I ran my first Goodreads giveaway five years ago. Initially, I was thrilled with the response. Of the two books I listed, I received over 600 requests on one of the titles, and nearly 500 on the other. When the winners were chosen, I sat down the following day to write notes to each of the 10 winners, pack up their books, and head down to the post office. And then I waited.
Not too long after my books had been sent out, I got a 4 star rating and review of Murder, Jaz, & Tel Aviv. I was off to a good start. As the weeks, and then months rolled by, I began to realize that maybe I wasn't going to get any more feedback from the winners of my giveaways.
True, it is clearly stated in the Giveaway guidelines that one cannot request reviews. Other authors have written that one should give their books away and not expect to get a review. On that, I have to disagree.
I have run giveaways as a way to promote my books. I do not expect readers to give me 5 star ratings or glorious reviews. But I did expect that people who requested my books had an actual interest in reading them. That does not seem to be the case.
It wasn't until September of this year that I decided to once again run a few Giveaways. This time, I only offered two books at a time. I ran one for Broadsided in Bali, in September. One for Bad Accounts, in October. And one for The Many Wonders of Costa Contente, in November. To date, I have received no ratings or reviews.
There seem to be lots of folks who enter giveaways on a daily basis. I am sure many of those really do want to read the books. But when I check on the readers that have won copies of mine, there are very few reviews - or even none.
I am happy to give a copy of any of my books to anyone who wants to read them. I am more than a little disappointed in people who enter a giveaway only to add a book to their library that they do not intend to read. Possibly these people have actually read one of my books. I understand that some people do not like to write reviews, but clicking on a star rating takes very little effort.
Even if I wanted to chance it again, Goodreads is soon to change their Giveaway policy and it will now cost authors to do so. I, for one, can not afford it.
I am not giving up on my belief that I can make a living as an author, no matter the odds against me. But it is quite disheartening to believe that there are people out there eager to read your books, only to find out that it was more likely their desire to win something.
