Member Reviews

There are so many great tips on here on how to structure a review, build a bookstagram/booktok etc. Thank you so much netgalley for putting this together!

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Thank you NetGalley for this toolkit. I found it very helpful!!
The struggle I have is if I am denied for a book, it would be nice if more information could be given as to why I was not accepted. The other would be if I did more to my profile, and was declined a book, would there be any way to reapply again?

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As a former teen book blogger, I had the pleasure of seeing the book world expand from Blospot to Instagram and TikTok. This guide was super informative and I can’t wait to use the suggestions!

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This book was helpful in some areas and not in others. I would say it's more helpful for people new to NetGalley. I appreciated the basics on how to promote books on different social media platforms.

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NETGALLEY'S BOOK ADVOCATE TOOLKIT was made available earlier this month and contains tips on using NetGalley, writing reviews, publishing to social media platforms and strategizing. There is plenty of advice for new members in terms of setting up a profile and choosing books and even established members will benefit from comments like one encouraging everyone to subscribe to the weekly NetGalley Checklist email. Briefly describing the plot, finding your voice to offer critiques, and thinking about the intended audience are critical aspects of each Book Review and the toolkit links to more detailed suggestions. The social media section offers numerous ideas, particularly in preparing video reviews. All in all, a truly helpful guide – thank you!

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I found the guide helpful and informative. Lots of great information to get you started on NetGalley, and also a lot of information not specific to this platform. Everything was laid out in an easy to digest manner and I can definitely see myself referencing it again in the future.

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I was on the NetGalley the other day just having a nose around. I like to see if anything is interesting, and I came across a book called NetGalley’s Book Advocacy Toolkit by We Are Bookish. In this e-book, they offered tips on how to best utilize NetGalley and the places where you share reviews.

As someone who has written a few blog posts like this, I was curious. What tips do they have? Is there anything new that I hadn’t really thought of? The answer to that is…not really, but it could still be somewhat useful.

A lot of the information they offer are things that you’re already told on NetGalley. That you ideally want a feedback ratio of 80% or higher. You should regularly update your bio and try not to go on any request sprees. Or at least, don’t go on them too often. Something it doesn’t warn you about is what happens if you click that you will not be giving feedback. For many, it was amazing when this option was added. It made it seem like you don’t have to review a book if you no longer wish to review it for whatever reason. Unfortunately, NetGalley still considers that book unread, so having too many books marked this way will negatively impact your feedback ratio.

You should always leave feedback on your NetGalley books. Even if it gets archived and you had no chance to read it. Leave a review explaining why you didn’t read it. That way your feedback ratio won’t be messed up.

Within this book, there are different pages for different social media. I appreciated the fact there are pages for both YouTube and TikTok. I don’t make content on either of those apps, so I can’t go into detail on this, but the tips seemed pretty basic. Still, it was nice to see them being promoted as good places to review books. The advice was also different to that for blogs and so on. So whoever wrote this does have some understanding of bookish content creation, at least.

In the Instagram section, there was a tip that I found kind of helpful. The problem with Instagram and e-books is that it can be difficult to work out how to share a photo. If you read on your phone and also use it to take photos, it can be pretty difficult. But they suggest taking a photo of a switched off e-reader – or I’m thinking someone else’s phone – and then editing the cover on using something like Canva or Photoshop. It’ll mean you can put together a photo that matches your own theme or style, whilst not having to worry about the cover looking good on the screen. Something they don’t suggest that you could also do is that rather than using an e-reader or phone, put in a placeholder book. You can still edit the new book cover over the placeholder book, but remember that this can be very obvious. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of photos done like this, but you can really take photos in your style this way.

There are also some general tips on content creation and using hashtags. Once again, these aren’t necessarily detailed. You’ll still have to do your own research for the content you want to make, but if you’re brand new then this could be a good place for you to start.

So is this book useful? If you’re a complete beginner, sure. But if you’re looking for further advice to help you along? This book won’t be any help.

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A helpful guide for new NetGalley users. Also some really useful pointers for bloggers and bookstagramer account holders.

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This is such a helpful E-Book! I am brand new to NetGalley and definitely will be using the tips. Thank you for creating this tool.

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So many tips, informations and instructions how to be efficient in writing reviews and manage a book Profil on social media

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Very useful indeed!

I would recommend this toolkit for everyone that plans on reviewing books on any social media platform ou blog.
Great tips, clearly laid out information and visually interesting.

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A great resource to help get new members started. I learned lots of useful tips and look forward to being the best Book Advocate I can be! Thank you, NetGalley and We Are Bookish!

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This is a super helpful tool for book bloggers just starting out. Thanks to the Netgalley team for putting it together and sharing!

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Where to I begin……First I want to recommend it for anyone who wants to write reviews. And I wish this was available when I started NetGalley.
This is a guide of helpful info for everything you need to know about success in reviewing. It talks about where to start, (signing up) and where to review.
I’d looked everywhere when I started reviewing. I couldn’t find a thing as helpful as this. I remember being so nervous about my reviews and mostly got writers block in the process.
Don’t forget that it’s helpful for the author to leave an honest review. They want to hear from us. It confronts my TBR list and how to conquer the pile. Have you met a book hoarder? It’s overwhelming but always rewarding.
If you love to read like I do, then you want to learn how to write a solid review and enjoy social media while doing it. It covers ALL platform.
I can’t say enough good things about this. It. Is. Helpful.
Thanks We Our Bookish via NetGalley.

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This is a decent read if you plan to use NetGalley, and use it effectively. The tips for getting books, writing reviews, and setting up social to share reviews outside of NetGalley are helpful. That said, I do feel like this is a bit of a graphic repackage of the Bookish blog posts though, with redirects to the Bookish blog for more information. I found myself wishing it was a bit more of a desk reference with profile examples for each member types, do’s and don’ts from popular publishers, and a bit less whimsy.

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Very helpful in starting my NetGalley account and figuring out how to best use the platform along with social media in order to promote books and connect with other readers!

Thank you NetGallery & We Are Bookish!

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Just like the description says, this toolkit has something for everyone. I don’t know how you discovered NetGalley, but for me, it was a random comment on a Goodreads post. I set up my account and started requesting away! Is it any wonder that I mostly got back decline emails with very little guidance on how to improve my approval chances? Nope. How I wish this had been available before my request finger took control!
This is a short guide that highlights not only how to navigate NetGalley successfully, but also discusses various social media sites and how to effectively use them to promote your love for books.
Most helpful tip to me: how to write a book review. I struggle sometimes with not falling into shark-infested spoiler waters and then feeling like I didn’t express my thoughts well. There are some good tips and guidance to help overcome that type of situation. I wouldn’t be averse to seeing a weekly posting guide for social media in the future. Something to follow like Review Monday, Feature Tuesday, Author Love Wednesday. Sometimes, life just gets in the way of ideas, and a plan is always helpful, at least to me.
A quick, concise, and visual guide with links to additional tips. A newbie or an experienced user would benefit from downloading this small but mighty advocate toolkit.

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I've only recently got enough courage to leave book reviews on the Internet. I've also been dreaming about creating a blog where I could share my thoughts with the world. That's still only a dream, but the one I plan on realizing. This Toolkit has been extremely helpful! It's beginner friendly and I definitely will try to follow those tips! Thank you for all of the advices! :D

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Thanks to this book I am almost positive I have connected all my social media accounts and I’m going to change my bio today. I found this book full of tips and helpful hints to be a better net galley reviewer. I just want to thank whoever thought of the idea to get this to the reviews for free because it was totally worth reading. It is a quick 10 minute read, but the tips and it will help you for the time you review on NetGalley. I also think it’s great that on NetGalleyShelf I have articles you can follow that also help you become better. NetGalley not only helps authors in publishers but they obviously want to help the reviewer‘s as well. Good job NetGalley! Please forgive any mistakes in this review, I am blind and dictate my review and on net galley there’s no way to fix mistakes so I apologize.

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This is a brilliant helpful guide for anyone looking for some guidance on starting their Netgalley journey, or even starting to build their social media regarding book reviews.
I’m still on the learning journey for book reviewing so I found the dos and don'ts in the guide really helpful.

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