how long after a giveaway should I expect a review?

[James]

Back in April I ran a giveaway for my book and sent out 25 copies. A little more than 3 months have past and I have only received 1 review. I am considering contacting the giveaway winners but don't like to badger. How much longer should I wait? Should I contact them at all?

[Judy]

Just pray you'll get any. I gave away 3 copies on a giveaway and received 1 review--and now that reviewer deleted their account, so the review was deleted as well. I've also had thousands of free downloads, but only have 8 reviews so far on Amazon. So just treasure each one.

Giveaway winners are not required to review, so don't bug them.

[Liz]

I have been lucky enough to win a book which although I started a few weeks ago I have not had the chance to finish. I plan to post a review when I have finished. I don't know if you are given the email addresses of the winners of your giveaways but I know if it was me I would not mind if the writer emailed say a month or so after sending and asking if I had received and enjoyed the book and would I mind adding a review. Sometimes we plan to do things and never get round to them and sometimes people don't always think to put a review online. Do you always do a review after you have been to a nice hotel, restaurant etc. One thing is for sure if the book was good us girls at least are more likely to tell our friends what a good book it was even if we don't think to tell you. :-)

[James]

I emailed all the winners when the contest was over and several replied likewise that they didn't mind being contacted. Well, in the meantime I have finished my 4th book so I think I may take a different approach than a giveaway this time.

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

Different readers are going to have different responses to being contacted—even if not badgering. If you want to verify receipt of your book--put a tracking number on the shipment and check that first, then check if winner shelved the book at all (if not shelved I can see a polite "just following up to make sure you did receive the book you won" without mentioning a review not offending anyone). The tracking number also protects you against claims that you did not mail the giveaway.

If the member who won has not written reviews on any "read" books — I don't think contacting them about review would be a good idea.

If you do choose to send review reminders/requests, I'd watch for book to be marked as "currently reading"/"read" or wait at least 90 days before getting impatient and contacting.

(not completely familiar with goodreads giveaways but assuming shipment by U.S. Postal Service acceptable -- their tracking system usually off by 48 hours or more but they have a delivery confirmation option for next-day, priority, and book rate shipping [and on first class mail if thick enough to warrant the non-machinable surcharge which applies to most books] that's less than 50¢ if you print your own and less than $1 if you use the bright green forms at post office. International mail doesn't use delivery confirmation, you'll need to use serial number of the customs form and make sure "gift" is specified as some countries have odd customs laws and charges for retail/commercial shipments that recipient has to deal with.)

[Nenia]

It can take anywhere from a few days or a few months. If they don't review, don't worry about it. They'll be less likely to win more books in the future until they review the books they've won. Just keep calm and write on. ;)

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

I'd get an idea, too, of how quickly the goodreads members reads books before any contact that might be seen as badgering. Unless a private profile, you can see their "read" "i read" "read in August" whatever shelves -- some members devour one or more books a week and some only read 1 or 2 a year. If your winner only reads 1 or 2 books a year, don't hold your breath.

Goodreads does stack the odds of winning a giveaway in favor of previous winners who actively review books read (and I suspect to new goodreads members who never entered a giveaway before).

[Cherlina]

I sent out 7 copies of my book and I don't know if they got reviewed at all.

Where are Goodreads reviews located?