Book giveaways have long been a staple of many authors’ strategies for boosting exposure, engaging their fans, and growing an audience. To understand how authors use giveaway promotions in their marketing today, we asked our partners to share their experiences and the lessons they’ve learned.
We gathered inspiration for authors who are considering running book giveaways, and we heard great advice from partners using a wide variety of marketing channels and giveaway platforms to routinely run successful giveaway promotions. We also heard from partners who don’t use giveaways, and opinions were mixed on the effectiveness of giveaways for achieving certain goals.
To help authors weigh the pros and cons of running giveaways, we’re sharing some of our partners’ advice! Here are four broad areas to consider when deciding whether to run a giveaway.
1. Keep your goals in mind
A giveaway can take different forms depending on what you want to achieve. Several authors noted that rather than give away books for promotion’s sake, it’s important to be clear about the results you want from a giveaway and plan the promotion accordingly.
For example, giving away a permafree book makes sense for bringing a steady drip of readers to your mailing list, while a limited-time giveaway or contest can boost exposure or drive urgency for a new release or preorder. Since this was a survey of our partners, we heard from several authors who leverage BookBub Featured Deals to run limited-time free promotions, but there are lots of platforms available to host giveaways, from social media sites to dedicated giveaway platforms like Rafflecopter, Goodreads Giveaways, and KingSumo.
A giveaway is only effective if people know about it. So if you’re making a book permanently free or using free days through Amazon’s KDP Select program, be sure to spread the word. If you can afford paid promo services, that’s great! If not, swap with friends, offer to post in other authors’ groups, or even start a BookFunnel promo and invite fellow authors to participate!
Shortly after the publication of my military fiction book, I gave away 20 free copies to prime the pump. I posted on Facebook Coast Guard sites that a limited number were available for free. Later I ran a few contests and the winner got a free signed book. It does help get some sales.
I have used BookBub for years for temporary book giveaways to get new fans for my Highway Mysteries series. I’ve usually been able to cover the expense of the promotion within the first day or two of the promotion, because once the series is brought to the attention of an avid mystery reader who subscribes to BookBub, they will often purchase the entire five-book (soon to be six!) series. It has resulted in increased sales, which in turn results in more reviews and new fans who subscribe to my blog site (REDonald.com) or follow my Facebook page.
Another factor in considering your goals is choosing the type of book you give away. A series starter is a popular type of “reader magnet” for introducing new readers to a series, for example, but a few authors shared other creative ways to strategically attract attention to their other books.
I rarely give away anything but book one in a series, because the goal is to get readers hooked. I pay close attention to the increase in sales on books two and three following the promo. If readers aren’t moving on to subsequent books, I wait longer between promos of book one. If I run a BookBub Featured Deal, I keep it free for at least two weeks and stack promos to take advantage of the long tail.
I think if you’re looking to promote a series and to encourage sell-through, it’s important to think strategically about which book in the series is most effective to pique reader interest. Giving away the first book in the series might seem like the most logical move to motivate readers to purchase subsequent books. But with my Christmas River series, I’ve had some of my best success in giving away the second book in the series for free. Book two stands well on its own, but readers also feel like they’re being dropped right in the middle of a story, and it doesn’t take much for them to purchase the first book because they want to catch up. And often after they finish those two books, they’ll jump into the third and on from there.
You don’t always have to give away the first book in a series to get a good read-through. There are actually lots of readers who like to read standalones. I write a lot of standalones, and my reader magnet is a standalone. Many times, a reader who likes my standalone will go on to check out my other ones.
Lots of people download freebies but never read them, so if it’s connected to something they have already read and is a prequel, bonus epilogue, or deleted scene, then it works better because they are already engaged in the book.
Some authors make sure to also optimize their giveaways with their goals in mind. Another way authors are using giveaways is to encourage reviews, using tactics such as optimizing the back matter of the book.
For me, the most valuable part of giveaways is the increase in readers claiming my reader magnets at the back of books. Most of my books include links to an extended epilogue, so readers who claim it enjoyed the story so much they want more of those characters. Those emails are free, direct marketing to people who have proven they love your writing.
The giveaway back matter needs to be spot-on to optimize read-through. A short, clear, hooky line to get readers interested in the next book. I generally like to run free or discounted promotions when I’m getting close to a new release in a series, and I’ve seen great results in putting book two or even three on discount at the same time. This is particularly effective if I’ve gained a free BookBub Featured Deal.
2. Set realistic expectations
Many authors we surveyed cautioned that giveaway results can be unpredictable or delayed. Authors using giveaways to generate read-through to a series generally expect a lag between downloads and revenue. Several of those using giveaways of books or other prizes to gain reviews have seen fewer reviews from public giveaways (available to anyone on social media, for example) than via more targeted channels such as their own newsletter (which targets engaged fans) or Goodreads (which encourages reviews).
Similarly, authors who have used public giveaways to gain newsletter subscribers have seen a higher-than-normal unsubscribe rate on their next email send. Public giveaways draw significant numbers of entries from entrants who may be more interested in the giveaway than the newsletter.
People who sign up for giveaways might quickly abandon you when you next send an email to your list. It’s nowhere near as effective as organically building a mailing list through content on your site or socials. If you are giving anything away, make it worthwhile but very much related to your writing.
Nonetheless, at least some giveaway entrants are likely to become new fans! If you’re building an email list, the small percentage of readers who stay subscribed can give you a good start.
I’ve learned that people love winning prizes and will gladly sign up to your newsletter for a chance to win. However, it can be challenging to get them to stay subscribed once the giveaway is over. But it’s nice knowing the ones who stay find enough value in your content to stick around.
Giveaways for us are a twofold marketing strategy: brand or author recognition and newsletter sign-ups. Brand recognition we’ve found has been important to get over the first hurdle of “never heard of them” when making a sale. Then with the newsletter, fans of my work can stay in touch, so if the first book they read was free, and they loved it, they’ll be happy to get the next one as soon as it comes out. It’s a long-term, slow-growth tactic but a foundational one for our business model.
When it comes to running giveaways to gain reviews, some authors warn of the potential for garnering unfavorable reviews or reaching readers in other genres — but they also think this can be a risk worth taking.
One thing I would remind authors about, especially new ones, is not to take it too hard if their title starts getting a few below-average reviews following a giveaway. Giveaways will often encourage people who sometimes don’t read in your genre to pick up your book and give it a try. This can result in a few lower ratings for the title. However, whatever lower ratings you get as a result of a giveaway are completely worth it (in my experience!) to get your book into the hands of a potential avid reader and new fan of your series.
Other authors warned me that if I gave away ‘too many’ books I would get horrible reviews. I didn’t. The book still has an average of over four stars on 2,200+ ratings, so even though I took that risk, it paid off. It is true that you risk putting the book into the hands of a reader who enjoys a different genre, but they don’t have to read it; that’s their choice.
Others acknowledged that though a giveaway promotion may end up costing more than it generates in follow-on sales, the exposure still matters — and not all exposure is measurable.
It’s next to impossible to know how effective your giveaways are in gaining reviews and spreading word of mouth. On Goodreads Giveaways, you get more readers placing your book on their TBR list, but many have thousands of books on their list that they’ll never get around to reading.
One lesson I’ve learned is that not everyone will leave a review you can see, and that doesn’t mean they aren’t sharing your book with friends and family. Not all reviews are visible, and reader word of mouth is still a huge part of my marketing strategy.
3. For more engagement, consider more targeted promotions
Where there’s a giveaway, there’s a risk of readers not taking the action you’re hoping for, whether that’s to sign up for your mailing list, leave a review, follow your pages, or buy your other books. The antidote, according to many of our survey respondents, is to understand the benefits and trade-offs of giveaways to large audiences, and to target smaller groups of relevant readers when it makes sense to.
Third-party giveaway or free promotion platforms can be expensive, but may cast your net wider than you can on your own. For some authors, the cost is worth it for the greater exposure. In fact, many authors who use BookBub to promote free books find that they don’t have to trade engagement for exposure, since our promotions are carefully tailored to the tastes of highly engaged readers.
BookBub Featured Deal giveaways expose my novels to thousands of new readers. Those readers tend to write Amazon and Goodreads reviews, sign up for my newsletter, and even send me personal notes through my website. The sales of my other books also increase. If your book is enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, you are paid for every page read, even if the book was given away. Every free book giveaway I’ve offered has earned back far more money than it cost me. So, don’t be afraid of the cost. It’s actually a great investment. You will get the cost back and then some, especially if the book gains you loyal new readers who will buy your other books. I view giveaways as a way to introduce myself to new readers.
For some authors, it’s more cost-effective to run their own giveaways via their websites, newsletters, reader groups, or promotions with other authors in their genre to reach existing fans and other relevant readers. Because these are readers more likely to be interested in you and your books, there’s the potential for greater engagement.
One challenge with using Goodreads’s tool: Although you get to leverage their vast readership, you can’t use the giveaway to increase your email list. They don’t give you insight into anyone who entered except those who won. Conversely, if you do it in-house using tools on your own website, you can use it to increase your email list but can’t leverage Goodreads’s readership as easily. You have to market the giveaway yourself. This isn’t all bad, however. I did an in-house giveaway and had a check box on the entry form called ‘I shared this post on social media (scout’s honor),’ and if checked, they were entered twice. That helped increase sharing and expand reach, hopefully to people with similar tastes.
Participating in a ‘book blast’ day with other authors is a great way to encourage thousands of downloads with minimal effort and expense. We promote the event website on social media and with our newsletters. During those events, I also download some other authors’ free books so I can discover new favorites.
Your targeted audience might take the form of a hand-picked team of your biggest fans. When it comes to generating reviews, for example, some authors offer free advance review copies (ARCs) only to their own ARC teams, street teams, or beta reader groups rather than opening up their giveaways to the general public.
My ARC team loves getting an early read. It doesn’t have to be a huge group. I’ll take quality (i.e. committed, helpful, timely, supportive) over quantity of people on my team.
I maintain a carefully cultivated ARC team with some new readers and some who have read my work for a decade. I send them a link and they have to be part of that curated list to get the book.
I do a physical book giveaway as part of a blog tour to generate reviews and gain visibility amongst the readers of the blogs in my genre tours. I also give away pre-release ebook copies to people who have signed up to be part of my advance reader team in return for their honest review at launch. These people are invited from my existing mailing list.
Many authors make their giveaways accessible exclusively to their fans as a way to connect with their audience, foster a sense of community around their books, and give back to fans as an extra incentive for them to stay engaged.
When I want to do something special for those who are already on my lists, I do a small giveaway as a way to thank my street team (beta readers and ARC team members), or a bit bigger where only those who are already on my email list are able to enter. That one group giveaway will help to get my open and click numbers up higher for my newsletter service. And it’s a great way to let my subscribers know that they are valued members of my team.
I occasionally do giveaways to current newsletter subscribers to engage them on things like choosing a character name or title for an upcoming book.
I use book giveaways in my Facebook reader group on ‘Teaser Tuesday.’ Combining it with a compelling excerpt from the book always gives a little boost to sales, and it’s a reward for being active in my group. On Instagram, it’s more to link my book in readers’ minds with those of other authors writing in similar tropes. In my Facebook group, it helps to build community if the ‘How to Enter’ prompt asks a question about preference, for example, ‘What’s a great first date?’ or ‘What’s your favorite small-town hero quirk?’ or even ‘Do you use reading guides?’
4. For driving sales, running discounts is an option, too
Not all authors who responded to our survey use giveaways as a marketing strategy. Some authors don’t feel comfortable giving books or other prizes away for free.
Many of these authors are in favor of $0.99 promotions and have found them to be just as effective, particularly for finding new readers. Though the volume of downloads might not be quite as high for $0.99 books, the potential trade-off is increased engagement. Some authors have found that if a new reader buys their book instead of downloading it, even for only $0.99, the chances are higher that readers will read the book and go on to purchase more.
I’ve found in the last few years that temporary $0.99 sales are as effective as free book giveaways. I believe readers have become wary of free books, or simply grab anything that is free and rarely get around to reading them. Ten years ago, the common belief was that making the first book of a series free could lead to discovery, especially for new authors, but I question that idea in the current highly competitive literary market.
However, the best price to attract new readers may depend on your genre, the length of the book (or books!) you’re offering, and your goals.
For my genre (mystery/thriller), doing a free giveaway works better and returns profit faster than $0.99. The other profitable promo is a large box set short-term priced at $2.99, with a hook to other box sets in the series. Having a long-running series of 12 or more has been a solid strategy.
If you want to make money, run a discounted book. If you want your books to get read by a wider audience, give them away. I had two books on Amazon, and when I ran a free promotion for one, I sold over 200 copies of the other, so it can work both ways.
We hope these ideas help you assess how giveaways could fit into your book marketing strategy — whether that means running discounts on platforms like BookBub for greater exposure or offering readers the chance to win your book in exchange for taking a specific action like following you or leaving a review. Next, check out our list of prize ideas for book giveaways and the examples in this post of how to run giveaways on a budget.
This post is based on a survey of over 150 authors. We want to thank everyone who answered the survey and contributed their advice on how to manage giveaway promotions, the tools they use, and more. If you’d like to learn more about how authors run giveaways in future posts on our blog, let us know in the comments below!
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