"Know Your Author" is looking for a new author for March

[Badiaa]

Hi
Where is My Angel?
Novum Publishing

[Luna]

The Sleeping Serpent: A Woman's Struggle to Break an Obsessive Bond With Her Yoga Master

Would love an opportunity!

[Luna]

I filled out the form online! Is that enough?

[Eric]

Respectfully, if you're going to ask us to pay for the chance to be selected for a particular month, you ought to be up front about it in the post, and not have the fee buried in the announcement.

I have no objection to you making money, especially since getting free books is making money, and I'm fairly sure if you're in the States the cash equivalent of every book is taxable income. My rationale is that giving you the gift card/voucher isn't actually a gift, since it's a condition precedent to being selected for any particular month.

Just my USD .02.

Eric

[Will]

I am confused. You are asking us to send you a free ebook or a gift voucher and in return we will be considered for a particular month?

So if ten people send you a £10 gift voucher for a particular month you make £100. Each of them has a 1 in 10 chance of getting anything in return.

If 100 people apply for that month you make £1,000? And each of them has a 1% chance of being featured?

I'm with Eric on this one. If you want to make money, that's fine. But please be honest and open about what you are offering.

[Will]

No, we don't have to enter if we don't want.

If you are offering the random chance to get mentioned on your blog in return for a payment, you are effectively running an unlicensed lottery.

Good luck with that.

[Rebekah]

What you're doing is totally illegal, unless licensed by the relevant lottery authority, which I doubt you are, no matter which country you're in

[Will]

Here's a guide to UK law on lotteries:

http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/...

In short, a lottery is a competition where winning is down to chance, as opposed to a test of skill or knowledge. Because lotteries are prone to corruption, they are illegal in many countries unless specifically licensed. There are exemptions, such as charitable raffles and non commercial society draws.

Think very carefully about this one. It's not the surefire way to easy money that you might think it is.