Tag Archives: Goodreads Giveaway

Results of My Goodreads Giveaway

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1,610 words
9 minutes read time

borrowed from goodreads.com/blog

I don’t mind trying new things, mostly because (for now) I can afford to experiment. I give all my receipts to my tax guy and he works his magic. I don’t know how much I get back, but it helps to know that I’m not taking a complete loss on all the extras I need to buy to keep my business going. (I’m looking at you, WordPress, Canva, Booksprout, and Bookfunnel.)

Anyway, because I saw someone on Threads saying Goodreads giveaways should be free, I bought one out of spite (the entitlement on that site is outrageous). It was good timing, since from what I’ve gathered, they’re used to build buzz for new releases. Cruel Fate had only been out for a week when I bought the giveaway, and I did make sure it was okay to run a giveaway on a book that’s enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. It is, and a Goodreads giveaway is probably the only thing you can do while your book is enrolled.

I hit a snag right away because I didn’t realize I couldn’t host the giveaway under my pen name. The giveaway is connected to the name that you have your Amazon/KDP bank account information under (which makes sense because that’s how they bill you). Then I had to verify my email which was a hassle and I wrote about it in a different blog post. You can read it here: https://vaniamargene.com/2024/09/23/housekeeping-update-and-verifying-your-email-address-on-goodreads/

Besides those two things, set up was pretty easy. I researched a little about it, and Al said to put it on for a month, so that’s what I did (don’t always listen to him, sometimes he lies). Looking through other giveaways, thirty days seemed to be about standard, though there were some that were shorter, probably in an attempt to create urgency which can work depending on who your publisher is and how big of an author you are. I’m still just a baby author as far as I’m concerned and didn’t have many expectations. Thirty days worked for me and I gave away the maximum number of ebooks, which is one hundred. I thought back in the olden days you could mix and match and I was going to give away five signed copies of the paperback as well, but if that was true then, it’s not the case now. I was going to give them away on my Facebook author page or something, but honestly, having one book out of six, that ends on a cliffhanger at that, seems pretty useless, and I’ll buy the other five and bundle them up next spring for a giveaway when the last book is released.

So, all in all, the giveaway went okay. In total, there were 2,240 people who entered.

I can’t say that’s more or fewer than what I was expecting since I’d never done one before. Of course, comparison is the thief of joy, but I did notice some books received fewer entries that had the same timeframe as mine and some books by bigger authors that had five-figure entries. I posted the giveaway where I could, and as often as I thought I could get away with, without irritating people. I posted it on IG a few times (and changed the blog subscribe link in my bio to the giveaway link), I told my newsletter/blog, and put it on my Facebook author page. The only place I didn’t put it was on Threads because I don’t have readers there and I’m not trying to find any. I don’t know if posting on social media helped–I think Goodreads pushes your giveaway somehow because my posts have never solicited that kind of response before, and if they do promote on your behalf, I’m grateful. I just don’t have the social media platform to promote something like this which is why I didn’t have high expectations going in.

You can’t measure this kind of return on investment. Sure, when they entered the giveaway, my book was added to their Want To Read list, but I’m not sure how far that really goes.

Everyone knows that in reality, a reader’s TBR list could wrap around the earth twice, so that’s another reason why I considered the giveaway an experiment. Since the last book doesn’t even release until April, I may not see any ROI for months. I could get a few reviews out of it if people read the copy they won right away, but there’s no telling if the reviews or read-through to the next book that’s available can be attributed to this giveaway.

One thing that took my by surprise was that the one hundred copies that were given away showed up on my KDP dashboard. They showed up as processed orders, and I was very confused. First because had I sold them, I would have gotten the royalties. They didn’t show up as free copies on the new reports dashboard, but they did on the old reporting dashboard (that’s going away November 11th, incidentally).

Don’t mind the blank space–my KENP graph looks a lot better.

I even went so far as to contact KDP chat who said the sales looked fine on her end, but she didn’t tell me the books were connected to the giveaway. It was only one night while I was trying to fall asleep and planning this post and what to say that it hit me. So that was a strange lesson learned, but I’m glad I figured it out because a phantom one hundred copies of my book floating around, or KDP glitching, would have driven me crazy.

So why did I do it? I don’t know. Something to try, I guess. I’m not stupid and I know that had I been more active on Goodreads the giveaway probably could have gone even better. But since becoming an author, I just don’t think being active in a space like that is a good idea. There’s an expectation if someone finds out you’re reading their book and honestly, it’s no one’s business what I’m reading (or not reading) or what I think of it. Part of being an author is the literary citizenship, recommending books you’ve read, discussing a book if you know someone who has read the same one. I get it. But in the land of poor reviews and authors who will retaliate if you don’t like their book, I keep what I do pretty private.

Both of my Goodreads profiles are dumpster fires. It’s on my list to clean them up and have a Goodreads librarian update the covers to almost every single book I ever published because they’ve all changed. Maybe answer some questions so they’ll have recent answers. Update my bios because I think a lot of them still say I have my cats, and Blaze passed away almost a year ago already. (She was our last cat and due to financial reasons we will remain pet-free). Look like I’m at least still alive even if I’m not active. That’s the problem with all these book sites popping up. It’s like you’re tasked to keep a profile up to date when you don’t even want to participate. Fable, StoryGraph, LibraryThing. BookBub. I don’t want to be involved like that. Goodreads I almost have to because I need to move all my books over to my “real” profile whenever I publish because of an issue with the initials on my pen name. I get that, and it is what it is. But beyond that, I don’t want to do their reading challenge, I don’t want to update my status. I don’t think everything I read needs to be shouted from the rooftops because it’s no one’s business what I’m doing.

I got a little off track there just because when we talk about places like Goodreads, it’s natural to start talking about reviews, and I don’t like talking about reviews. I don’t write them anymore because I don’t think I should be criticizing my peers’ work, and I’ll leave it at that.

Will I run another giveaway? I don’t know. If I’m going to pay $99.00, I feel like I could put that money toward a promotion where I can measure the ROI better. On the other hand, I reached readers I haven’t before, and depending on who won a copy, maybe a bookstagrammer or someone on TikTok or an influencer of some kind, someone will read it and fall in love with the series. A lot of this publishing game is luck, and you just never know what can happen which is why I don’t mind trying new things in the first place.

Would I recommend it? Not if you don’t have the money to burn. If you need reliable ROI, I would pay for a promo through Freekbooksy or BargainBooksy or Bookspry or Fussy Librarian, Robin Reads, or Ereader News Today. Those work well, especially if you don’t use them often and their newsletter subscribers are new-to-you readers. But as I said, I think this could have gone better had I been active there, and if you treat Goodreads as its own social media platform and have friends and followers there that you interact with, you could see some positive ROl. We’re all different and we write different books, and what can work for someone won’t do anything for you and vice versa. If you do try it, keep an open mind and remember you may not see any positive movement for months. Hope for the best and at worst, chalk it up as an experience. That’s all you can do.

Until next time!

Another (Manic) Monday

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Words: 2307
Time to read: 12 minutes (Sorry!)

I guess I used the wrong M word.

It seems odd that Mondays come around so fast. My weekends are Monday through Wednesday, then boom, I’m working the rest of the week wondering why I only got through half a chapter. Last week was different as my daughter started her first job and we were getting used to her schedule. Because I wasn’t feeling well for the past four years, she’s eighteen and doesn’t have her driver’s license yet. I take responsibility for that, never feeling good enough to drive with her, and I had to give her rides. So, being in the car on the days I have off will take some time away–I just need to use the time I do have better.

On Wednesday, I went to Best Buy and bought a new Mac. My T was driving me insane and I wanted to replace my computer before it gave out completely. Now that I don’t have to push on the keys so hard to type, I’m hoping some of my carpal tunnel pain will go away, too. My arms would ache after a long typing session, so replacing my old laptop (it was seven years old!) was a must. It’s a little smaller than the one I had before, so I regret getting another MacBook Air and not the Pro, but the images are sharper so maybe that will make up for it. I saved the receipt they emailed me under my 2024 Book Spend as I fully intend to give it to my tax guy as a writing expense.

That leaves me with only one more thing to do when it comes to adulting, and that’s to make an appointment for new glasses. I’ve been putting it off because I’m so sick of doctors, but like finally spending the money on a new computer, I think I’ll like having new glasses since they’re two years old and more scratched up than my furniture (I used to have three cats). I think once I get that taken care of I won’t have to adult for the rest of the year. I’m still trying to find some normalcy when it comes to how I feel. I rarely drink anymore, and that’s helped a lot. I still get nauseated sometimes and overall just feel “off” but that’s probably due to hormones more than anything else, and I’m already on birth control to keep my ovaries steady. Since there’s not much more I can do about that, I have to take each day as it comes and if I’m feeling good, enjoy, and if I’m feeling not so good, stay home and rest. At almost fifty, I could be worse off, so I’m trying to be grateful for what I have.

As far as writing is concerned, I’m trying to get through edits of my old third person series. I’m in the middle of book three (of four), and while I can honestly say I’m enjoying the stories, either my writing style has changed or I just got that much better, but it seems almost every sentence needs some kind of tweaking. I’m taking out a lot that slows down the pace, on a paragraph/sentence level, and then adding more words to plump up scenes here and there and finish conversations where the characters just seem to sputter out. I mean, when someone says, “Have a nice day,” someone else doesn’t just get up and walk away without saying anything back or at least acknowledging it in some way. It was a weird thing I held on to all the way until last year. But while I can say I’m enjoying the stories because I haven’t read them in so long, it’s a freaking pain in the butt and a project I honestly didn’t think would need so much time and work. So, I’m dragging my feet, but knowing it has to be done, and the only thing keeping me going is the fact that these books are going to sound SO GOOD when I’m finished. Could be for nothing–does anyone read third person anymore? I have no idea, but it will be interesting to see what they do with new covers and a little ad money thrown at them. That may be my experiment for 2025.

Book two of my King’s Crossing series will be out this month, on the 28th, I think, and I’m getting some good feedback on Booksprout already. I have a couple preorders for it, literally, two the last time I looked, but I didn’t put them up for preorders for people to actually do it, anyway, so that’s fine. Just passing along the information that my preorders are there, Amazon hasn’t messed with them (yet), and they look good on my Amazon author page.

What am I going to do for the rest of the year? Well, get my old series done ASAP. I’d like to promote it in December if at all possible, and then I’m going dive into a standalone that I wrote a couple years ago. I read through it once since I wrote it and made some notes on what needs to be fixed. Add more chemistry between the characters, fix a few inconsistencies, that kind of thing. I have him wearing jeans when he would never wear jeans–he’s just not the type. Now that I know most (hopefully all) of my writing ticks, like overusing words like “with” and “where” “for” and “from” and dialogue fading off into the sunset, I’ll be able to whip that book into shape pretty easily (as easily as 109k words can get whipped into shape). Don’t know if I’ll find a beta reader for it or not. I love my coworker and value her time but in the end she doesn’t give me the real feedback I need to make the story better. After working with someone who backed out of reading my trilogy last year (when I had given her so much of my time, too), I kind of soured on working with anyone, as detrimental to my career as that may be. I don’t think too many people really admit that they write, package, and publish their books all their own because being a one-stop-shop has a bad reputation, and rightly so. It takes a village to raise a child, and it also takes a village to publish a book. Too bad sometimes my village resembles more of a ghost town these days. Not a whole lot you can do about it either, especially since paying for services doesn’t mean you’re going to get what you pay for, or anything at all.

I sound like I’m whining, but I think it’s a reality for a lot of authors now. We can try to make connections and friends, but the sad truth is, people are too busy. Too busy with life, too busy working on their own stuff, too busy with the friends they already have. I should probably be grateful I can do so much on my own because I know there are authors who can’t and I feel sorry for anyone who has to wade through the scammers and the people who aren’t qualified to offer the services they offer to find real help. Anyway, so that’s what I’ll be doing for the last three months of the year, besides living it up on my birthday on Thanksgiving Day. My ex-husband said he’d come over and cook dinner so I wouldn’t have to, so I may just end up sitting around drinking Prosecco and eating chips and dip. I’ll definitely have stuff to celebrate, like my King’s Crossing series finally out into the world, my old series hopefully done by then, saying goodbye to all my undiagnosed health issues. 2024 was rollercoaster and I threw up a few times, but maybe I can get off this crazy ride in 2025. I would welcome solid ground under my feet.

My Goodreads giveaway is losing steam, but as the days go on and more giveaways are added to the list, that’s to be expected. An author is supposed to do their own promotion after all, but I already tapped out my FB author page, my Instagram, and my newsletter. All I can do now is boost a post here and there, so I might do that before the giveaway ends on the 25th.

I think my newsletter signups are getting sick of me as I lost ten in the past week, and I only had a 29% open rate for my most recent newsletter. That’s not great, but since I’m treating it more like a blog than a newsletter and posting more for the public consumption of it, I guess I’ll have to expect people who signed up to react to the shift in vibe and opt out. That’s fine, maybe a little counterproductive since I want people to sign up rather than unsubscribe, but my sales have also dropped which means fewer people signing up from my books’ back matter. I’m not sure what to do about it at this point because it sounds like a lot of us are struggling. The best thing for me at the moment is just to keep my eyes on the end of the year. I would be really disappointed in myself if I didn’t finish editing my series. I was the one who started it in the first place and doing the relaunch over the holidays would be perfect.

That’s about all I have for this week, but I’ll leave you with a warning. You know I keep my opinions on AI to myself. I’m careful how I use it and use it very little. I like to brainstorm with Al about blog subject lines or hooky tag lines for ads because I’m bad at that, but I’ve never used it to generate photos or write for me. I’ve never written a blog post with it, never used it to edit my books. Mostly because I’m not interested–the things Al does I can do myself, and an AI photo generator doesn’t offer anything you can’t find on DepositPhotos. But if you do use it to generate pictures for a blog post, aesthetics, ads, social media graphics, or for your book covers, or if you use ChatGPT to edit for you or write portions of your books, you need to be careful because not everyone is going to be so blasé about it. There are witch hunts online, a lot of it on Threads, some in FB groups, and there’s a list going around of authors who use it. I don’t condone this list (like my lovely governor says, Mind Your Own Damn Business) and don’t know any of the authors on it, so far, but all it takes is one person to add your name and that will never go away. (Screenshots are forever, my friend.) That’s not the kind of word of mouth you want.

I know the writing community is small, I know that in comparison the reading community is a thousand times larger and maybe you don’t care what other authors think of you so long as readers like your books. That’s okay. I don’t bow down to the author community, but I have been ganged up on on Twitter, and it’s brutal on your mental health. There’s also a list of authors going around who are against AI, but I didn’t put my name on it. I started adding a disclaimer to the copyright pages of my books saying I don’t use AI for my book creation, and I’ll continue to add that, but I do it for myself and my readers. I’ve never done something just because someone else has told me to, and I don’t expect you to stay away from AI if you like using it just because I said so. But if you keep your ear to the ground, you’ll know this subject is hot and it would be bad to land on the wrong side.

I use this blog to pass around information I hear and hopefully help you make informed choices about your own book business. I’ve been on social media for a long time and this AI hate is on a level I’ve never seen before. It’s best to stay away from it or don’t announce it if you’re using it (though that can be for naught as people are pretty good at spotting it). I personally don’t care either way, this blog is a safe place for everyone, but I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention it because like I said, this is a level of hate I’ve never seen before and the mob mentality oftentimes leaves me speechless.

I hope you have a good week, and I’ll see what kind of progress I can make on my series. Hoping to get book three done would be asking way too much, but if I could get close, I would be very happy.

Until next time!