Book Blogger Confessions is a meme posted twice monthly(1st & 3rd Monday) where book bloggers share, discuss & confess book & blog related topics.
Hosted by For What It’s Worth & Midnyte Reader.
“Giveaways. As a blogger, how do you feel about extra entries, required entries etc? Do you have a system to choose/announce winners and keep prizes organized? What method works best for you when hosting a giveaway? (Rafflecopter/Google Doc’s or other)
What do you do about people who enter your giveaways but don’t follow instructions exactly?
Have you ever had problems hosting a giveaway sponsored by an author or publisher who is supposed to send the prize to the winner and doesn’t? How have you handled these issues?
As a prize winner – what do you do if your prize never arrives? Do you contact the blogger or just let it go?”
Well… to start off, I have not yet hosted a giveaway of my own but I have hosted giveaways for tours, where I was responsible for setting up the giveaway, picking the winner… etc.
I think extra entries and required entries are a great idea. For tour giveaways/blitz giveaways, the entire point of the giveaway is to bring attention and promote a certain book/author so I feel their should be at least one required entry that involved promotion for the said author/book. It works in both the hosts & entries favors… you get extra followers/promotions etc, and the person entering gets more chances to win.
When it comes to announcing winners I tweet them if they have a twitter and then I send an email. Sometimes I may mention it in a blog post, it all depends on the type of giveaway.
My method of choice for giveaways has to be Rafflecopter. I just find that system so easy to use with everything from setting up the giveaway, picking the winner and checking entries. I find it’s the most commonly used and I myself prefer if the giveaway is on Rafflecopter because all your information is saved. Google Doc’s doesn’t save your info… and I in fact am slightly lazy like that 😛
I haven’t had a situation where the person entering doesn’t following the instructions/rules but I think it would irritate me, quite frankly. The person hosting is giving you a chance to win a free item essentially, the least you could do is follow the damn instructions. Plus, it’s not fair to the people who do follow the instructions.
I also have never had a problem hosting a giveaway *fingers crossed* from an author or publisher. Most of those giveaways are from tour hosts that are very reputable that I participate in!
Now… as a prize winner…
I have actually won a giveaway and the prize never arrived. And I just kept my mouth shut. I’m not at a loss either way to be honest, as it’s a free item and something I wasn’t depending on, plus I think it was due to the mail system because it was from a publisher and I have received items from them after that.
Those are my answers 🙂 I’m interested to see what everyone else has to say about this topic!
Happy Reading,
xo Lauren
I find Rafflecopter the easiest for entering/picking winners and emailing them. it’s such a breeze that way.
I’m glad you brought up Indie authors. I forgot to in my post but they have been the most reliable when sending prizes. Most have their e-books sent within he hour of me notifying them and print books within the week. I’m so impressed!
Rafflecopter is a breeze, I agree!
That’s great to hear that you have had awesome experiences with Indie authors… I’ve loved the ones I’ve worked with as well 🙂
I love when I can tweet a winner. It is just so very easy and fun. Like a mini party. Emails just aren’t as fun a way to contact a winner.
[…] posted two book blogger confessions this month, one about blog design and the other was all about giveaways! I am really loving this discussion meme. I love discussions […]