Book Blogging Programs
Platforms Recommended by Book Bloggers
As a book blogger, book blogging programs are a gold mine. Not all of us avid readers have the funds to be able to buy all the books we'd like and so having a simple way to get our hands on ARCs and review copies gives us the chance to read more than we may otherwise have been able to.
Book blogger programs also give us the chance to read books that we might not have even heard of otherwise.
Since I discovered Net Galley I've been a huge fan and been lucky enough to read some amazing books via the site. It's easy to use and they have a great selection of books available.
Net Galley is awesome and probably one of the most well known on an international level but there are loads of other book blogging programs out there too.
Edelweiss is another mainstream book blogger program that seems to be popular. I recently signed up for this but have yet to use it as I'm still seeing how it works.
Sites like Book Sprout offer the chance to get your hands on ARC copies. I've never used the site myself but it looks like they give you a deadline for when your review is due.
Penguin has a review program for book bloggers where you can fill out an ARC request form. I have signed up for this program but so far haven't had any experience with it. I requested a few books in order to see how it works but so far have heard nothing back.
If you're in the US you have lots of options available to you. For international bloggers the choice is a bit more limited though.
I decided to ask other book bloggers which book blogging programs they used and what their thoughts were about them.
What Book Bloggers Think About Book Blogging Programs
@LMDurandpage from https://lmdurand.com
There are so many platforms where you can request arcs. You can join some of the publishers' community/group readers. Some publicists also have Facebook groups where they post about new sign-ups for arcs.
The most popular platforms for book bloggers would be Edelweiss and NetGalley. Both platforms have a great selection of books. If you’re a beginner, go with NetGalley. It’s intuitive, user-friendly, and very easy to get started or even request (maybe even too easy). Edelweiss is not user-friendly at all, so it’ll take some getting used to. You also need to explain why you request a book, which makes the selection process a bit more cumbersome. But in the end, I believe I was granted access to more books on this site than NetGalley.
With that said, I learned that with NetGalley, you can easily request too much and too fast. This will tank your stats and it’s a pretty sure way to get all your requests declined. Though if you do pay attention and you’re not too greedy with your requests, you can do fantastic on this site. NetGalley is definitely my favorite platform.
There are many other ways to request books, but to me, NetGalley is a good starting point.
@lovelyaudiobook from https://lovelyaudiobooks.info/
If you enjoy listening to audiobooks, the LibroFM Influencer program (https://libro.fm/alc-program) is a great way to get free audiobook review copies. Pros: LibroFM offers audiobooks from big publishing houses and anticipated new releases. Many of the included titles go on to become bestsellers and I found some of my favorite audiobooks of 2019 and 2020 here.
I particularly appreciate that the LibroFM Influencer program doesn't require you to review every book you download. LibroFM encourages you to add all listening copies to your library each month. If something doesn't appeal to you right away, you still have it in your library and might feel like it a few months later. But you're never required or pressured to review the books you listen to. Since it's an "influencer" program, you can promote the audiobooks you enjoyed on your Social Media profiles instead of writing a review. I like doing that and reviewing them at a later point when I can add them to a book list.
Another big pro of LibroFM is that the audiobooks are DRM-free. You can freely choose if you want to listen in the LibroFM app or in another audiobook app. You can also download them and use an actual MP3 Player. You have a lot more freedom listening to these audiobooks than, for example, to Audible review copies.
Cons: The monthly selection is fairly small. If you're a genre reader, you might not find something every month that really interests you. But that's the only not-so-positive thing I can think of. If you qualify to join the LibroFM influencer program, you should absolutely go for it!
Edelweiss scares a lot of people. It is not as user-friendly as NetGalley. However, once you establish a profile and familiarize yourself with how the site is formatted, it soon becomes quite simple to navigate. Having a good profile is essential to getting approvals. This site is geared more to booksellers and librarians so expect a lot of denials.
Try to be as thorough as possible with your profile. Make sure to link your email, and any affiliated social media sites that you post reviews on. One major difference between NetGalley and Edelweiss Is that you have to state why are you are requesting a galley. One bonus to this site is that even if you don’t acquire an ARC from them you can still post reviews.
When you log onto the site and you want to look for books to request, click Review Copies in the menu bar at the top. You can apply certain filters to limit the number of ARCs that will appear. You can also determine whether you want to see what is available to download or what is available to request or both at the same time. There is a bar on the left where the filters are that can make searching very convenient. Familiarize yourself with the various options so that your searching goes smoothly.
There are so many options here. For example, you can see books that are already published or books that are not yet published. You can also use the left bar to see what ARCs you have been approved for, what you have reviewed, what you have been declined and what is outstanding. Once you are approved, you should get an email informing you of your status, and this also includes whether not you have been declined. When you are approved for a title you can choose your method to download, which in my case is for Kindle.
Reviewing for Edelweiss is quite easy. Once you look at your downloaded books, there is an icon that looks like a conversation box and you click that and you can rate and review the title. There are several options such as writing quality, intellectual depth, etc. and then you can cut and paste the review that you have already written elsewhere. You can also click to submit it directly to the publisher. Lastly you can include themes such as fiction, mystery, etc.
Although my experience as a reviewer shows more strength and success with NetGalley, I very much enjoy using the Edelweiss site as well. A side note. The more I review, the more I expose myself to various authors and publishers. This has brought me into the world a blog tours and even quite a few print ARCs monthly. However, by far, the majority of ARCs I receive are from NetGalley and Edelweiss.
I use both NetGalley and Edelweiss to request eARCs. I love using NetGalley the most. It is incredibly user-friendly. I either look up the book I am interested in requesting, or I browse and find books organically. You can narrow down the genres you are interested in on NetGalley too. This not only allows you to browse the site easily, but also indicates which promotional emails you'll receive about new eARCs.
Edelweiss is a bit trickier when it comes to stumbling upon new books. I prefer to use Edelweiss to request a book I already know about rather than to search through it. I also tend to hear back from publishers in a much more timely manner on NetGalley than I do on Edelweiss.
On the other hand, NetGalley does sort of require you to review the ARCs you've been sent in order to receive more. (This is the case for book bloggers and "regular folks" using the website. If you work for a major organization that reviews books or a library, you're often auto-approved.) Your response percentage is shared with the publishers, so an individual with a high response rate is more likely to be sent more ARCs. Edelweiss, to my knowledge, doesn't seem to care about this as much. I think it might be possible to receive physical ARCs from Edelweiss, but I've only used it during COVID times, so I'm not entirely sure. That's less of a thing at the moment.
Finally, more books are on Edelweiss. That being said, I still find almost everything I want on NetGalley. I always check NetGalley first before hopping over to Edelweiss to check again.
What book blogging programs do you use? Which do you recommend for other bloggers to try? As an international book blogger do you feel limited when it comes to book blogging programs?
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