Why Can't I Win a Book?

[Cyc]

When I joined Goodreads in 2013, I won 3 books in the first 6 months. I gave reviews on all of them. The last book I received I didn't like at all and gave it a honest, polite review stating why I didn't like it. I have not won a book since. So don't listen to the "give a honest review" part. They want you to lie and give every book a 5 star raving review. I emailed them about it and they assured me I am just having bad luck. I'm not buying it. If you give a book a less than stellar review, you're out of the running forever.

[Valencia]

Hi guys,
I only just saw all of these comments but I just won 2 books from the giveaways that ended tonight and I just wanted to comment on the winning thing. I only joined 3 days ago and I've rated 43 books and reviewed 21. I enjoy reading many genres of books so I tend to enter most of the giveaways but I didn't win anything on the first 2 days so I think you just need to be active, rating AND reviewing not just rating your books. Make sure to join plenty of groups and discussion, follow plenty of authors, add plenty of books to your shelf and to keep doing that! I'm sure you'll win something!

[Jessica]

Okay so here is what I have noticed. If you take a break from entering giveaways and then start again, you have a better shot at winning. Recently, I haven't been entering giveaways. Then last night around 10:45 pm PST I entered around 10 giveaways and I managed to win a book.

[Claire]

I only win the ebooks from amazon, especially when they give out 100 copies. As for physical copies that I'm desperate to read, NONE, NADA, ZILCH.

It's kind of frustrating because I've been a member since 2010. LOL. Also, I noticed how some users win an ARC when they don't even have a profile picture and only few book reviews.

It's fine though. Just feels frustrating.

[Annie]

I've only recently joined Goodreads and haven't a clue how the giveaways work. I'm an avid reader, so I've entered for the ones that sound as though they will be an OK read, plus any that I think my grandchildren will enjoy reading (not even sure if I'm allowed to enter for those being as I'm an adult!).........so I will let you know if the new member theory works. Though, so far I've not won any.

[Annie]

Anniegirl wrote: "I've only recently joined Goodreads and haven't a clue how the giveaways work. I'm an avid reader, so I've entered for the ones that sound as though they will be an OK read, plus any that I think m..."

Found out today that I've won 1 book -absolutely delighted to be chosen.

[Cyc]

Grats. You better give it a 5 star review whether you like the book or not or you'll never get another. That happened to me. I gave a book a 1 star rating 4 years ago. That was the last book I won.

[Teri]

Overall, the Giveaways have been a frustrating experience. As a Librarian with masters' degrees in Library and Information Science and in Literature, I like to think my reviews could up the ante a bit, instead of being mere reiterations of the book summaries as so many seem to be. I'm going to give it a little while longer but am increasingly inclined to believe one has to have an "in" in order to snag an occasional giveaway!

[Kim]

I've been a member since 2014 and in that time I've won over 400 books. I think at one time there was an algorithm that favored new members, but now I honestly believe wins are random. I haven't reviewed every book I've won , simply because I don't read that fast, so I haven't read them all yet(I do intend to).

I really believe the key to winning is a numbers game. Each day there are hundreds of books to be given out. If you only enter to win one book that only has 1 copy to be given away and there are already 1304 people entered to get that one book, your chances of winning that book are pretty slim. But if you read through the list and enter to win every book that you find interesting and would otherwise possibly purchase some days you may find you enter to win 10 books, some days 73, but your chance of winning goes from 1 in 1304 to something much higher.

I'm not suggesting that anybody enter every giveaway, or for books they wouldn't necessarily want to read, review, purchase, etc. But last night after reading the comments in this post I decided to see if I could "definitely win a book tonight" and I read the listings for all 5 pages of books with an end date of 8/09/17. For the ones that interested me, I clicked their links, viewed them on amazon, read the reviews if there were any out there yet and then entered to win about 20 out of the 100+ books available. This morning I was notified that I won not 1, not even 2 but 3 books in one day. It can't be because of my reviews, because honestly I only have a handful of those out there. It can't be because I'm new, I've been a member for years now. I really believe it depends on how much you enter and how you interact with the site.

I'm sure some folks enter every single contest and win more than I do, but I'm sure also some enter way less and hardly win at all.

I hope this helps, and I hope everyone gets to winning books that they're genuinely interested in and want to read. Enter for something you might not have thought of otherwise. One of the BEST books I've read in years was one I won here, Redheads by Jonathan Moore. I wouldn't have purchased that book in a bookstore or even given it a second look if not for the awesome description it had on goodreads. Give it a try, enter more and varied contests to win and see if that improves your odds. It's a great feeling when a brand new book arrives in the mail. Good luck all!!!

[Renée]

Wow Kim ... great that you won so many books. I'm not sure where you are in the world but it's interesting that you entered at 'night' ... ie, a late entry. I have commented in this group on another thread and as yet haven't had any replies. This is my experience, as an author who holds a lot of giveaways.

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

[Teri]

Kim -- Your post is very insightful. I enter a lot of the giveaways, because as a Librarian I read a lot, and my tastes are quite varied. I've only been trying for about three months, but have pages and pages of giveaways entered, and no wins yet. Some of my entries are for books of poetry, etc., that don't draw the attention that the bigger names do, and still no results. I am going to try your "late entry" strategy -- it can't hurt!
Renee -- I read your post on the other thread. Again, very interesting! I'm not inclined to stay up until 2:00 a.m. trying to win, but what you say is definitely food for thought (and maybe an activity for those sleepless nights.)

[Michelle]

Renee, I'm not sure if you are aware of this, please forgive me for sticking my nose in if you are.

Even if the winner of a giveaway enters the draw on the day it is first listed, the message on their profile page when they win shows the time of drawing the winner (i.e. midnight west coast US time or 8am UK time, unless there is a delay of a few minutes in drawing a winner), not the time they actually entered. The message also says ".....has entered a giveaway", not ".....has won a giveaway". Could this explain what you are seeing? It looks like the winner has only just entered the giveaway, whether they entered it a month ago or a minute ago. This is always the case, with every giveaway. It is simply the way Goodreads do it.

[Renée]

Thanks Teri,

Thanks Michelle, This is not what I'm looking at. The entry is so recent that often it says on their recently update feed (profile page).

'so and so' entered a giveaway 0 minutes ago. or even '2 minutes ago' ... as the case may be.

As you can see from my blog posts this has happened 100% of the time for my giveaways.

All I can do it bring it to Goodreads and entrants attention :)

[Kim]

Renée wrote: "Wow Kim ... great that you won so many books. I'm not sure where you are in the world but it's interesting that you entered at 'night' ... ie, a late entry. I have commented in this group on anothe..."

Hi Renée, actually when I said "I'm going to try tonight" I meant around 8:00 pm central time in the US, not late entry right before winners are picked (I believe at 2:00 am). I think I'd burst into flames if I stayed up that late. Almost every book I've ever won was indeed on the last day of entries but most often I entered to win it during the day.

I used to wonder if maybe the last few folks who entered were the ones who won. But again, have never been up late enough to test that theory out. The info in your blog post is very enlightening.

[Renée]

Kim

Oh don't ever burst into flames ... what a waste that would be. It doesn't have to be last minute, but always late entries. Sometimes I give quite a few books away at a time. One or two will be last minute but always late entries come first ... just my experience.

[M]

So, I have added all the books I remember reading to my list. I have been using GR for quite some time now and I always have a target for a year that I complete. I almost always review the books I read and right after I read them. I have signed up for quite a few giveaways. Nada! I signed up for the land of nod giveaway 5 times now. Literally!! And nada!!! I dont understand tbe giveaway policy.

[Teri]

You know how reviewers state that they "received this book in exchange for an honest reviews"? I've decided that I'm going to preface all my reviews with "I received this book in exchange for $27.95 (or however much the MSRP is) because I can never win a book on Goodreads."
Five concentrated months trying to win a book, hundreds of entries and strategies, representing countless hours on the site and on Amazon, numerous reviews for books I've gone ahead and purchased, two master's degrees in Library Science and English Literature as credentials -- and still nada. Just notices that "There's a new giveaway for a book you've shelved."' My "Want To Read" list is now cluttered with books that I would have read had I won a giveaway or two, but won't think of now as as I pursue my own shopping list instead of the one Goodreads helps me compile. So I've given up. The authors and publishers don't need any free gratis promotion from me! "Random" is fine but it means there's a chance -- and this system is demonstrably not "random" but exists in general to accommodate a few "author's pets". I'll spend those hours reading instead of writing free reviews.