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An attempt to quantify the value of a giveaway
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I did a goodreads giveaway at the start of this year for 30 copies of my debut book, A Recycled Marriage. I received just 5 ratings, 3 of which included reviews, 1 of which posted on Amazon. Whilst I'm grateful for these reviews, I'm disappointed that 25 winners either didn't read my book, or read it and didn't bother rating.
I'm interested to hear how other authors have fared.
I've been following the posts from this group about reviews in general. Thanks guys, I've picked up some great advice. As a debut author I'm learning as I go along, so your comments and warnings are much appreciated🙂
Rosemary wrote: "I did a goodreads giveaway at the start of this year for 30 copies of my debut book, A Recycled Marriage. I received just 5 ratings, 3 of which included reviews, 1 of which posted on Amazon. Whil..."
Thanks for sharing Rosemary. I am beginning to think that your experience is typical. I don't understand why people are entering giveaways without any intent of rating or reviewing the books that they win.
Joe wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "I did a goodreads giveaway at the start of this year for 30 copies of my debut book, A Recycled Marriage. I received just 5 ratings, 3 of which included reviews, 1 of which posted ..."They join because they love reading and want to win the book. It is not mandatory to leave a review - most people don't.
Authors have to pay for a giveaway, I don't think it's asking too much to expect winners to give at least ratings (which aren't time consuming like reviews) since they received a free copy. Looked up your book Joe, putting it on my to read list. Sounds inspiring!
Rosemary wrote: "Perhaps many goodreads readers enter all the giveaways they can, regardless of whether they are interested in the genre. Sounds pecuIiar, but I can't think of another reason! Looked up your book Jo..."Thanks Rosemary! I guess the other reason that comes to mind is that people download the book and then take it to some other site to pirate-sell it. I don't think that is true of most of the people who won my giveaway but some of the winners look suspicious.
Yasmine wrote: "Joe wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "I did a goodreads giveaway at the start of this year for 30 copies of my debut book, A Recycled Marriage. I received just 5 ratings, 3 of which included reviews, 1 of w..."Yasmine, that is absolutely true and I have no issue with that. However, my informal poll is just intended to find out how many of the winners are likely to be in that category. Goodreads advertises their giveaways as a means to generate buzz about a book. But what exactly does that mean? In my view "buzz" means reviews and ratings. Goodreads has all the data. They could make it clear what an author can expect. For example, should we expect 10% of the copies we give away to result in a rating? 5%? 1%? This would be a good metric to know because it would help us understand how to spend our advertising money. My guess is that the conversion rate is in the single digit percentage.
I entered two Goodreads Giveaways for my one and only novel which was commercially available from Aug. 9, 2011 through Dec. 31, 2016. The giveaways were free when I participated.1st. Giveaway: Dec. 2 through Jan. 2, 2013.
10 paperback copies were awarded to the winners. 1,048 members participated.
2nd. Giveaway: Jan. 5 through Feb. 5, 2015.
5 paperback copies were awarded to the winners. 1,513 members participated.
4 winners posted a review and 6 posted a rating (5 5-Star and 1 4-Star) on the Goodreads site.
Jim wrote: "I entered two Goodreads Giveaways for my one and only novel which was commercially available from Aug. 9, 2011 through Dec. 31, 2016. The giveaways were free when I participated.1st. Giveaway: De..."
Hi Jim, Thank you for the information. Your experience in these two giveaways shows 4 reviews from 15 winners (conversion rate of ~27%) and 6 ratings from 15 winners (40% conversion rate). These are indeed excellent results. However, they were from long ago and I am still curious about the current state of giveaway performance.
Joe wrote: "Yasmine wrote: "Joe wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "I did a goodreads giveaway at the start of this year for 30 copies of my debut book, A Recycled Marriage. I received just 5 ratings, 3 of which included..."Maybe by buzz they mean to get people talking about it? Because some people talk about books and don't write reviews...but I understand where you're coming from. I just wanted to point out that a lot of people don't leave reviews
Joe,Since the vast majority of avid readers, for whatever reason, never post a rating or review, rather than gauge the effect of giveaways upon the number of ratings and reviews generated, you might instead evaluate sales volume prior to and after a giveaway.
Jim wrote: "Joe,Since the vast majority of avid readers, for whatever reason, never post a rating or review, rather than guage the effect of giveaways upon the number of ratings and reviews generated, you mi..."
Hi Jim, very good point. That may be my next poll.
Yasmine wrote: "Joe wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "I did a goodreads giveaway at the start of this year for 30 copies of my debut book, A Recycled Marriage. I received just 5 ratings, 3 of which included reviews, 1 of w..."I have been fortunate to receive 3 books in Goodreads giveaways. I always leave a review because I feel I owe the author that much in return for a free book plus I thought that a review was required in the small print when you enter the contest. Perhaps Goodreads should be more explicit in asking for reviews of giveaways.
Good on you, Ronnie! I wish I could enter giveaways, does anyone know why they're restricted to the US?
Rosemary wrote: "I wish I could enter giveaways, does anyone know why they're restricted to the US?"They never used to be. Years ago, when giveaways were free for authors to run they were open worldwide and readers from any country could enter. Then after Amazon bought GR and authors now have to pay to run them, they are only open to US based readers. I always thought it was an odd move, people in other countries read too ;)
May I recommend LibraryThing giveaways. It's free for debut novels. I did one in August and one this month. I gave away five ebooks both times. The August giveaway has resulted in 1 of 4 people reviewing. The second one just went out yesterday, so I'm not sure yet.
Lynne wrote: "May I recommend LibraryThing giveaways. It's free for debut novels. I did one in August and one this month. I gave away five ebooks both times. The August giveaway has resulted in 1 of 4 people rev..."Thanks Lynne!
Mellie wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "I wish I could enter giveaways, does anyone know why they're restricted to the US?"They never used to be. Years ago, when giveaways were free for authors to run they were open wo..."
There's giveaways for Canada, too. They're just a lot less...
Mellie wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "I wish I could enter giveaways, does anyone know why they're restricted to the US?"They never used to be. Years ago, when giveaways were free for authors to run they were open wo..."
😃 Yes, one or two readers elsewhere! Thanks for the information, Mellie. I probably wouldn't win a giveaway if I could enter. In my entire life I've only ever won a candle in a raffle. Scented candles give me migraines 😂
I set up a giveaway that starts on Tuesday, so I will let you know how it went and if I found it worth the money and effort.
Thanks. I did look into LibraryThing and it does look as if they work harder at making sure that their giveaways result in reviews. They screen the applicants for their review history and attempt to optimize the likelihood that the winners will actually read the books that they win by analyzing their interests.
I have had zero results. A while back I made one of my books free and 650 copies (I kid you not) were downloaded. As far as I could tell there was not even one sale or review of it.I've given away a few since then (didn't larn my lesson) and never got a review.
No more.
Your work is worth more than free - don't forget that.
Ed wrote: "I have had zero results. A while back I made one of my books free and 650 copies (I kid you not) were downloaded. As far as I could tell there was not even one sale or review of it.I've given awa..."
That's sad, Ed. Sorry to hear that. But I am beginning to think that this is typical. Giveaways either through goodreads or self-initiated just don't really help to promote a book except for established authors.
This has come up a lot recently. My concern is that with the prevalence of online scams nowadays - a distressingly increasing trend - the promotion of new books comes with significant risk. It is worse for debut writers who have fewer effective tools than established authors.
I thought that it would be interesting to poll this group on one small subset of book promotion: the goodreads giveaway.
The questions I pose are addressed to new authors who have debuted in 2022 and have placed their book in a goodreads giveaway: How many copies did you give away? How many ratings have you received as a result? How many reviews did you receive as a result?
I look forward to your responses.