Goodreads Turns Bad, Part 3: Facebook

In my last post, I told you about my experience with an Amazon Giveaway. I have now completed my experimental Facebook Giveaway. Here are the details.

I posted my Giveaway on Facebook on Friday morning, May 25. It ran until 7:00 PM EST on Wednesday, May 30. I posted it around 11:00 AM on my Timeline, the Terrapin page, and my author’s page. I also posted it in four groups I belong to. In addition, there were several Shares from most of these spaces. The ability to post in multiple areas on the site is a definite advantage to a Giveaway at Facebook. At Goodreads you can post only on your own page, and Amazon posts it wherever they post Giveaways. I never even saw it on Amazon.

I asked people to enter the Giveaway by putting in a comment below the announcement. Most just entered their name or a note like “I’m in!” but quite a few posted lovely compliments! Unexpected bonus compliments!

Here are some of the compliments:
     I have the first book and love it.
     Diane, your book sounds amazing!!
     Love & use volume 1 all the time with my classes!
     These guides are sensible, informed, clearly written, and stimulating. What more could a poet want?!
     This looks fantastic.
     I always recommend The Crafty Poet. It's a great resource. Can't wait to read Part II!
     Your workshop books are a must for any practicing poet or teacher of poetry!

These testimonials do not happen with Goodreads or Amazon. I felt real people out there wanting to win, not a sea of faceless strangers. This kind of response really put a smile on my face (see above image).

Here are the statistics:
Total number of entrants: 77 with the bulk of them appearing on my Timeline, but also some in all the groups where I posted. I was happy with this number and suspect that it would have been higher if I hadn't posted on a holiday weekend.
One winner: notified next day, book now in the mail
Total Cost: cost of one book which I had at home, one envelope, $3.19 postage

The Facebook Giveaway is the least expensive. Much less expensive than Goodreads at $119.00 and less than half the Amazon one.

Big boost in sales? No, but that is common to all three Giveaways (and I can hope that some Facebook entrants will later hop on over to Amazon and hit the Buy button--in fact, I did have a few sales shortly after I announced the winner!).

Unexpected perks: 1) One person who saw my post on Facebook asked for a review copy so she could write a review for the paper she works for, 2) Another person asked if she could post my two earlier blog posts on her writing blog = more exposure!

My conclusion is that given the choice between a paid Giveaway at Goodreads, a low-cost one at Amazon, or a free one at Facebook the best option is Facebook—by far. Goodreads leads to more people entering, but at Facebook you have the ability to reach additional people if you have a substantial list of friends. You can extend your reach by sharing to groups and pages on Facebook. You can also set your own time frame—I recommend just a few days as information goes through the feed so fast. Most of my responses came on the first two days. And the cost is less than at Goodreads (by a lot) or at Amazon (by about $10). And you might get a few compliments!