How to run a Book Giveaway
As an author, giveaways can be an important and inexpensive tool you can use to grow awareness, audience, and exposure to your novels. There are several types of giveaways you can host.
In-newsletter giveaways
Benefits: Goodwill to your subscribers. An incentive for others to subscribe. Improves your click rate, which increases your email reputation.
Potential prizes: Amazon, Apple, or Barnes & Noble giftcards, free audiobooks, signed paperbacks, or ebooks
How to hold: Insert a banner like the below image and hyperlink that image to a simple ‘thank you’ page. You can click the below image to see an example of where it might lead. A few days after the send out, look in the ‘reports’ section of your email service and see who clicked on that image/link. Those are your entries, and you can draw a winner from that list.
Individual or small ebook giveaways
Benefits: Inexpensive. Can be used to get new newsletter subscribers, social media followers, and increase exposure and reviews.
Potential prizes: ebook copies of your book
How to hold: You can either hold a social media entry giveaway or a free-for-all giveaway. Both giveaway types are explained further down.
How to award: There are a few ways to safely send an ebook. You can gift it to them through Amazon/Nook/Apple, but that requires you to buy the ebook. You can send it directly to their kindle, using these instructions. Or you can (and this is the easiest way) use BookFunnel.
Another option is to have a Goodreads giveaway. There is a cost for hosting the giveaway ($119) but they handle the delivery of the prizes, all you need to do is set it up. Goodreads giveaways don’t necessarily lead to sales, but will often build your review numbers, and - if held and ended before the book’s release - will trigger email notifications to all entries about the book’s release, which is a big benefit!
Free-for-All ebook giveaway
Sample post: Want to read my small-town mystery novel? I’m giving away 200 copies to any reader who will leave an honest review after reading.
Sample post 2: Spice up your Saturday night with a free copy of VANITY LOVE - my workplace romance novel! Subscribe to my email list and download it instantly. Enjoy!
How to award: BookFunnel is the easiest way to do this. It creates an easy entry page, delivers the ebook to the reader, and subscribes them to your email list. Find out more about BookFunnel here.
Social media giveaway
Benefits: Reward your followers and increase the exposure to your brand, which will help gain you new followers. Quick and easy to set up.
Potential prizes: Amazon, Apple, or Barnes & Noble giftcards, free audiobooks, signed paperbacks, or ebooks
Sample post: Enter for a chance to win 1 of 5 ebook copies of my new release. To enter, do XYZ.
The XYZ could be:
following you on a social media platform
commenting on a blog post or social media post
subscribing to your newsletter
Giveaway Tips for Authors
Images always boost entries. Create an eye-catching image (or several) to help you promote the giveaway.
Set a time limit on entries. Shorter is normally better - most giveaways last less than 48 hours.
Be aware of social media rules. You aren’t allowed to require someone to share or tag a friend. Technically, you aren’t allowed to ask them to follow you either. And you can only run giveaways from a business page or in a group.
Don’t forget to send out the prizes.
Don’t show favoritism. Use free tools like random.org to pick your winners (I count the number of entries, then have random.org pick a number in that range).
Those are my tips and tricks for author-run giveaways! I hope they help you create some fantastic events for your readers.
Want more marketing advice for authors? Check out my Fearless Guide to Sell More Novels course.
