So the contests for April are over and signifies the end of my attempt to do contests. They didn’t drum up any more attention than if I danced in front of my computer. I don’t own a webcam, so you can tell that would be a ridiculous waste of time. Still, I had the contest running and here are the results:
Winners of the Amazon/Goodreads review contest who each won a preview copy of Prodigy of Rainbow Tower:
- Erik
- Ty Roper
- Scott Resnick
I’ll be contacting the winners and finding out where to send the PDF file of the sequel to Beginning of a Hero.
Winners of the ‘Art Contest’:
NOBODY!
Seriously. Nobody entered the contest to draw a picture of Nimby. Nada. Nothing. Zippo.
So ends my attempts at a contest. I gave it a shot and might try again at a later date, but it doesn’t seem to be something that works for me. I admit that I probably screwed up and didn’t market it. I was so focused on the convention and pushing the book that the contests fell by the wayside. This is after I swore that I wouldn’t let them fall away again like in March. Guess a career as a game show host is out of the question.
Legends of Windemere 
How did the Amazon/Goodreads go, number-wise? I had about 1000 people enter mine by the end, although I have no idea if that’s a decent turn out or not, lol. As for the art contest … that sucks 😦 In your readers’ defence, very few people are actually good artists. I have never and will never enter an art contest in my life, despite how much I enjoy a book or movie. So maybe it’s the same theory as to why no one entered?
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I don’t really have numbers. The concept was that people would be entered if they wrote a review, but it never got its hooks in. If anything, I think being on the Amazon lists is what kept my numbers going. It’s probably my own fault because I didn’t put much power behind the contest.
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Ah, so it wasn’t one of those Goodreads Giveaways? Have you tried that yet? I feel like I read that you did … still, I found it gained me a few readers, so if you haven’t, do it!
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I’m on KDP Select right now, so I don’t believe I’m able to do a Goodreads Giveaway until that’s over in July. I recently did a free download weekend, which netted me over 2,000 new readers.
I’ll start looking into it though. I was led to believe that the Goodreads Giveaways required me sending out physical copies of the book.
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It does. But the good thing is that entering the contest means you put the book on your “To Read” shelf … and who knows how many people will be searching for their next read, spot your cover sitting on their To Read shelf, and be like “Screw it, I’m reading that random book there”. VICTORY!
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Wait. Being on KDP Select blocks from this or I have to give out physical copies? My brain suddenly decided to wander off on me.
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Ah sorry lol. I don’t see why you couldn’t give out books if you were on KDP Select — I mean, it’s not as if you’re selling the books, you’re just giving them away. So I don’t see that violating the contract. As for the books themselves, yes, you give out physical copies. It can be as many as you want, though. I did 2 books, but I’ve seen tons of people do 1 book giveaways.
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I’ll have to look into that and maybe use it as a build-up to the release of the second book.
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If I had one iota of drawing talent I would have entered.
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Me too. Maybe a guy who messes up stick figures has no business trying to run and judge an art contest.
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Hehe. 🙂
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At least you tried. You really shouldn’t feel bad about trying new things out… if I ever finish my novel, I’ll be tap dancing on street corners to get attention for it!
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I considered that, but all the street corners around here are taken. At least the ones that I can walk to.
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I started a drawing, but it has been crazy here so I didn’t get to send it to you…if you want to see it, I could email it to you. Sorry it is late. 😦
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You can send it when you finish. I think I’d prefer to get random pictures of various characters than those from a contest. 🙂
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I finished it a little bit ago and emailed it to you. I hope it doesn’t frighten you, as it is a bit scary to look at (not a good idea to show the toddler), but I warned you that I’m not much of an artist! 😉
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I’m curious because I never thought of Nimby as scary.
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Being on KDP Select does not preclude you from giving away free books on Goodreads. Since Goodreads is a social media site, not a publishing one, it doesn’t count on the point of exclusivity…because, you’ll still be sending them those free copies via amazon 🙂
Also the exclusivity only applies to ebooks anyway…you can hard copy publish anywhere you want.
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Thanks. That gives me something to set up then. Do people just sign up for it and wait for a winner to be picked?
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I haven’t actually tried it yet (was going to when my second book comes out) but my understanding is once you open it and select a close date, Goodreads does all the work. They notify you of the winners and you send the books.
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I’m looking at it now and it seems simple enough. Though, I’m not sure what to do for the description because it’s such a long section. Maybe I’ll set something up tomorrow for 2 book giveaways and have it end at the beginning of June. A month long giveaway seems like a good idea for pre-release hype.
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That’s sort of what I was thinking, too….give them just enough time to get hooked and then, bam, new book.
For description, I would just use the back of your book. I don’t you need to change anything, even if the field allows for more.
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Thanks. I’m wondering if it means a description of the giveaway though. I can do that and the back cover thingy. And on the use of ‘thingy’, I think I should look into eating something today.
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