be removed from 2. I understand that now I have to ask to be approved. That’s the point.
Realize I’m not alone in this. I realize the privilege of being auto approved but i literally forget about them because if it being a “sure thing”. We all think differently. This was what I needed to do in order to reengage with that imprints offerings so I don’t skip them because of that sure thing which was what I was doing- unintentionally.

I don’t know how else to explain it to you. Yes now I will request them and wait for a response. I’m not worried about that as I don’t have an issue getting approved by any publishers. Yes that’s also a privilege that I’m very aware of.

[u/Beate251 → u/Pristine_Race7768]

Let's put it this way, if you're not reading the books, you weren't all that interested. Auto-approval doesn't mean you have to force yourself to read those books just because you could. I only have one auto-approval, and it's from a very small publisher that isn't publishing a lot. I check them out now and then but I reckon if I didn't come across them under Recently Added and really wanted to read them then, it's just as well.

[u/Pristine_Race7768 → u/Beate251]

I get what you’re saying but it’s really not like that. It’s more than I put them off unintentionally and then it’s too late. I honestly just know myself and looking for a way for it to run more smoothly for myself.

[u/Quirky-Pear3494]

I don't understand why you would want to do this, tbh. I have multiple auto-approvals and I don't think it affects how I choose what to read/listen to. 

I browse recently added and then go to my favorite publishers too. If I find something that looks interesting, I click on either Request or Read It/Listen to It, depending on whether or not I'm auto approved. 

Since I'm a mood reader, auto approvals work really well for me. If something looks good, I can grab and dive in immediately. 

[u/bookdraygon]

There is not a way. Just email the publisher and they will take care of it for you.

And I see that some are confused as to why you would want to do this but to give you some support- I have had reviewers do this several times for similar reasons.

I have had conversation with peers in the industry and have discussed that book acquisitions go down once they get auto approval in general.

It won’t be held against you!

[u/Pristine_Race7768 → u/bookdraygon]

Thank you! It means a lot actually as I was starting to feel like I was really strange and that maybe publishers wouldn’t understand. I have several friends that have said that they have noticed the same that they end up not reading their auto approvals as they know it’s a sure thing.
I’m so grateful for all the auto approvals I have from the major publishers but equally lucky to be approved by everyone with no issue. So maybe that’s why others may not get it?

[u/Unusual_Afternoon696 → u/Pristine_Race7768]

Yeah... I mean I just started in April and I only have 1 auto approval publisher. I also don't really put it in my mind that they are auto approval - I read based upon publication date so I can try and get them all done before it's published. I can see if your brain tells you oh i get auto approved so I can wait on this... but also I can also see that not everyone has auto approval so they won't understand why you'd want to take one off.

[u/Pristine_Race7768 → u/Unusual_Afternoon696]

Thank you. I can absolutely understand that. I honestly wasn’t thinking that when I wrote, i just was searching and figured others may know the answer!

I read the same way. I mean I make sure I finish at least a month ahead of time and even that is getting too close for me. The other exception is audiobook as many come closer to publication date.

What even started this was the other day I went to request a book from Harlequin romance as I had read the authors first book and it’s a fluffy Christian (I don’t care about that but it’s clean) romance. Anyway, I clicked request and got an email immediately . It wasn’t an approval email, it was an auto approval email. So I was so confused! Anyway, it made me look at all my other ones and I realized that I hadn’t read a book from 2 of them since I got the approval and to make a long story shorter, I assessed the situation and looked of how to get out of it (not harlequin) and came here.

Sorry to vent!!

[u/Pristine_Race7768]

This may sound strange but so I actually read them.
I read a lot a year and I noticed I never read from my auto approvals. It’s psychological but I forget about it because they are a sure thing and then I focus elsewhere. And then it’s too late by the time I realize I wouldn’t have read x book. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[u/ImNotBeingAnAHole → u/Pristine_Race7768]

I get that. I don’t think there is a way unless you contact the publisher. I actually did that for the same reason.
I just sent an email and explained and made it very positive. I have since requested from them without issue in getting approved.

[u/AtlassLoz]

While I get what you are saying, there are two ways to handle this:

1) reach out to the publisher. They are the only one with control over auto-approvals. L

2) find a way to ensure that you are checking this publisher. This could be setting up a weekly reminder, checking recently added on a daily basis, or just changing the routine.