Like most avid readers, I use Goodreads to review and discover books. When I self-published my novel Games of Chance, I was stoked to create my Author Profile–but I didn’t know how to get reviews on Goodreads! Then I heard that Goodreads offers marketing strategies for authors like Goodreads Giveaways. Many blogs and even a book about publishing and marketing that I love had positive things to say about Giveaways, so I gave it a try–and this was my experience.

How do Giveaways work?

Once you create your Author Profile, you can list a Giveaway. You can find more details about Giveaways here. This is the basic idea: 

• You decide how many copies to give away and how long your Giveaway will run. I chose to give away 100 Kindle copies (the maximum allowed) and to run the Giveaway for a month, the time length Goodreads recommended.
• You pay Goodreads to promote your Giveaway. The standard package, which I chose, is $119. They also offer a premium package for $599. These prices stay the same no matter how many books you give away.
• Anyone on Goodreads can enter to win a copy of your book. When the Giveaway ends, Goodreads will randomly choose your winners–you won’t see who won.
• If you’re giving away Kindle books, Goodreads delivers the copies to winners. If you’re giving away print books, that’s your responsibility.  I would NOT recommend giving away print books because 1) it’s more work for you and 2) you have to pay shipping costs in addition to the $119.

Goodreads makes the process easy for Kindle books. However, $119 is a hefty price tag, and you won’t make ANY royalties on the books you give away. One perk is that Giveaway Kindle books are reported as “sales” on Amazon, even if you don’t get paid for them; if you’re concerned about your bestseller ranking on Amazon, 100 extra “sales” might benefit you.

My results

878 people entered my Giveaway, which was exciting! However, I DID NOT see an increase in sales when the Giveaway was over–meaning the people who didn’t win probably didn’t buy my book. It’s been over three months since my Giveaway ended, and I’ve received two reviews and six ratings on Goodreads that MAY have come from Giveaway winners; only one reviewer mentioned Giveaways. Because I can’t see who won, I can’t tell whether these new reviews were a result of Giveaways or my other marketing efforts on social media. Even if I could attribute all my unidentified ratings to Giveaway winners, I consider six ratings and two reviews to be a small reward for $119. 

The reviews I received were positive, and it’s possible that those readers would never have found my book if it hadn’t been for Giveaways. As authors, we want to make an impact on as many readers as possible, and I’m grateful that Giveaways helped me reach new people. Still, I expected to get more buzz and more reviews for the money I paid!

Here’s a great alternative to Goodreads Giveaways: join a Facebook group that connects authors and readers, like this one, and host a giveaway there. This is much less expensive, and you have a better chance of getting reviews and communicating with readers.

To sum it all up

Book marketing for self-published authors can be a confusing process, especially for those of us who are much better at creating stories than selling them (like me!). Goodreads Giveaways might be more lucrative for writers from a different genre, like romance or fantasy. Character-driven literary fiction, which I write, is always a tough sell. It’s also possible that some of my winners haven’t finished my novel yet, and more ratings and reviews will trickle in once they do. Still, I am disappointed with my results and won’t be hosting another Giveaway anytime soon.