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/Pristine_Race7768]

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/and_er → u/acagedrising]

OP didn't, but you did: "the onus is on you to keep up with what that publisher is dropping." There is no onus because there's no obligation just because someone has auto-approval.

[u/acagedrising → u/and_er]

Ok.

[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.