NetGalley has several types of Feedback, including star ratings and member-specific questions in addition to a full review. You can more info about Feedback here, as well as the Review Guidelines we share with NetGalley members here.
Here are a few tips for encouraging NetGalley members to send their Feedback to you via NetGalley:
Tell them! Members are more likely to submit feedback if you specify that you’d like them to do so in your Approval Email. (Make sure to tell them when you want them to review, too - for example, on pub date.) To edit that email, go to the Requests page, open the pending requests for any title, and you’ll see a link that says “Approval Email.” Click to edit the message. This will become your default message that is sent each time you press the Approve button. Here are some great examples of Approval emails.
Remind them! You’re welcome to follow up with readers using the Detailed Activity or Feedback Report for that title—these reports include a lot of information based on each request, so it’s easy to sort and filter by who was approved but never downloaded, or who downloaded but hasn’t yet submitted their Feedback. The member’s contact information will be present if the member has opted to share that information (most do). Members may also opt in to a Weekly Checklist email to help them prioritize which books they need to read and review first. The Post to Retail Sites button also reminds members to share their reviews of recently published titles to relevant retail sites.
Don’t forget the good stuff: In that follow-up email to everyone who was approved for your title but hasn’t yet reviewed, consider giving members an extra encouragement to review. Remind them if the author is available for interviews or blog tours, if there’s a giveaway coming up that they can cross-promote, give them the cover image and author photo to post alongside their review, provide a canned Q&A with the author, etc. Anything that will aid in their promotion of the book. You could even offer an incentive—“if you post a review on your blog on the pub date, and send us the link to it via the Feedback button in NetGalley, we’ll auto-approve you for our next book!” Plus, tell them to use the social sharing feature in NetGalley to post their review on their social networks.
Remember: Members are not required to submit Feedback via NetGalley. Although we always encourage them to do so, it’s important to remember that not all members are reviewers! For example, librarians might request and download titles so that they can order new books for their libraries without leaving reviews. Here’s what we tell members about submitting Feedback. Often, NetGalley clients find that NetGalley members have written a review and posted it elsewhere without notifying them through the site. Catch those reviews by setting up Google Alerts for your titles.
PS: You can add the NetGalley reviews you love to your Title Details page! Do this from the Feedback page for a particular title, more info here.
Note: NetGalley clients are responsible for complying with all local laws and statutes related to the protection and legal use of personal information. Clients should always download and use the most recent reports.