Are Goodreads Book Giveaways Worth the Money?| YES but NO | Derek Murphy

[@MaryHallberg]

I always thought $119 was way too pricey for a giveaway, especially when I know I'll never make that money back. I wish they at least had a free option in addition to the premium ones, but oh well.

[@ChristineChurch]

I can't agree, I'm sorry. I used to do a Goodreads giveaway with every new book and got a LOT of traffic from it... when it was free. But then they got greedy like everyone else and started to charge a ridiculous amount (esp for someone like myself who is on disability and makes VERY little)... I tried one on my latest book and... zilch. All of a sudden I got so many less hits, and much less traffic than before. What am I paying for???

[@metamorphosisfairy]

Is there a better option then GoodReads? Have you tried Book Funnel and email copies to mailing lists?

[@metamorphosisfairy]

Hey Derek. Do you recommend doing a GoodReads giveaway if you have NO reviews yet? Is it too premature?

[@DerekMurphycreativindie]

I'm not sure, but I *think* the giveaway info doesn't show the reviews, so it shouldn't influence how many people are signing up (as opposed to an amazon giveaway, which would show them). So you can... but, I'd probably rather do a kingsumo giveaway with ads first/instead, to build an email list (which will lead to more reviews because you can give out more ARC copies).

[@booklove6319]

So the standard package of $119 does that include the cost of the books as well? Or do you still have to buy the books?

[@DerekMurphycreativindie]

it includes the cost of the ebooks - but like I said, it screws up your also boughts, so I'll do print books in the future, and I think you'll need to buy/send copies (but you can just do 1~3.

[@RobertBucchianeri--Author]

Oh my God. I was wondering what happened to my also boughts. I launched the first book in my new mystery series in December and was careful to target mystery readers and built up solid relevant also boughts within thirty days. Then in January I did the goodreads 100 book giveaway and by February my also boughts were completely messed up with books fromirrelevant genres. It will take time and effort and money to correct this. I won't be doing a giveaway again until Amazon fixes this. Thanks for this video. I was completely flummoxed as to how things went wrong.

[@judypenzsheluk6703]

This was interesting. I’ve done Free paperback giveaways however, and did not find worthwhile. Most “want to reads” don’t end up reading, and of all the books I gave away, only a couple of people reviewed. Not worth $119 in my mind. I was considering the Kindle giveaway but the also boughts is a problem. Did you get many reviews for the 100 books you gave away? The 8 weeks would be up.

[@MelanieJosephine]

Hey Derek! Thanks for this video! I am a new author on goodreads and I don’t have a community yet- if I do a giveaway- will there be people entering the giveaway? Do you have any other ideas of promoting my book to the right audience? - which would be young women who struggle with dating- thanks!