Goodreads giveaways basic program now costs $119, but includes ebooks. Is it worth it?

[Quantum]

No more free GR giveaways, but you get to give away ebooks for a fee. I also didn’t know that only publishers could do it before. How big did a publisher have to be to do the ebook giveaway? At $1.19/copy, is it worth it?

And for the first time, Kindle Direct Publishing authors can run giveaways for Kindle ebooks—a feature previously only available to traditional publishers. All of these benefits are included in the Standard package which costs $119 for up to 100 copies (either Kindle ebook or print book). The new Goodreads Giveaways program, which replaces our current Giveaways program, will go live on January 9, 2018, and will initially be for giveaways open to U.S. residents.

We’re also introducing a Premium package, offering special “Featured” placement on the highly-trafficked Giveaways page, as well as all the benefits of the Standard Package. The Premium package is $599 and is available for either print books or Kindle ebooks.

To celebrate the new Giveaways program, we’ll be offering special introductory pricing of $59 (save 50%) for all Standard giveaways and $299 (save 50%) for all Premium giveaways created between January 9, 2018, and January 31, 2018.

(https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1...)

[Philip]

Alex - just commented on the main Goodreads thread ref this. I cannot see the value in it and it just adds costs. Also by being limited to the US whilst removing current giveaway capability makes even more pressure on authors and indie publishers.

This os on the back of the so called vale of Goodreads advertising.

Very disappointed in approach and the treatment of non-US residents etc. More making America great again - perhaps not and I appreciate there may be technical issues but no timeline for rest of world. Prices are ridiculous. A KDP free day is free directly on AMazon and might garner 1000 downloads. A 1000 download on GR is going to cost $600 - hardly a bargain

[Marie Silk]

Short answer: no, it's not worth it.

I am majorly bummed because I use Goodreads Giveaways a lot :(.

It's no wonder they disabled comments on the blog post announcing this...

[Quantum]

So, what’s the overall business strategy, then? Is it an excuse to increase giveaways program fee (if there was indeed one) for the small- and mid-sized and big 5 publishers? Or just a mistake.

[Marie Silk]

It's something they could have been charging for, and weren't. I would pay a $20 fee to have a giveaway, but the prices they're asking are outrageous. Giveaways might convert to interest and exposure but rarely lead to sales that could be put toward the cost.

[Rita]

Goodreads are going to see their membership drop dramatically. time to move on - where are we going next guys? Especially the Aussies.

[Ian]

Glad to see this news posted over here too. The more groups this reaches the better.

It probably won't make much difference, but all you can do - and I implore you to do so - is:

(1) Go to the blog post, look for the (very hard to find) survey link at the bottom of the post and take the survey.

(2) Join the "Goodreads Author Feedback Group" if you aren't already a member, and comment on the discussion thread there where they proudly announced the new program and linked to the blog post.

Sadly, I only think this will affect Indie authors. Most of Goodreads membership is readers, and they will still be able to sign up for giveaways. As long as they live in the US. Big publishers will likely still run giveaways because they can afford to, and this will clear the field for them. Readers probably won't notice much difference except the volume and variety of giveaways will be reduced, but there will still be books for them to win so they're OK.

[Quantum]

Another possibility is that authors keep reposting their giveaways and reduce the visibility of other authors. Hence the paywall to provide a more exclusive service. What do you think?

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Justin]

I heard this last night..unbelievable. I can't fathom how anyone would pay a ridiculous amount of money for giveaways. If I had that kind of money I wouldn't need to giveaway my books!