Hey. I do giveaways all the time. They have a lot of benefits! I.e.
1. They can turn casual fans into super fans.
2. They're something to do and talk about in months when you don't have a release.
3. You can build your fanbase on social media and build your mailing list.
So, if you're interested...
Romance authors are the masters of giveaways and sweepstakes, so I have stolen a lot of ideas from them. I recommend seeing what they're doing and if there are any ideas you can steal/repurpose for yourself. (You have to experiment to see what works best for you.)
But you have to start with realistic expectations.
Giveaways don't boost your book sales--at least not right away. Long term, yes, IMHO because you're cultivating casual fans into super fans. You're roping in casual passers by on social media--people who probably have heard of you, maybe read one of your books, but would have forgotten about you or moved on. You're even scraping some of those peeps onto your mailing list.
You do have to be careful with a buy this for entry situation, because of local laws about such things.
You also have to know what your goals are. If it's an immediate boost in sales, your time is better spent on other promotions. IF you want to use a giveaway to boost followers on Bookbub or some other site, know that and set up a giveaway that does that.
(Look for romance author King Sumo and Rafflecopters. You can ask readers to follow you or share posts, etc. in exchange for an entry.) So yes. Know your goal ahead of time, and set up a giveaway that achieves that goal. You need to be able to measure its success in some way when it's over.
Here is how I set mine up. I NEVER give away my own books. Duh. I want people to buy those!
1. With each new release, I do a new release giveaway of items that appear in the story or items that were an inspiration for the story. Plus other things I think fans of my genre will like. (You really have to know your genre fans and what they like. Hopefully, you do.)
ONLY people on my mailing list can enter. (Organic people, not from BookFunnel or Story Origin.) I put all their names in a container and I do a live drawing via a YouTube video. First I show them all the goodies, then I draw the name, and I also sprinkle in book news and do a cover reveal for the next book in the series.
This does several things.
1. I announce it's coming about a week before I send out the giveaway email, and I do see a bump of casual social media fans signing up ahead of the giveaway. And the few stragglers who didn't see the new release emails buy the book because the giveaway has given me another reason to remind them it's out.
2. I strongly suspect this improves deliverability of my emails, because people are clicking reply and writing me back. Which improves your sender reputation, and keeps you out of spam folders.
3. Anyone can see that video on Youtube, and of course my book links and sign up links are in the video description, and yes, people have signed up via those videos, and those lists have performed surprisingly well. Plus, weirdly, existing fans like it because it's like I'm talking directly to them. Yes, they DO want to know more about you and what type of person you are.
4. The winners are SO excited. They generally take photos and tag and share all over the universe when they win. Which is awesome. Free publicity AND fan goodwill.
I also do small giveaways on my Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. (usually a copy of a cool ebook in my genre, that I think they will like, and a $10 digital gift card.) I ask them a question, (on genre!) and their response is the entry. This works really well. Because 1. it gets fans talking. To you AND to each other, which is fantastic. 2. It juices social media algos in your favor. If FB sees a hopping page with lots of engagement, it shows it to more of your followers for free. 3. It builds goodwill with other authors in your genre. You're helping them, with no strings, and they may be more inclined to help you down the line.
FYI ever winner of one of these mini drawings has sent me a heartfelt message about how I made their day. With one small thing. Don't discount the power of spreading happiness! People don't forget that.
These are long term fanbase building strategies. They aren't great for a short term boost in sales. I'm always experimenting. I try lots of things, and keep the ones that worked and ditch the ones that don't.
If you're curious. Here is one of my Youtube giveaway videos. (I am not a pro by any means! If I can do it, you can!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwBWedMOfs8And here's a recent fb giveaway:
https://www.facebook.com/DMGuay/photos/a.1609962265974472/2602414223395933/
