When I first started on Netgalley, I really had no idea on what I should write in my bio area. Netgalley makes a big deal about the fact that having a good bio will make publishers more likely to accept your requests, however, they don’t really give you a lot of support in terms of what publishers would like to see there, so you’re left to your own devices to make something up.
In my opinion, your Netgalley bio should lean toward the professional over the personal. Publishers are more likely to accept your requests if your bio shows them how you’ll publicise their book and increase the outreach of the novel, rather than some spiel about who you are and what you like.
So, start your bio off with a little something about your reading tastes.
“I have a huge passion for reading. My favourite genres include Mystery & Thrillers, Psychological Thrillers, Horror and True Crime. I also enjoy Historical Fiction, Sci-fi, Dystopian and Short Stories.”
Then you want to get on to the good stuff, the bits the publishers are really interested in… where you will share your reviews and how many people will see them. Update this regularly so publishers can see you’re active and that all your stats are up-to-date!
I’ve set this section of my Netgalley bio up by separating all the different sites I use to review.
“Where I promote and post my reviews are as follows:
– Blog: I have a book blog called BookBum, started in Jan 2017, where I review everything I read and then post to Twitter. I currently have XXX followers on my blog, who I interact with on a daily basis. I receive XXX average monthly visitors, and XXX average monthly pageviews.
– Instagram: I use my Instagram to snap pics of my current reads and previously read books that I enjoyed, which can include Netgalley reads. I currently have XXX followers.
– Goodreads: I post all of my reviews on my Goodreads account which I’m an active user of.
– Twitter: I use Twitter to post my book reviews, share bookish news and support other book bloggers. I currently have XXX followers.
– Amazon: Once published, I will post my reviews to Amazon.
– Waterstones: Once published, I will post my reviews to the Waterstones website.“
So there is a little bit of guidance on how to write a Netgalley bio! I’m in no way saying it’s perfect, but it’s worked pretty well for me with 158 books approved so far… Hopefully, you can craft your own bio based on these recommendations!
I hope this post was helpful for you, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks so much for this! I need to update my Netgalley profile!
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No worries ☺️
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I just updated it now! With a my new profile pic and bio, I used this to help, thanks SOO Much!
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I’m glad I could help! One thing I forgot to mention, but have now added, is that remember to update your stats reasonably often to keep everything up to date 🙂
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This was super helpful thank you so much for posting this!!
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I’m so glad!! ☺️
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This is very helpful! I need to do some updating on my profile (I am staying away from NG right now, gotta catch up on arcs and their e-arcs!)
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Thanks and yes, that’s something I need to do too 🙂
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This is great! I actually I struggled when I first decided to get on board with netgalley because I had no idea what to put on my bio… I have something similar but in a much smaller scale… I still get denied a lot of times but also approved!! So I’m happy with my results so far!! 😊😊
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Thanks and yes, they don’t really give you much of an indication of what you should put in the bio!
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Ooh, this is awesome! While I don’t have Netgalley, I want to get it because FREE BOOKS BEFORE THEIR PUBLISHING DATE??? YES PLEASE. XD (But there’s the age thing where you have to be eighteen but I’m not — but I know some people who are younger than 18 and are still on Netgalley???)
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I had no idea there was an age thing?! I’m sure you could sneak on there if you wanted 😛
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Nice post, thanks! Haven’t thought about my Netgalley bio in too long! 😳
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No worries! and yes, I didn’t think about it for ages and then after I updated it a few months back, I have found myself getting accepted for a load more books!
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This is so helpful. I’m still new to the book blogging world so this will help me out a ton. Thank you so much! 😀
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I’m glad I could help out! ☺️
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🙂
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Thanks for the advice. I am also struggling with my NetGalley bio and this helps a lot. 🙂
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I’m glad I could help out 🙂
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This is really helpful. I haven’t done much with my bio since I first joined, and it’s not very good. I’m going to revisit it now!
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Well I hope this helps you out if you decide to update it! 😀
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Really useful Zuky no wonder you get approvals all the time 😉
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Thanks Nicki and hmm yes maybe… Maybe I need to change it so I get declined more because god knows I need to shorten my NG shelf lol
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😂
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This is so helpful, my bio is crap! Maybe that’s why I get rejected a lot haha
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I hope I could help! ☺️
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Great post! I agree with everything you mentioned here… I remember when I started an account last year I was left confused by what exactly to write down in my bio. I’ve been adding and changing bits ever since and now it’s pretty similar to yours. Lots of numbers and where I publish and promote the books, and I also had to add that my blog was exclusively English (but that’s probably just for those who don’t live in an English-speaking country in the first place).
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Thanks so much and yes it’s a shame that NG don’t provide more support when it comes to the bio stuff 🙂
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Very true! Some publishers don’t provide a lot of information either, so it’s been mostly guessing what they are looking for in general until my bio looked somewhat decent.
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Thank you for this useful post… My NG profile was long overdue and update… ! 🙂
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No worries, I’m glad it was useful for you 🙂
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Another wonderful post, Zuky 🙂 And so helpful!
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New follower here, this was so helpful!
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Welcome!! and thank you 😀
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Oh my goodness thank you! I’ve had an account but had NO idea how to set it up…epic fail. Question: when you mention the stats for your WordPress account by month, how did you find that? Also, do you go by total amount of followers or specifically WordPress? Mine shows 351 but technically only 136 are from WordPress. Thanks again!
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I use all my followers! Email and WordPress included, I also include all my social stats seperately,
As for finding your stats by month, go to your “my site”/”stats” homepage bit and then in the top bar click months, and then you filter it by each month! 😀
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Thanks love! I’m so excited to start using NetGalley! I’m still trying to figure it all out but I’m getting there haha!
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Oh and another question: are the reviews you post the exact ones from your site or do you shorten them? About to post my first review on NetGalley next week!!
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Sorry for the slow reply to this, I always just copy and paste exactly!
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Haha that’s okay! Thanks!
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Hey Zuky! I have another question for ya! I am starting to post my book reviews on Netgalley, but I’m noticing that they aren’t separating into paragraphs and are just combining all together…which looks ugly. Am I supposed to use HTML coding when doing these reviews?
Thank you again for so much information!
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Hi Jenna, sorry for the late response, I’ve been on holiday!
I’m not sure I can help ya there because my ones seem to format fine? I hope you get it fixed!!
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I fixed mine so it’s all good! I had to add HTML coding…weird. How was your holiday?!
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How strange! Glad it’s fixed though.
My holiday was wonderful, thank you! Just wish I was still there sunning myself haha
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Where did you go?! I saw that your profile picture updated on Instagram, which I really love!
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I went to Malta, lovely a sunny! and thank you!! 😛
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Great advice as always, Zuky. Totally agree with the bit about updating stats regularly and setting it out clearly so it makes it easy for the person at the publisher responsible for approving requests. I’ve also included a bit in mine to say that I make it a point to post reviews prior to publication date or as requested by publishers. (Don’t always 100% achieve but I hope it shows good intentions).
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Hello, thank you for this it is really helpful for anyone setting up a netgalley profile!
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Fab! I’m glad it’s helpful ☺️
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Reblogged this on BookBum and commented:
I’ve revamped my most popular blog post slightly! As it gets new views every day I thought it could do with a little update. Check it out if you need help on creating a successful Netgalley bio!
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Great post, and definitely a useful tip for anyone new in NetGalley, and I think I consider myself quite a newbie there. I find that the percentage of publishers accepting my requests are not very high, so I hope by improving my profile and making it look more professional I’ll have better chances of getting more ARCs in the future 🙂
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Good luck, I hope editing your profile bio helps get you a few more ‘accepts’ on book requests!! 🙂
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Wow, how come I missed this post? 😱 It’s very helpful. BRB, editing my NetGalley bio. 😆
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Glad you could use it to update your bio! 🙂
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Thank you for posting this! Due to issues with my old iPad, I never signed up for a NetGalley account. But now that I have a new iPad, I just signed up and took your tips for creating a profile!
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Awesome!! Good luck with getting book freebies! 😀
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Amazing! This is so helpful. Thanks so much for sharing with us😊
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I’m glad I could help! ❤
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Thank you so much for writing this! Just what I was looking for! I set up my net galley account today and was kind of lost.
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I’m so glad this blog came in handy! Good luck with all your Netgalley requesting 😛
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Thank you ❤
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❤
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Thank you so much. Just started my Netgally account and I had no idea what to put in my bio.
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So glad I could help you out! 🙂
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It is very helpful. Thank you very much
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Great post!!! Thanks for the help 🙂
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OMG, This is wonderful! Im updating my Netgalley right now. Thanks for this.
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