Am I still using NetGalley?
As a baby book blogger, Netgalley have quite an interessant appeal; A place where to get your hands on some shiny new releases/to be released books sounds magical, right?
Most of us even got the “debutant fooled” when we started, requesting way too much books thinking « There’s no way i’m gonna get approved for them all.. if any! », only for it to do just that and now having over 50 new books to review!
As i’ve grown as a blogger though, it’s appeal sort of decreased — and that’s not talking of the troubles of getting arcs as an international blogger (wether you includes Canada within this or not)
You see, I’m that odd book blogger who don’t really care much for new releases; most of the time, I don’t even know which books will be coming soon. Although i’d add a bunch of them onto my “virtual wanna read” upon reading my fellow bloggers post!
What first attracted me was the aspect that all the other, bigger blogs had it; so naturally, smoll-blog me wanted it aswell, but there was a catch — as I couldn’t read in english when I started (and Netgalley FR wasn’t being too kind to me, a Canadian blogger with an english blog.. although I got one). So it took me longer to reach what all the others had, thus increasing my excitement and heart-eyed for this lovely thing!
I had went on a requesting spree and got 8 arcs on my hands- which isn’t too bad, but definately a lot for a mood reader who can read 4 books on a good month! Succeeding to read and review all that took me a while..
After that, I only went into browsing their selections here and there, being careful of not requesting too many, and only ones that I was interested in.
As I write this, I have two “arcs” remaining;
- Love Sold Separately
- Break in Case of Emergency
Thoses two books have been there probably since late-2019/early-2020? They were books I had long requested and took ages to get approved (oh joy!)
I realized that I was perfectly fine going my way solely using my personal un-read physical shelf, aswell as my local library’s app. Not that I’m one to care of new releases or arcs to begin with; I can patiently wait until released and/or until my library holds it.
To be absolutely honest, rare were the books that i’ve gotten from Netgalley that i’ve been wanting to re-read or buy myself a copy- so what’s the point? All in all, it ended up being one of thoses “But all book bloggers have it!” that I don’t need nor really cares for — and that’s okay.
I will, however, respect my engagements and finish what remains before completely stepping away and stop requesting.
Are you (still) using Netgalley?
Is it something that you enjoy, or more of a love-hate relationship?
I am still using it and that’s because i like seeing what’s new and i do like giving my opinions on them. Although when i first started i picked any and everything that looked nice, i have learnt to be very picky and not to be afraid of DNFing. I see myself reducing my usage once i have completed the books i have right now
That’s why I kind of don’t wanna shut it down completely.. as I do love to snoop around what’s on there sometimes 😅 but if I do request something, it shall be 1-2books and read within a timely manner this time..
I really need to do the same.. I went on an unplanned hiatus this summer and completely dropped everything, including ARCs, and now I have so many that are super late that it’s become overwhelming to check out the website and try to review everything. But when I do manage to finish that, I’ll definitely stop requesting for a long time, or at least never more than one book at a time. I’ve learned my lesson !
We somehow all get caught into that type of thing 😂🤦🏽♀️ I’ve yet to hear about anyone who didn’t.. goodluck with thoses! Xx