Have You Ever Started Following a Blog for a Giveaway

[Enbrethiliel]

+JMJ+

. . . and then stopped following after the winner was announced, for whatever reason?

While I think that the classy thing to do if you follow a blog for a giveaway is to keep following although you don't win, I've since chosen to stop following two of the many blogs I started following for that reason.

The first one was a Romance blog just starting out and having a big contest to attract followers. I joined because I read a few Romances now and then. After some time, however, I saw that the reviews were leaning more towards Erotica (which I don't read at all) than mainstream Romance, and I got seriously icked out at the writing style of one of the contributors. So I went back to the contest thread, deleted my comment entry, stopped following, and hoped that if my name was already in the pot and I won, that my failure to reply would let the prize pack go to someone else.

Anyway, I think that was fair enough, <i>but</i> I know I would have also stopped following for the same reason, if the posts had taken that turn <i>after</i> the contest. In that case, I think I would have stopped following even if I <i>had</i> won--but luckily, I never had to make that decision.

As for the second one, I stopped following because she never announced the contest winner and I kept getting the weird feeling that she put up a bogus contest to bump up her follower count without ever following through. Now, I know lots of bloggers don't announce winners; they just contact them privately and that's it. (One of them is a regular read of mine.) I just had that feeling with this one. But I didn't say anything in her combox or blog about my suspicions . . . and well, she had over 600 followers at that time, so I don't think she felt the loss.

What about your experiences?

[Courtney Webb]

No I haven't, I also don't really believe in making people follow my site to enter a giveaway, I want them to follow because they enjoy it and the content not to win something....but that's just me. I know a lot people who make all their giveaways "must be a follower". I usually don't enter those unless it is actually a site I follow. I guess it depends on how important it is to you to get your "follower" numbers up..me I prefer true readers and fans over followers for prizes. I know I could probably up my numbers by going along but that's not what is important to me and my blogging.

Great topic!
Courtney
Stiletto Storytime
"Remember just like stilettos, reading is always in style."

[Enbrethiliel]

+JMJ+

Hey, are you sure we're not talking about my brothers? LOL!!!

And as I've said, I'm equally "guilty" of following some blogs just for the prizes and then not really reading them. *blush* But since I don't unfollow after the contest is closed, I think that's fair enough. =)

[Enbrethiliel]

+JMJ+

I find it odd that there are currently about three different discussions about contest/giveaways in which commenters are quite clear about not liking certain requirements which seem to be the norm. (E.g. Having to follow or to promote someone else's bog on your own.) But I very, very rarely run into blogs that have giveways open to all, without any extra hoops to hop through. Is it that the people who don't mind this hyper networking aren't on Boo Blogs, or are they just staying away from this thread because we're sounding so judgmental? =P

[Daniel L Carter]

When I do a book giveaway I have two ways that I do them. First off let me say that asking someone to follow your blog is not a huge imposition when you're offering a free book. This seems to be the easiest way for doing a giveaway. It doesn't cost anyone anything and it is a great way to connect with people who like the same types of books you do. I'm not sure why people are having such a hard time with bloggers giving away books and the only requirement is that you follow their blog. It's not like you get spammed by signing up. The point of a blog and social networks like this site are to connect with people. If you don't like their blog then stop following. I personally don't see what the big issue is. The second way I do giveaways is by having people sign up for my bi-monthly newsletter. I don't see this as a major issue either. Again it's about connecting with people of similar taste in books and networking. If someone wants to just give away a book without any requirements other than sending an email and name is great but the fact is that even if you win the giveaway the likelihood of you following that person's blog by going back to their site and then signing up afterward are slim.

I do agree though that you shouldn't make people jump through hoops and being asked to post each others blogs seems a bit much. If I like someone's blog posting then I will share it on mine. I don't intend to post something I don't particularly like and if I don't like that person's posting in the first place then I probably am not going to sign up for their giveaway. Again it's about connecting with like minds and networking. I see way too much spam going around and not a whole lot of interacting with each other. I'm a little disappointed with it actually.

Sincerely,
Daniel L Carter
Author of The Unwanted Trilogy

[The Girl from the Ghetto]

I had to laugh when I read this - I do believe there are people out there who post fake giveaways, too. I'm a Wordpress blogger, but even if I was on Blogspot, I wouldn't require people to follow me. Honestly, it bothers me when that is a requirement of a giveaway.

In the end, it should be about the writing of the blogger and the book they are reviewing, not about who has a ton of followers or not. I say write good reviews and giveaway posts and forget what the other 24,000 book bloggers are doing.

[Amanda Markham]

Here, here!

Sooner or later, the bloggers who are only running giveaways and memes as their only source of content are going to find people losing interest.

I also don't worry about what others are doing - my site is very different to other book blogs.I'm absolutely in agreement that we should be creating quality, not just endless imitations.

[Daniel L Carter]

Wordpress is interesting in as much as the more comments you get the better ranking your blog is and often I see people require that you place a comment to enter a giveaway which doesn't make sense to me. If people just wanted to give away a book for the pure joy of sharing books then all they would require is that an email was sent to enter the contest without having to comment. Seems to me that is the same concept with Blogger asking people to be a follower. When people give away books it is for marketing purposes and there is nothing wrong with that.

Blessings,
Daniel L Carter
Author of The Unwanted Trilogy

[Enbrethiliel]

+JMJ+

Girl from the Ghetto and Daniel --

I read your posts together and like the way they point out the two sides of the argument. Yes, I agree that people who follow you should do it because of your writing and regular features and not because they want to win a one-time contest. On the other hand, I also agree that since this is about the marketing of both boos n blogs, there is no harm in the practice.

So we have an "In an ideal world . . ." scenario, which I support, and an "In the real world . . ." scenario, which is working out well for many people and which isn't really a bad thing..

[Amanda Markham]

After 6 months as a serious book blogger, I have some observations about giveaways on books blogs, especially as a means of getting followers. I've only done one giveaway which was to launch my newsletter. I may do another, but it will be linked to a charity.

My observations:

Like yourself, I've 'followed' book blogs for giveaways, and then quit them afterwards because the content doesn't interest me. I suspect there are many other people like this.

But what bothers me most is the number of bloggers who are running giveaways instead of creating good content. There are a number of well known 'A' list book blogs that only seem to run giveaways and memes. Given that there are so many better 'B' list bloggers out there producing awesome and interesting content, it seems only a matter of time before people who blog in this way start to lose followers to those of us producing unique, interesting content and not just adding to the blog echo chamber.

[Enbrethiliel]

+JMJ+

Thanks once again for your fresh take on things, Amanda!

I think that people who offer free stuff will always have followers happy to link, tweet and do other things (because trying to win a contest is also kind of fun). Having consistently good content is another sort of strength that can coexist in the same blogosphere, although it makes one a little harder to find. I don't really see this situation as "Us vs. Them" since people can follow both of us, reading our content and entering their contests, and thereby have a fuller experience of what the book blogosphere has to offer. I think there's room for everyone. =)

[Mystee]

I always stay a follower. Easy enough to just stay on as it lists on your admin page for blogger. To me, an extra blog or two or even 20 that I may not get back to really doesn't bother me at all.