After blogging for around 4 months I thought it was about time I started looking for ARCs, I really had no hope of receiving any because, well because of all the other SUCCESSFUL book bloggers. I had heard of Netgalley when reading reviews on blogs and seeing that they were provided by them so I signed up and was ready to go! Again I genuinely did not think that I would receive any books but I thought there would be no harming in requesting a few anyway! I woke up the next morning to find a few emails saying that my request was approved and I now had access to these books! Yes I say multiple books because… okay well here’s the thing as I said I had no idea I would get approved for any books so I requested the a few books I REALLY wanted to read and review, fortunately I now have these copies and an extended TBR ( I’m NOT complaining!)
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
Elementals :The Blood Of Hydra by Michelle Madow
Papergirls volume 1
I picked up The Monogram Murders because it had been on my shelf for too long and I hadn’t read a crime/mystery in a while (and just look at that cover!)
Can you please explain about ARCs and TBRs…what this means and how it works?
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Of course :). An ARC is Advance Readers Copy, which is what basically publishers send out to bloggers, so that they can read and review them (to get the book out there by publication date). So as a blogger you can contact publishers and request certain copies, ultimately they choose who they send these ARCs to. Recently platforms were introduced such as Netgalley which basically combines all publishing houses and all the books they have up for request! You just go on the website pick a book, press request and wait for their response. However you can only get digital copies this way. TBR stands for (To Be Read) which is just the books you aim to read either that month/year. Hope this was useful!
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Congratulation on your ARCs. It is fun to read something before others have access. 🙂
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Thank you 🙂
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Next you should try Edelweiss. It’s just like Netgalley, but there’s more books. I was excited to see that I would get approved for books on Edelweiss where I was denied over on Netgalley. It’s more complicated to navigate around the website, but once you figure it out it’s wonderful!
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I’ve heard about Edelweiss, but as you said it seems difficult to navigate through it. I also like to see what books they have available before I make an account. Could you send me a link of the website because I can’t find it!
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I totally agree about Edelweiss. Its not user friendly in my opinion. However Netgalley rocks!!!!
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I LOVE netgalley I just have to hold myself, because I request too many books 😅
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They have some helpful guides that can assist you. They really helped me out!
Here’s the link: http://edelweiss.abovethetreeline.com
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I’ll definitely check it out!Thank you for the link 😊
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Congratulations! I just can’t wait for your review of “The Monogram Murders”, I’m really curious if you’ll like it.
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Thank you 😊, I’m almost half way through and so far I really like it 😊
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Have never heard of that book. Thanks for mentioning it, I always like checking out new books.
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Congrats on the blogging! I remember thinking the same thing when I started almost a year ago to blog about romance books. Now, I am turning away requests to review because I have so many. The one thing you want to make sure to do is read and review within a reasonable time especially if its a new release. Within the first 10 days can really make a difference for an author. I hope you are posting your reviews on Goodreads too. If not, check it out and lot of my requests come through Goodreads. Have a great day!!!
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I haven’t quite got the hang of Goodreads yet it seems daunting 😅. But if I do receive books for review I definitely post my reviews on Goodreads! You too! 😊
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GoodReads can be really helpful in helping you sort your books, you should give it a try whenever you get the chance 🙂
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Congrats!
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Thank you 😊
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Those sound like really good books. I can’t wait to hear about them. Congrats on blogging.
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Thank you 😊😊
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I’ve received a couple of ARCs the past from Facebook giveaways by authors I like. It really got me inspired to do more reading and reviewing. I also just recently signed up with net galley. Right now I’m working on reading and reviewing some of the books available for open review to increase my % score since the publishing companies that house my favorite writers want bloggers with 1,000+ followers minimum to be considered for their ARCs and I’m just barely starting out. Some of these are really good so far though so I can’t complain. Free books are books and as a stay at home mom free is in my budget. Lol.
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Ohhh I understand! I won a few on Goodread giveaways too, they have some great books on there. I genuinely did not know how to work around Netgalley I just linked my blog to my profile and waited 😅. I still don’t quite understand the % score part if you could please explain that 😅
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From my understanding, it’s how they track your record of actually writing a review when you recieve a copy to read. Net gallery recommends that you have a % of 80 or higher. So if you recieve 10 books to review youd want to make sure you reviewed atleast 8 of them. It really shouldn’t be an issue unless one gets ahead of themself and receives more than they can read.
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That makes sense, and yeah about receiving more than one can read 😅. That’s why I’m slightly worried, I don’t know the time-frame I have for to read and review these books. Is it a month?
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The books should have their scheduled release date listed. You can also got to the net galley page for the publisher and they will have directions on when they expect to have reviews by and when you can publish them publicly.
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That was really helpful! Thank you 😊
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Great tips thanks 🙂
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Passenger was amazing! It moves slow, but the plot and characters are really great. Congrats on the arcs!! NetGalley is awesome 🙂
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I’m picking it up next, I’m actually so excited to read it! Thank you 😊
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Yay!! I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did!
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Thank you for this info! I’ve been meaning to get ARCs too and one of my MOST awaited book was in your list (Wolf by Wolf) now I’m going to Netgalley and try my luck as well!! Thanks a lot! 😉
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You’re welcome 😊. Wolf By Wolf has a great premise, and I can’t wait to try it! Good luck!
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I’m dying to read it. Thank you! ^^
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You’re welcome 😊😊
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I tried my luck on netgalley for Wolf by Wolf but unfortunately I was declined cause my location is not in the UK xD
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Oh yeah they sometimes have region restrictions, try and see if there’s another edition available for your country?
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Unfortunately I get that a lot as well, getting declined because I live in Portugal. Also why I cannot try Edelweiss. Not that I need more books for my TBR pile xD
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Congratulations on four months of blogging as well as the Net Galley copies for review. I am so happy for you and can relate to the excitement–I feel that way every time I am chosen.
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Thank you 😊. I know especially I think the first few copies I received as ARCS, it gives me a bit more confidence in my content, if that makes sense? 😅
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Lol! I did the same thing xD I’ve had my netgallery account for a while but only just used it, I requested a few titles, not expecting much and then wallah~ I got some approved 😀 Good luck and congrats 🙂
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I saw your review of The Complete Alice In Wonderland! Thank you and congrats to you too! 😊
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You can get review copies directly from some publishers. If you fancy reviewing some YA from Finch Books you could just leave a message on their FB page https://www.facebook.com/FinchBooksYA/?fref=ts
If you like the look of mine—Abomination—I’ll ask them to send you a copy.
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I would rather have a bigger following to contact publishers with because I’ve heard they need someone who has a more established blog. Thanks for the details for Finch I will definitely contact them at some point! I would also be interested in reading Abomination 😊
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Finch is brand new so they’re drumming up support rather than turning it away 🙂 The list has something for most tastes. I’ll ask promotion to send you a copy of Abomination if you give me an address. And thanks 🙂
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Oh that’s why I hadn’t heard of them before, I’m definitely going to contact them 😊. Of course contact me at abooknation@outlook.com 😊
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Thanks! Do look them over. The covers are gorgeous and the editing’s top notch.
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I definitely will! No problem 😊
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Hi,
Thanks for liking my post! Are you reading Wolf by Wolf now? I started it, but put it down because I had review obligations. I really wanted to read it, though.
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I actually started reading Passenger first I’m just over half way so I should finish it by the end of this month 😊. Hopefully it should be the first book I read in May! I really like the premise and I want to see how it plays out!
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I signed up to Netgalley a couple years ago and I cannot imagine myself without it.
A couple tips:
– Make sure you download the books/send to your device as soon as they get approved because some get archived really fast and then you won’t be able to, though they still appear in your shelf.
– Be careful about too many requests because some publishers look at feedback rate and will only approve request if you are above X percentage.
I have to admit I have regretted requesting a few because they are just not my thing anymore, and then there are those nasty ACSM files that you must read in 30 days once open else they self-destruct, which happened to me a couple of times and therefore I cannot access them anymore. So yep, my feedback ratio will never be as high as it could be.
Happy reading and welcome to the wonderful Netgalley world!
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Omg thank you for this! I didn’t know about the files self-destructing😅 However I did request too many books 😅, my feedback rate is actually quite low but I’ve stopped requesting until I get it above 80%
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Oh don’t worry, as long as you don’t have 100+ books like I do I am sure it will be very manageable!
It is only the ACSM files which you have to open as PDF and once you do you have 30 days to finish reading it.
I strongly dislike pdf in general as I always read on my Kindle, so I do feel kind of cheated when that happens to me on Netgalley. I wish we could see in advance that the book is in that format, before requesting it.
However, Netgalley is most definitely worth it. Even though not all books were even close to perfect, it has saved me a bunch of money and I have tried books I wouldn’t have otherwise.
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That’s absolutely true! And all they want is feedback in exchange for the book which is something I do anyway! 😊
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Yep, my thoughts exactly! It’s a win-win situation. I used to get most of my books from the authors themselves but that made me feel awful when I did not like what they wrote. I would either be true to what I felt and feel awful, often getting nasty words from the author him or herself, or rate higher than I thought it deserved because I felt bad. So I really love Netgalley’s more anonymous side.
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great tips, thanks 🙂 am new to all of this
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You’re quite welcome, hope you come to enjoy it as much as I do!
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Congratulations as you begin your book review journey! I am just starting mine as well. Just wondering, other than receiving books for free, does agreeing to read and review ARCs benefit you as a reviewer in some way?
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Thank you 😊. I think you get the book before the release and also you get to take part in events, author interviews stuff like that!
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I absolutely loved The Monogram Murders! And I agree, awesome cover.
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Great information and comment section. I have learned so much! Am interested in exploring this further. Thanks 🙂
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I am so happy to find you haha! I recently started reviewing books from NetGalley and it’s awesome but it isn’t awesome at the same time. I actually was invited to join NetGalley from Random House. They have this Chatterbox program called monthly mysteries, I believe. I was invited to do that and boom, here I am having no clue what I am doing haha!
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That’s sounds really interesting! I completely understand, it’s a bit of weird thing to navigate through. Especially because before that I usually used to be contacted by author directly. So this felt a bit weird! But it’s a great platform that makes requesting books so much easier!
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Definitely!!
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that’s nice. I was thinking about joining the netgalley, But then I said why would anyone accept my request. I’ve been blogging for 3 months now. But this inspired me to do it 🙂
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