Holding a Successful Book Giveaway (Would love insight/tips.)

[Beth Hobson]

I'm hosting my first ever book giveaway this week on my blog, the Ebook Apothecary. The books are fabulous, stunning cover art, anyone can enter and there are no obligations whatsoever. I was so excited for it to start and yet the response has been mediocre. My goal was to drum up some interest for this new indie fantasy author and yet unless it picks up I'm afraid I'll disappoint!

The giveaway is only running until Saturday, and I would really appreciate some pointers on gaining more entries before time is up.

These are the books that are being offered in the giveaway and you can find the blog post about it HERE.

I would appreciate any advice you could give! (And I would be eternally grateful if you wouldn't mind sharing it on your social media outlets.)

Cheers,

Beth

[ReadingDiva]

Hi Beth,

I understand your frustration. Running a giveaway is a lot more work that one expect.

I suggest you post things over and over in your Facebook page (once every 2 days if your page doesn’t have tons of activity) and Twitter (if you have both). Reminders via twitter can be timed for every 30 minutes. You do not want to saturate your followers (they can consider it spam after a few times).

Always remember to add the "Pls RT" to all your announcements via Twitter. Also, post the information in other pages that allow it (authors FB page for example) and other blogs. You can post your giveaway in my FB page if you like ReadingDiva's Blog Facebook Page. I am running a giveaway and I try to remind my followers to enter and to pass the information to friends/family. I am lucky enough to get tons of RTs by other bloggers and authors alike.

I hope my suggestion help!

ReadingDiva

[Beth Hobson]

Thanks so much for the tips; unfortunately I don't seem to get many RT's, perhaps because I don't ask for them. Will have to try it and see how it goes!

Thanks so much for the offer, I appreciate the opportunity to post to your FB page!

How long do you normally run your giveaways for- - if you don't mind me asking!

Cheers,

Beth

[ReadingDiva]

Beth,

Share your twitter here so I can start following you, you can follow me @ReadingDiva3. I like helping fellow bloggers/authors alike.

The 1000 followers giveaway is my first and I am having fun with it. I will run the giveaway until I reach 1000 followers, my goal was to get 1000 by Jan 31st 2012 but I know it isn't going to happen.

Don't be afraid to ask people to RT your announcements and ask them to share it on FB.

RD

[Beth Hobson]

My twitter account is @EbookApothecary - I'm following you on Twitter and FB now; I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me!

Beth

[ReadingDiva]

No problem - I'll follow back shortly!.

[Beth Hobson]

Thanks!

[ManOfLaBook.com]

I post my giveaways on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/BookGiveaways/) and several groups on Goodreads.

I "secret" to holding a successful giveaway is giving away books people want to read :)

http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

[Beth Hobson]

Thanks for the tips!

[Lesa]

I haven't entered or hosted many giveaways due to what a pain the process is--- but Ihope to do more of both now that I've discovered Rafflecopter. Have you entered a RC  managed giveaway?  I did last week and was amazed by how convenient it was-- no more leaving a comment for all my entries. 

I immediately signed up with RC and hosted giveaways on both my blogs-- very easy to set up the entry form. The whole process was a breeze-- RC keeps track of all the entries and uses Random.org to choose a winner. It was great not having to count comments.  I don't know how others feel about the typical entry process but I'm certainly more likely to enter a RC managed giveaway.  Something you might want to consider for future giveaways.

To increase entries on your current giveaway, you might try promoting on free giveaway directory sites and linking up to giveaway linky parties. There are tons of them and it can be a lot of work but it is worthwhile.  I found this list of 'sites to list your giveaways' invaluable.

Good luck! 

 

  

 

[Lesa]

Also, did you promote your giveaway in all the applicable groups here on bookblogs? 

If I read ebooks, I would enter even without a Rafflecopter entry form. Sounds like fun reads and I love the covers.  I did tweet about it and will share on FB when I can get it to open up.

:o)

[Beth Hobson]

Thanks so much for tweeting and for all the tips. I'll definitely look into RC for the future and thanks so much for the post about where to list the giveaway! I really appreciate all the help!

[Beccie]

These look very interesting.  One thing I would say to get more people involved is start a connected facebook page to your blog, you'll get more people that way.

Beccie

www.facebook.com/Bookiesfan