It’s a new month and a new year so what better way to start the year afresh than by making our Netgalley Feedback ratios look good (so we can destroy them a few weeks later). So, today I’m giving you guys some advice on how to get your feedback ratio up!
If you don’t know, your feedback ratio can be found on your Profile page and shows publishers how many of the approved arcs you’ve received and read on the site.
Mine looks like this:
(1) STEP ONE
Create a goal.
Netgalley recommends an 80% feedback ratio and I would agree with that. So, create a goal because you should have only books you’re interested in on your shelves.
Example: By [insert Month here] I want to read x number of Arcs.
(2) STEP TWO
Be honest with yourself!
There are probably a couple of books that you requested when you first started on NetGalley and you haven’t read. Or the pre-publication hype got to you and you requested a book and then found out that you just didn’t care.
Here is where you suck it up and cull your arcs. Go at your Netgalley shelf with your axe and get rid of them.
You can either just go to the Feeback buttons for each of your books, and let the publisher know that you won’t be reviewing the book.
However, doing this will not improve your feedback ratio, so if you want to do a little cheating and still improve your ratio, instead of writing a review as your feedback, write a note saying you won’t be reading the book.
Example letter:
I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.
- Culling your arcs list will help to get your feedback ratio and will also ease your stress whenever you look at the number of arcs on your list!
(3) STEP THREE
HALT! STOP REQUESTING BOOKS!
You don’t have to stop requesting books forever, but, and this may seem like a stupid thing to say BUT the more arcs you get accepted for, the worse your feedback ratio will be. The Feedback Ratio is based on how many reviews you have submitted, so if all you are doing is requesting books, all you’re doing is hurting your ratio.
Also, side note: the more you request arcs, the more you have a chance of being denied, so if you get denied for a whole bunch of arcs then you’re hurting yourself again, and making your list of declined requests bigger (which I’m pretty sure the publishers can see).
ADVICE
1- This is obvious but don’t request books you won’t read or you don’t know anything about. Think of it this way, if you wouldn’t request a physical copy from a publisher or buy it physically than don’t request it.
2- Review your books asap. Write your notes as you read and then review the book on your platform asap, and along those lines – as soon as your review goes up, link it on Netgalley and hey, your ratio just went up! Success!
3-Avoid Netgalley. You don’t need to have it tabbed up the top of your screen and you don’t need to check it every day. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, just like you shouldn’t shop when you’re hungry, you shouldn’t go on Netgalley when you’re bored.
CHECK OUT THESE POSTS FOR MORE ADVICE POSTS FROM OTHER BLOGGERS
How to get your NetGalley Feedback to approval ratio up to 80% (or more)
How To Improve Your Netgalley Feedback Ratio
What Are Your Netgalley Stats?
DO YOU USE NETGALLEY?
DO YOU HAVE ANY RATIO ADVICE?
HAVE
allonsythornraxx 
Thanks for the tips I need it so much 💗
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I hope this helps! 💕
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This is fantastic Ellyn! One of my goal this year is to read EVERYTHING on my netgalley shelf, that way, I’ll end 2019 with a clean slate! 😀 One of the way is to rarely go to NG unless I’m looking for a specific book. It doesn’t always work ahaha but it helps quite a lot 😀
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Thank you! That’s a brilliant goal, how many books do you have to read?
I try to avoid Netgalley at all cost! Mostly the books don’t interest me much so that helps!
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around 12 ahaha. i know it’s not much compared to others, but it still stresses me out
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Don’t worry about that, I only have 7 on my NG shelf but that still feels like too many for me! My NG shelf gets me so stressed!
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This is definitely one of my goals for this year! I either don’t read my ARCS or I read them and then get so far behind on my review I don’t end up giving them feedback. Love your tips!
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I have the same issue! I ususally read a bunch all at once and then dont read many for months at a time becasue I’m awful! I try to schedule my reviews so I have to write them!
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ouhh yep yep !!
My ratio is now at 100% and the best way to keep it ? NOT GOING ON THE WEBSITE xD I go check maybe once a month, added a poetry one, finished it, and now im staying away for a while ahah
Also ! maybe another tip is if you do wanna request more books, maybe put some restrictions of how many book you are requesting per periods (ex; only 5books a month ?) Of course not great if you wanna up the ratio, but more for “I wanna STAY at that ratio” kinda thing 🙂
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Ahh 100%, the goal for everyone! I rarely go on Netgalley any more and it has gotten rid of so much stress for me!
That’s a great idea! Sort of like a book buying ban, read 5, request 1 sort of thing? My main process is just to read a bunch of them and then I feel okay with requesting a book, but usually, I avoid NG at all costs!
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kind of, yeah ! but avoiding the website as a whole do work best, ahaha
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This whole post is flawless and I totally could have used this back in the day, but THIS:
“AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, just like you shouldn’t shop when you’re hungry, you shouldn’t go on Netgalley when you’re bored.”
I literally busted out laughing out loud at how hilarious and ACCURATE this is!!
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THANK YOU! 😍😍
Haha, I’m glad you liked it but it was the first thing that popped into my head and it just makes sense!
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I feel like it’s a book bloggers rite of passage to join Netgalley, immediately request FAR TOO MANY BOOKS and then cry for at least year over your feedback ratio and try desperately to get it up to 80%!
It’s exactly what I did in 2018 and then spent most of the year just pretending it didn’t exist and hopping the problem went away if I ignored it enough. It did not!
So this month I joined the #Late-a-thon and #JanJamJar reading challenges to combine them and make an arc reading jar and try and read as many as possible in the month! It worked really well for me and I highly recommend doing something similar for those who are struggling to get through their arcs. Having the control taken out of my hands surprisingly worked a treat!
Also the not going on Netgalley when you’re bored is great advice! I think that might have been my biggest problem!
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Yes, exactly, we al go a little NG crazy at first!
I do that occasionally too, I like to do ARC April and ARC August because they really help me to clean out my NG shelves and get rid of the stress!
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That sort of thing would be very helpful! This year I’m going to be very strict with myself about what I request. No more requesting whatever sounds good because more often then not I’m left with books I don’t actually care for.
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What a great post.. just checked and just on Step 2 I managed to bring my ratio to 80%. Wow – thanks!! 🙂
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Thank you! I’m glad step 2 helped you!
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This is the most useful how to that I have ever seen. I made a goal for myself to reach a 90% feedback ratio, since I’ll currently barely at 80% but ideally I’d love to somehow reach 100%, if only for a moment. I think I’m going to take your advice and let publishers know that I won’t be reviewing 2-3 books that were not what I expected when I requested them a year or two ago. Thanks so much for sharing!
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Thank you, I’m glad you found it helpful!
I find that letting the publishers know is a great help, and if you go back and read the book in the future you can always change your feedback so don’t stress!
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This is a great post! I have kept my ratio above 80% for almost a year now after a lot of hard work, and definitely not requesting that much helps me so much. I limited myself to 4 arcs per month so it forces me to be choosy, and I tend to pick books I like. Which helps everyone.
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Thank you! I’ve had my ratio at around the same for a year too, it just makes me so much less stressed! That’s a great method, I rarely go on NG, but that sounds really beneficial.
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Stopping to request is the hard part xD xD
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