A Complete Guide to Self-Publishing Your Book - Blog #7
Blog Series - Step #7
Goodreads Giveaway Results for Indie Authors
We are your indie author guinea pigs and as promised, are here to share our results with you!
Great news! We had over 1,700 entries in our Goodreads free giveaway contest! We gave away a total of nine books, three from each volume of our sci-fi trilogy, Computer Love Inc. Now that Goodreads is charging to host giveaways and touting additional pushes for reviews, we decided to bite on the opportunity for a variety of reasons.
First, why not try to see if the new platform is something new and unique? It was curiosity, really, that drove us the most.
Next, we also thought, why not be a guinea pig for other Indies (that is what our real-time blog series is all about, after all)?
Lastly, we really just wanted to see if some no names with a kickass series like ours would get some attention, and moreover, the ever-precious review.
Our Goodreads giveaway took place in February 2018 during which time the new Goodreads platform was discounted. As “the budget” is always a concern for the indie author, we thought this might be worth a shot. The total cost for all three giveaways was roughly $177 (at the discounted price of $59 per giveaway, with three separate contests). It lasted about one month, and as we write this, it is June 2018. We have had some positive results from previous Goodreads free giveaways, so our prospects for the new platform seemed favorable.
NOTE: We feel compelled to state that our genre is pigeonholed into the sci-fi thriller category. Although our stories are full of mystery, action, and even some romance, keeping that in mind, other genres might have different results.
Now, here’s where your guinea pigs share the results of doing a Goodreads giveaway for indie authors. Is it worth it? Again, it is June 2018 and the contest ended in February. With smiles wide as emojis, we mailed out the nine paperbacks, signed, with Computer Love Inc. bookmarks (and some really cool CL Inc. stickers if we don’t say so ourselves). We completed the mailings at the end of February. To date, we really haven’t received a review. Bummer! One contest winner left a preview on Goodreads for the first book in our series, but it was not a typical review.
We find it interesting that so far, there hasn’t appeared to be an advantage in receiving additional reviews with the new service. Perhaps it is too early to tell, and we will be sure to update you if we have any additional significant events. Once again, different genres could certainly receive different results. We will say that having 1,700 entries was really cool and hopefully resulted in more awareness out there, somewhere, in cyberspace.
So, what have your experiences been with advertising for indie novels? Have you tried Kindle ads or some other format? Let us know how things worked out for you. Contact us or post on our Computer Love Inc. FB page.
Kurt and Jess
