4 Steps to Run Book Giveaways

You’ve written your book, started marketing, and now you want to run book giveaways to increase your readership? If that sounds like you then continue reading!

As I discussed in my 10 Marketing Techniques for Indie Authors, giveaways are a good way to increase interest in your book. And although I went on a tangent, I didn’t fully explain how you can utilize giveaways.

Which is why I’m here today! I want to explain to you the different ways you can run giveaways to reach your readers and promote your book.

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What is a Giveaway?

A giveaway is a marketing technique that sparks hype about a product (physical or digital) by giving it away for free.

Types of Book Giveaways:

There are two types of giveaways to choose from. Or you could always be adventurous and choose both (I’ll discuss this later)! Because we’re talking about book marketing, my examples will be based on the fact that you have a book releasing or already released that you would like to promote.

Physical Book Giveaway

Give a copy of your book away. People enjoy having a physical book in their hands so what better way to get your book to them then by running a physical book giveaway?!

eBook Giveaway

If an eBook giveaway is more your style, then giveaway an eBook of your book. Almost everyone has a smartphone that can download an app to read eBooks, so you will still have an audience.

Gift Card Giveaways

I’ll mention this here, but it is not recommended to run a gift card giveaway. A gift card is not an incentive for people to buy your book. You may see an increase in your followers, but it’s not likely that they are interested in your content only the free money.

Ways to Run Book Giveaways:

Now that you’ve selected the type of giveaway you want to run, it’s time to figure out where you want to run it.

Blog Giveaways

If you already have a blog you can set up your giveaway there. You can write a blog post, and blast it on social media. The downside to this is you’re only reaching the people that already follow you. But if you have a large following, this may not be a problem at all.

Pros:

People will go to your site

Cons:

Reach is limited

Social Media Giveaway

Another great way to run a giveaway is to use your social media channels.. You’ll be more likely to find new followers and readers when people are sharing your giveaway. However, sometimes new followers are only in it for the free stuff and will unfollow you after the giveaway is over.

Pros:

Able to reach new followers

Cons:

Not loyal followers

Book Tour Giveaway

If you’re unfamiliar with Book Tours or Blog Tours, they are an event that you or a company sets up with book bloggers to promote your book. During these tours, you can run a giveaway that the tour hosts will promote on their blogs and social media channels during the tour. This increases your exposure as the other blogs followers will now see your book. However, it can be difficult to create a strong following.

Pros:

Exposure in many places

Cons:

Giveaway participants may never visit your site

Partnership Giveaways

Have a group of author friends in your genre that you can run a giveaway with? Find others that are willing to do a large giveaway with you and put all of your books together for one big giveaway. This helps not only you, but can allow another author’s followers to learn about your book. Though, it can be difficult to coordinate a large giveaway if you’re not organized or if people back out at the last minute.

Pros:

Able to find new readers

Cons:

Not everyone is reliable

Multiple Prize Giveaways

Unlike a partnership giveaway, you can giveaway multiple prizes from your own collection. Whether it be your other published books, ebooks, or book related items (ie. bookmarks), you can have multiple winners or one winner to win all of the goodies.

Pros:

More people can win

Cons:

Shipping can be expensive

Setting Up Giveaways:

Now that you’ve figured out how you want to run your giveaway, it’s time to set the giveaway up.

Do It Yourself

Go ahead and get creative. You can post about your giveaway anywhere. Just make sure you have a way to collect the entries so you can pick the winner.

Twitter

If you find that Twitter is where your readers are active, then set up a Twitter giveaway. In your tweet mention the giveaway, what prize the winner will win, any other rules, and how people should interact with the tweet to enter.

Most people have people interact by following you and retweeting the tweet. Though it’s becoming common to have people comment on the tweet as well.

Also including a graphic can draw someone into interacting with your post.

Example Tweet:

GIVEAWAY!

Enter to win One Physical Copy of Not Like Everyone Else by January 20, 2020 at 11:59pm EST.

Follow + RT to enter. US Only.

Instagram

If your followers are mainly active on Instagram, then set up an Instagram giveaway. You have more room to discuss your book and entice people to enter. Make sure to mention that it’s a giveaway, the prize the winner will win, any other rules, and how people should interact with the post to enter.

Most people have others interact by following you and commenting on the post with a number of people, and allow bonus entries if people share the post to their stories.

Example Post: (from @bound_to_writing)

⭐ GIVEAWAY! ⭐⁣

—⁣

Today is the release of my newest young adult novella, The Stranger I Knew! To celebrate I’m hosting a giveaway on Instagram and on Bound to Writing (Two chances to win!)⁣

—⁣

Want to know what it’s about? Here’s the synopsis:⁣

Angela Nash is on track to being the youngest cheer captain at Falsetto High. That is, until she is kidnapped by someone who can’t possibly be a stranger. Yet, she doesn’t know who he is. Her fate on the cheer team is on the line as Angie tries to escape the stranger she knew.⁣

—⁣

⭐ Let’s get to the giveaway!⁣

—⁣

I’m giving away 1 (𝐨𝐧𝐞) ebook copy of The Stranger I Knew.⁣

To enter the Instagram giveaway:⁣

Like this post.⁣
Tag 2 friends you think would enjoy The Stranger I Knew.⁣

Bonus Entries:⁣

Share to your story for 24hrs and tag me @bound_to_writing (optional).⁣
Go to Bound to Writing’s release day post and follow the giveaway instructions for another chance to win.⁣

Rules:⁣

Ends on August 16, 2019 𝐚𝐭 11:59𝐩.𝐦. EST

No giveaway or bot accounts.⁣

This giveaway is not affiliated with Instagram.⁣

Must respond with 48hrs after notice of giveaway win or a new winner will be announced.⁣

If you follow to unfollow, you will be banned from future giveaways.⁣

—⁣

Good luck! I hope you all enjoy The Stranger I Knew. ❤⁣

Rafflecopter / Giveaway Creator

I’m the most familiar with Rafflecopter which is a free tool, but you can easily use another giveaway creator site.

These sites walk you through the various information you need to include in your giveaway to make sure that people know. For example, what you’re giving away and how people can enter.

What’s fantastic about these sites is that they collect all of the entries for you and you can randomly generate a winner from there. Meaning less work for you.

When setting up a giveaway through this method, make sure to set up entries that will give you the most from the entrants. For example, have them follow your social media channels, or join your mailing list.

Other giveaway creator site include: KingSumo, Rafflepress, Shortstack, and more. Make sure you check out the pricing of these before committing.