Book Giveaways. What’s the Point?
To understand my fascination with book giveaways let me show you just one of my closets. There’s another in my study that’s worse. Then there’s a tall queen bed with boxes of books stored underneath. Every time I publish a novel my publisher sends me fifty copies with which I can do anything I want except sell. And every time the same book is reissued I get another 50 copies of the newer version.
Of course there are also the multiple copies in languages I can’t read.
Through the years I’ve gotten better about finding uses for my author copies. Reviewers and booksellers, not to mention libraries, often receive my extras. When I lived in Cleveland copies went into the attic for insulation. In Northern VA I was confident we could use them to filter fallout in case of a nuclear attack. I am nothing if not resourceful.
My favorite use, however is as “gifts” to my readers, often in the form of giveaways.
This week I’m not the only one giving away my novels. My publisher is sponsoring a twenty book giveaway on Goodreads for When We Were Sisters.* Twenty books is huge. What a great idea. These are uncorrected proofs, also known as Advanced Reader Copies. The cover is much the same as the one that will appear at bookstores on June 1st. The novel itself is the unedited version that went to my publisher. Some small changes have been made. The most interesting is the way I changed a minor character’s name halfway through the manuscript. Of course my editor caught that and only the winners of the Goodreads giveaway and my Review Krewe–who received copies from me–will ever know who it was.
Right now over 800 people have entered the giveaway, but you never know where lightning will strike, so enter before March 29th for your own chance to win. And then try the next one.
Karen White, delightful narrator of all my Goddesses books, is giving away one CD version of The Color of Light to a lucky winner. All the details are at Karen’s site. And generous soul that she is, she has made sure that anyone entering will need to visit the Asheville page at my website in order to comment and enter. Deadline is March 13th so get busy. Thank you Karen. A lovely idea.
And because it was so lovely, I decided to do exactly the same. So I am giving away one CD version of The Color of Light, too. In order to enter the giveaway, you must visit Karen’s website and click on her impressive audiography. Just choose one book that Karen has recorded that you would like to listen to someday–not one of mine because that’s too easy–and email me here to let me know which book you put on your wish list. Of course you don’t have to buy the book you choose, although nobody will fault you if you do. The deadline for this giveaway is March 16.
More details on my website giveaway page.
Three book giveaways. And, of course, if you subscribe to my newsletter you know I give away a book each month to one lucky reader.
Does this mean that readers no longer have to buy my books? Of course not. But we all need a little fun, right? And authors need to get the word out about their books. If we can do both of these things together, how cool is that?
*I am an Amazon Associate and if I link to a page at Amazon and you buy, I get a small commission. But remember you can find my books anywhere and all the online bookstores are listed at my book pages.
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