Welcome to Tuesday Book Chat.
This is where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week. As we are a faith-based group the questions refer mainly to Christian fiction or non-fiction.
Today’s question is:
What author contests do you like best? For clarification I am talking contests authors run for readers.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation by commenting on this post or on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group. Remember to comment today on Tuesday Book Chat to enter the giveaway.
Let’s chat!
I read this question and my brain went what. You see there are reasons for questions only my brain forgot what it was. But I remembered it was what author contests IE in a newsletter. I like contests where international people can enter. If there is a book giveaway I like when an ebook is offered. Gift cards are nice. One author has a blog and a newsletter question on the blog. She picks a couple each month and offers a book. I am not a fan of booksweeps partly because they often exclude international, but I also don’t like being added to every newsletter. I will join some where there is an international prize and then prepare for the bombardment of new newsletters.
Your turn.
I look forward to reading your comments here or at the FB group.
Comment on today’s post to enter the Tuesday Book Chat quarterly e-gift card giveaway sponsored by Narelle Atkins. Two winners per quarter, $10 US or $15 Aussie e-gift cards.
The winners can choose between an Amazon.com or Kobo USD $10 gift card, or an AUD $15 gift card from Amazon Australia, iBooks, Kobo, or Koorong.com.au.
I like it when they are physical books and open in Australia.
Gift cards are good too.
I never enter sweeps because I don’t want to sign up for the newsletters.
I do like what Narelle does in her newsletters, where she has a choice of 2 books. I don’t always enter though because I’ve often already purchased/ordered the book I am most interested in.
Hi Beth Im with you with the newsletter thing. I just entered the Christmas in July and now the newsletters are coming. About 14 already and 3 I was already on their lists. and one was the one I had to join to sign up (got the sequence a month ago and getting it again now.) I will be doing mass unsubscribing.
I like books that are open to all (although unlike you I like ebooks.) I like Narelle’s too. And I understand the already having the book or having it ordered. Some of the promos where people offer a free book (normally novella and on their newsletter sign up) I get frustrated with cos often its the same books over and over and some can be several years old. (ebook). I am considering using my secondary email to join the Christmas in July next year. as it keeps it separate and if I don’t want to deal with emails signing me up I can just ignore them.
Hi Beth and Jenny, I appreciate your feedback on how I set up my newsletter giveaways. Interestingly, most of my readers who reply and enter my giveaways don’t enter every month. Which works for me because I’d prefer to giveaway a book to a reader who really wants to read it rather than a reader who enters giveaways for the sake of entering.
Re. Christmas in July.
Jenny, if you use a different email to usual, then I’ll end up adding you to my newsletter list a second time with the new email. Most authors are paying for their newsletter according to how many subscribers they have and additional emails will cost them money if they move into a higher tier. I clean the lists and remove duplicate emails (and junky-looking emails) before adding them to my newsletter list. I’m not sure how an onboarding email sequence is triggered if you’re already on the newsletter list? That sounds like a glitch rather than an intentional thing.
Thanks Narelle. It seems some have set up a giveaway, Christmas in July list and it was sent to all those people. One actually had Thanks for participating in the Christmas in July Reader Extravaganza! Here’s my gift to you!
Christmas in July with author
and another mentioned it was for those who joined different groups. but have since had her regular newsletter only once.
Where as one I am getting the whole sequence again.
It’s good practice for authors to keep track of where they acquire new subscribers and to tell the new subscriber where they joined the list in their first email—and offer their reader magnet (free ebook) to their new subscribers if they have one available. I always do that because I like to know how I end up on email lists. Sometimes I forget what I’ve joined and I appreciate the reminders.
Years ago I set up an email address that I only use for subscribing to newsletters. If I receive a newsletter from somewhere else, and it’s not from a place where I’ve previously purchased books ie. Shopify, then I know I’ve been added without my permission. I ignore those email (don’t open them) and eventually (usually in 180 days, sometimes only at 90 days) I’m switched from active to inactive and should stop receiving the emails.
OTOH if I want to receive emails from an author and I haven’t seen one in ages, I open their most recent emails and that should, in theory, move me from inactive to active. The other option is to sign up again for their newsletter and that should reactivate the emails. But, it shouldn’t restart the welcome email sequence because I was already subscribed using that email address. This is one reason why authors should never delete contacts (email addresses) from their lists. There are laws we have to follow that govern the management of email lists.
I like contests with gift cards and cool merchandise like tshirts. Amazon has so many things to buy and I love book shirts.
Sounds good Cindi, I wanted to win a rug last year with books and cats on it.