THE Group for Authors! discussion

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this post, but here goes.

I did a book giveaway that ended back in October. As the months have gone by since then, I've noticed that the "people requested it" number keeps going down. Does anyone know why this is? If the giveaway is long over, how are people... um...un-requesting?...the book from that giveaway?

The same thing happens with all of my giveaways. I'd like the answer to this too.

I don't know what my numbers were exactly, but they seem to be the same for me. I've run 3 giveaways so far. That's so strange!

I too notice this and idly wonder.

Yes, it's happening to me now, too, at the level of about one every couple of days. When I ended my Not Exactly Scarlet Pimpernel giveaway, 544 people had requested the book. Yesterday, the number was 538. Today it is 537.

Huh?!

I think it's just people taking it off their to-read shelves.

That would make sense, but what is changing is the number for the completed giveaway, not the number of to-reads. A computer glitch?

I don't think that's the same thing. A lot of people entered a giveaway for my book and didn't put it on the to read shelf.

I don't know if this phenom occurred with my giveaway or not, and I think I probably won't check. There are so many things I can obsess about as an author online - I don't need another!

Remember it takes time for the site to synch things up. Don't wig over this. The main benefit of a giveaway is that now more people know your book exists. That's it. You probably won't get any reviews. It's all about exposure. If they take if off their shelves, don't worry about that either. It's doesn't mean they hate your book, just that they probably aren't interested in reading it. No big. Might not be your target audience anyhow. Better no reader/review than a bad one because of a mismatch.

Quit obsessing about the small, inconsequential details and start focusing on writing and making real people connections on GR. That's how you get reviews and sales. But it take lots and lots of time and effort.

Jacqueline wrote: "Remember it takes time for the site to synch things up. Don't wig over this. The main benefit of a giveaway is that now more people know your book exists. That's it. You probably won't get any revi..."

I think you've missed the point. The original question isn't about the to-read shelf or sales. I was wondering why the long-ended giveaway was changing. It just didn't make sense that it would still be linked to what people did (leaving GR or taking a book off their shelf, etc) after the fact.

Just a guess, but it might be people deleting their accounts.

V.K. wrote: "Jacqueline wrote: "Remember it takes time for the site to synch things up. Don't wig over this. The main benefit of a giveaway is that now more people know your book exists. That's it. You probably..."

Good answer, Jacqueline. Once a giveaway is over, it doesn't matter any more. It's really easy to obsess about things that ultimately don't make any difference. Someone entering a giveaway long ago and then being deleted from the list will have no impact on your sales. A writer can really make him/herself crazy thinking about stuff like this rather than writing or promoting a book. When I'm writing, I have to force myself not to look at whether anyone has reviewed my last book on goodreads, or checked it out of the library, or mentioned it on the web. Looking at whether a long-closed giveaway still lists the same number of entries seems to be a new level of distraction. (Which is why I am swearing now never to do it ...)

BUT - here is what I believe is the answer. When someone is listed on Goodreads - whether it is for a review, or a rating, or whatever - you can click on the person's name and you will be on his/her page. If a person closes her account, those go away. It happened to me once that someone reviewed my book, then closed his account and his review disappeared. As I understand it, when someone leaves goodreads, all record of that person is gone. If anyone wants 100 percent confirmation of this, you could probably contact Goodreads directly.

Steven wrote: "BUT - here is what I believe is the answer. When someone is listed on Goodreads - whether it is for a review, or a rating, or whatever - you can click on the person's name and you will be on his/her page. If a person closes her account, those go away...."

Ah, I suspected that might be the issue--people deleting their accounts. It might be difficult to account for that in the system. I'm not really a numbers person, but I do like to know that things are working and making sense. :-)

VK - right. I think when someone is gone, she's just gone.

almost exactly a year ago I wrote a blog post that just talked about all the ways the web had distracted me from my goals and dreams. I could have added "checking the number of entries in an expired giveaway" to the list. Anyway, in case it is good for a few laughs now, here's the link:

http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...

mlady_rebecca wrote: "Just a guess, but it might be people deleting their accounts."

I've noticed that when someone changed their account status to "private" their name fell off the Giveaway list. They still have a Goodreads account, just not "public". Some may open up their accounts for a Giveaway, and then return to private once it's finished. (Just a thought.)

You do not need a public account to enter a giveaway. Plenty of people's accounts are private.

I had one of my *winners* disappear. So I think it's people deleting their accounts.