THE Group for Authors! discussion

I had a general observation and suggestion for formatting giveaways. Aaron tells me that this is an appropriate place to share that suggestion, despite the fact that I'm not an author myself.

I've noticed that authors often complain that the winner of their giveaway is someone who doesn't like the genre/style/content of their book and rates it low just because that genre/style/content wasn't what they were expecting.

I've heard discussion on how to improve your blurb and give warnings for certain content types, but no one seems to be paying attention to the order in which things are listed in the giveaway description box.

I've noticed that most authors waste the space above the "more" link with things like "signed copy" or bits of professional reviews. I think they would be better served if they started out with the book blurb and saved that other stuff for the end.

As a potential new reader quickly looking through what is currently 88 pages of giveaways (for the US), if you don't catch my attention before the "more" link, I'll keep scrolling.

On the flip side, I imagine some people are requesting books based only on the "above the fold" information. If you are warning for controversial content below the fold, they may be missing out on that information.

Just a suggestion. I can clarify if you need me to, but feel free to completely ignore this if you don't find it helpful.

Thanks!

thanks for this great suggestion! Would you be willing to give an example? I have a giveaway running now. In a previous pre-pub review I read the reviewers bio. and thought-wow this is an entire miss on the target market-she us going to hammer me.(perhaps I don't know my market though). There were some snide remarks. But overall she was very fair and objective I thought and was pleased to have anyone participate. she placed a comment at the end "readers should not be offended by adult themes and R rated language." I actually asked the publisher to place this blurb in bold as the first editorial review on Net Galley. It has definitely slowed downloads. I'm not worried about "shocking a reader" but I also wouldn't want to hand my niece a Bukowski work. Or have someone be disgusted immediately. How it where do I place that in my giveaway info on Good reads without losing a pitch? as you mentioned there are 88 pages of giveaways. if one said only "warning-do not read out loud in church!" or something like it. would you open it? when I wake up I'm going to set up 5 ads for the Giveaway. with no content. just warnings. and report how they do. I don't want to self promote in this thread. so if interested. just find my name (there us only one book) we'll see the entrants from noon tomorrow. through the weekend and see what happens. (might actually he great-lol) maybe an ** or another symbol for adult content or aspects would help more "self advertisers" curb the dilemma

Even though I'm only critiquing ordering, I'm not sure Goodreads would want me to copy and paste an example into this thread.

Basically all I'm saying is move things like these to the end of the review:
* signed copy
* this is an unedited ARC
* any review fragments which give no indication of what the book may be about
* "I'm giving away x copies of my first novel ABC to celebrate the release of my new novel DEF."

All those things would be fine if you're already on the book page and looking down and seeing there is a giveaway. But from the giveaway page those things just come across as filler.

Glancing at your book, personally what I'd put up front before anything else is a genre. I can't quite tell if your book is fiction, non-fiction, or a fictionalized version of true events.

In general, I'd say start with genre if it is not obvious from the cover and/or blurb. With romance and erotica, warnings might be an appropriate place to start, especially if the book is intended to reach a niche audience.

A warning like "do not read out loud in church" would personally turn me off a book, because I'd be expecting a heavy religions theme and I'm not a very religious person.

This is very helpful information regarding how to format giveaway promotional content that will better help many authors showcase their giveaways, plus help the would be giveaway participants get books they are truly interested in. Thanks for taking the time to lay out the information. Hopefully, it will help books to be displayed on giveaways to best advantage.

This is very helpful and thanks for looking! I really appreciate the information and will make some changes. Have a great week!