Successful Book Giveaways – Print and eBooks

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Reading

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Book giveaways
are a powerful way to get a lot of exposure – and your book in the hands of new readers, who might even write reviews.  The success of your book giveaway depends very much on how you promote this event – and also how you leverage the networking possibilities you gain with new followers and contacts.
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Print Book Giveaways on Goodreads
Goodreads now allows not only paperbacks but also e-books as Giveaways.  They offer all members: “Be the first to read new books!  Pre-release books are listed for giveaway by publishers and authors, and members can enter to win.  Winners are picked randomly at the end of the giveaway.”
As Goodreads belongs to Amazon, they are setting the rules and also send out the ebooks to the chosen readers.  The cost of listing a Kindle book giveaway is $119, which allows you to offer up to 100 Kindle ebooks.  Goodreads print book Giveaway campaigns are still free.
The idea is that many of the people who win a free book will write a review of it on Goodreads (some people are so enthusiastic that they write reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, Shelfari etc). Reviews help book sales, so publishers and authors are keen to do giveaways.  However, if your book is in digital format only: there are ways to print a handful of books, once you have an ISBN.
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There are some competitors to Goodreads, who offer e-Book Giveaways for members, such as BookLikes and LibraryThing, and now even Amazon.com

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Offer e-Book Giveaways
In terms of features and functionality, both, BookLikes and LibraryThing are similar to Goodreads. Of course, they don’t have the user traffic that Goodreads or Amazon have, so you should not expect similar results if you have done a book giveaway on Goodreads in the past.  To list your book giveaway on BookLikes or LibraryThing, sign up for a free account and click on the giveaways link when you are logged in.  On the next page, there should be a tab at the top of the page in the main navigation that says “Create Your Giveaway.”  You will be asked for the same info as the other sites in the form on the following page.  Their rules seem to have been almost copied directly from Goodreads, as they appear to be identical.  For more questions go to their FAQ’s.
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Best of all, on LibraryThing you can choose to pick the winners of the giveaway yourself!  It is certainly less expensive than to donate print books and you can offer easily a dozen or more copies.  You can either send the winners a PDF or you can gift the e-book via Amazon and boost your sales ranking at the same time!
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Print and e-Book Giveaways Through Book Bloggers
Consider offering copies of your book to other bloggers you follow, or you have found through a Google search and have them host a giveaway. Book bloggers often really appreciate being able to do giveaways, and this can extend your reach outside of your previous networking!
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Don’t Forget: a Giveaway on Your Website
Your blog or website are great places too for giveaways, especially if you have thousands of followers / readers there or an extensive newsletter email list. Use the same announcements and promotions as you would do for a Goodreads, LibraryThing or BookLikes giveaway.  And you certainly can choose the winners yourself!
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9 Giveaway Tips for Authors:

  1. Enter your first giveaway 4-6 weeks before your book’s launch (as soon as you have the ISBN in case of a print book) and then periodically every other month.  Schedule your giveaway at least two weeks in advance.
  2. Write a compelling giveaway description with snippets of reviews and mentioning any awards the book won.
  3. Offer always autographed books for print versions.
  4. Follow everyone who applied for the giveaway.  On Goodreads you can follow 25 people/day.  These are the people who are interested in your book. Send a thank-you note to everyone who entered, and offer two or three chapters of your book to the not-so-lucky ones, and invite them to join your email newsletter.
  5. Use the free event-feature at Goodreads and Google+ and invite everyone there to participate in the Giveaway.
  6. Announce the giveaway at least once a day on your Google+ timeline, on Twitter, FB, LinkedIn, Pinterest and share it with: the public, your circles and extended circles – and additionally use the function “Also send email to Your circles” next to the sharing button (for your first post and then towards the end of the giveaway period to remind them).
  7. Post your giveaway article on your website or blog and regularly to all the Social Media sites, don’t forget Pinterest, Instagram or Flickr (use not only your cover photo, but anything that fits to the theme of your book), and maybe create even a short video about this giveaway.
  8. Make arrangements for interviews in local newspapers, mentioning your giveaway (plan well in advance, 2 – 3 months at least).
  9. Announce your Book Blog Giveaways in these listings / blogs too:

http://bookblogs.ning.com/group/bookbloggiveaways

http://cuddlebuggery.com/previous-lbba-giveaways/

http://www.iamareader.com/giveaway-hops

http://bloggiveawaydirectory.com/tag/books/

https://www.facebook.com/freebookgiveaways

http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/2014/06/giveaway-book-of-life-by-deborah.html

http://mostlyyabookobsessed.com/2012/09/blog-makeover-and-giveaway.html

http://www.yabookscentral.com/info/10186-ya-and-kids-books-giveaways (YA and Kids)
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IMPORTANT:  Don’t start or end your giveaway on a holiday or the days before. People are busy with other things around this time or they travel.  And don’t limit your giveaways to your own country, offer it worldwide.  It means more exposure and if your giveaway is only one to three copies it’s affordable, especially if you let it send as a gift through Amazon – this way it helps your ranking too. But always include / send a friendly note, even when you gift it via the online retailer.  Don’t delay the delivery to the winner.
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For Readers and Reviewers On LibraryThing:
“The August 2015 batch of Early Reviewer books is up! We’ve got 87 titles this month, and a grand total of 2,716 copies to give out, including a collection of previously unpublished stories and essays by The Haunting of Hill House author Shirley Jackson. Which books are you hoping to get this month? If you haven’t already, sign up for August 2015 Early Reviewers.” http://blog.librarything.com/main/  Lots of books to win and review!

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To learn more about professional book marketing and publishing, please read also
“Book Marketing on a Shoestring”
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UAVL3LE

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