Bisky's Twitterling's Scribbles! discussion

Do review contests work?

I posted to several Goodreads groups a chance to win a Kindle Fire HD or $130 Amazon gift card for posting an honest review on Amazon. I ended up selling a lot of books (with the price dropped to $0.99 for the contest period), but only 5 people have entered the contest. You can get as many reviews just doing a standard book giveaway at a fraction of the cost.

By the way, you can still enter at http://bit.ly/1l1LjU4 With only 5 entrants so far and 3 prizes, you've got a great chance of winning.

I have done book giveaways that were moderately successful but I've never done a review contest. I can see how there is potential to greatly increase sales. My only concern with such a big prize is I would be out a $200 Kindle and only sell a handful of books. I'm not sure the risk outweighs the reward, but that's just my opinion.

You're right. I'm a bit dismayed by the number of entries. In soliciting feedback, here's what I've heard:
1. It's a scam; I don't believe you're really going to give away a Kindle.
2. How can I write an honest review if I may receive something in return? (even though the contest page explains that honest reviews help other readers AND the author)

Still, it was worth the experiment. If all authors tested various new marketing methods and shared results, we would know our audience that much better. A marketing firm might charge thousands of dollars for that bit of information I learned for $200.

I've never done one, but I wouldn't worry about the lack of entries just yet. There is still time for people to read and review. I entered a giveaway like this recently and didn't get my review in until the last day to post them.

Your book is in the top 100 in 3 categories right now, so that is a good thing.

Congrats to Teresa for being in the top 100!

This is an interesting topic. (I'm gonna bump it up to the Community folder :3)

The only problem with certain giveaways I have is that I have to give out my home adress.

This is just something random that happened to me but I thought I'd add it into the discussion. I've had some agressive pestering for my home adress after I won a give away (I didn't realise it was for physical books) I kept telling him to wait for my PO box. Since I'm really not comfortable with giving away my personal details on my platforms. Someone saw the messages on Twitter and told me that he'd gotten into fights on Facebook by pestering young female authors. So now I'm extra careful and I'm much more likely to enter a digital give away unless the author is a little more known to me or has quite a big platform already.

Just wondering how common this experience is.