EBOne of the first things I do each day is go to NetGalley and approve/deny our NetGalley requests. For anyone who doesn’t know, NetGalley is a service where people can request electronic galleys of our (and other publishers’ books.) Print galleys are very expensive, and using e-galleys has allowed us to get our books into the hands of many more reviewers, librarians, booksellers, and bloggers. But it is not without its difficulties . . . its hilarious difficulties.
The way that I decide whether to approve or deny a request is by looking at the bio of the person sending it. We have a detailed set of request criteria on the NetGalley site here, but I’d like to give some additional tips for anyone requesting books from us. Please note that I speak only for myself here and not for any other publishers or HarperCollins imprints, but I can’t imagine that many of these things wouldn’t be universal. For me, the most important thing about a bio is that it answers the question “why should this person get to read this book a) for free and b) several months in advance?”
And for the record, everything I will say not to do below is something I’ve seen multiple times.
Things That Are Very Helpful to Include in Your NetGalley Bio:
1. The name of your bookstore, library, or blog (or publications you review for)!
This is the single most important thing. Side note: if you don’t have a bookstore to name, then you are NOT A BOOKSELLER. Telling your closest friends about a book which they then may or may not buy does not make you a bookseller. Also, if you have a blog about cupcakes, I don’t care. I’m sure I would if I worked at a cookbook publisher, but I don’t. Ditto for pretty much any blog that is not about books.
2. If you’re a blogger, your blog, twitter, facebook, goodreads etc stats
This is not a make-or-break thing for me, but I love it when people do this. I know that numbers don’t tell the whole story, and that they’re just one tool to measure engagement, but they can’t hurt.
Things That I Don’t Care If You Include in Your NetGalley Bio:
1. The genres you like to read
Many people do this, and I understand why. But I often get requests from people who only list genres that could not be more different from the one of the book they’re requesting. I don’t want to deny these requests, but I wish there was a way for me to deny and say “I’m only denying you because I am 99% sure you won’t like this book.”
2. Your hobbies
If your hobbies are related to the types of books you review, then by all means list them. But if you’re reviewing literary fiction, I don’t care if you like to knit. Or cook. Or rock-climb. I care if you like cats but that’s only because I’m a cat weirdo. Certainly not a reason I would deny anyone, but probably a waste of time.
3. Your life story
Your NetGalley biography is a professional biography that should tell publishers how you can help promote their books. Want to include a line about where you live? Fine. Three paragraphs about your hopes and dreams? No.
Things That You Should Never, Ever Include in Your NetGalley Bio:
1. The fact that you are menopausal.
If I have to explain why, things are even worse than I thought.
Please know that if I ever met you in person, I’d love to hear about all those things (except maybe the menopause part.)
