It's easy to gain more - and new - readers with contests and giveaways. Everybody likes free stuff and everybody likes winning. Social media makes it easy to both host your contents and giveaways and promote them. If you've read our series on
social media for the indie author, you'll already understand the importance of leveraging social media to increase your readership, and this is just another way to make the most of the tools you should already be using. You can also
leverage your blog for contests and giveaways.
Tips for Hosting Successful Contests and Giveaways
Contests and giveaways are supposed to be fun, so don't kill the joy of it or you won't have much success.
- Make it easy for people to enter
- Provide multiple ways for people to earn entries
- Make the prize worth competing for
Prizes
While it might seem like the perfect idea to give away copies of your eBook as the prize in your contests and giveaways, the truth is, unless you're a very popular author with eBooks people are already clamoring to get, it won't work. Instead, giveaway gift cards to restaurants and online shops, or even get sponsors who provide prizes for you in exchange for being mentioned on your blog and social media. You can even make following their social platforms additional ways for contestants to earn entries. You can select 10 people (the 10 first, 10 random, etc.) who will get copies of your eBook as secondary prizes, so you'll still have the opportunity to get your eBook in front of new eyes.
Selecting Winners
The easiest way to manage your contests and giveaways is by using a service like Rafflecopter. If you do choose to manage the contest without that, you'll need to track entries and ensure random selection to choose the winner. (You can number the entries and use random.org to choose the winning number).
Have you held successful contests and giveaways to promote your eBook? Share your tips!
