Books for contests

Julianne Douglas · Post by **Julianne Douglas** » Sat December 20th, 2008, 4:27 pm

I have a question for those of you who do book giveaway contests on your blog: Where do you get the books from?? Are they used copies that you don't want anymore? Do authors/publishers donate copies, and if so, how do you approach them? It seems like everyone gives away books these days, and I don't understand where they get them from.

Thanks!

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Sat December 20th, 2008, 4:39 pm

With the couple of contests I did, it was the publisher that contacted me and offered me the books to do a giveaway.

Ariadne · Post by **Ariadne** » Sat December 20th, 2008, 6:42 pm

I've done a few contests in conjunction with interviews, where the publisher or author volunteered to send out some copies as giveaways. I've also done one as a way of divesting myself of duplicate ARCs.

Divia · Post by **Divia** » Sat December 20th, 2008, 9:25 pm

I've only done one but it was one where I read and reviewed the book then did a giveaway.

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Sun December 21st, 2008, 4:33 am

After an author's publicity agent contacted me to ask if I would link to some promotional material on a book and I countered with a suggestion that she send a review copy instead, she countered with an offer for a giveaway copy. I declined it (don't know - maybe I should have accepted) because I haven't done this in the past at my website and wasn't sure how to make it work effectively. It kind of bothered me that she wouldn't send a review copy but would send a giveaway - as though she didn't have confidence that the book was good enough to merit a favorable review.

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Sun December 21st, 2008, 11:32 am

Sometimes the publisher will donate copies. Sometimes the author. I ran a contest with my e-list reader group and the publishers provided 50% of the copies and myself the other 50%. Plus they (publishers) sent me some copies to send out as ARCs to a few people I knew, or sent them direct from their offices. The postage costs were the main shock

I've been sent ARCS myself and I usually either keep them or pass them round the family.

Tanzanite · Post by **Tanzanite** » Mon December 22nd, 2008, 1:43 am

The only book I"ve given away on my blog was a recent release (at the time) that I bought when it came out, read it and then gave it away for my blog's one year anniversary.

Julianne Douglas · Post by **Julianne Douglas** » Mon December 22nd, 2008, 2:26 am

Thanks for all the ideas! I know authors get very few copies of their books, so I figured this couldn't be the main source for book giveaways. My problem is that I could never give away books I love, and if I wasn't too keen on a book, I'd feel funny talking it up and giving it away in a contest. I don't have time to do many reviews, so I can't really request review copies. Hmmmm....maybe contests won't be happening too often on my blog.

On a related note--do you think contests really bring new/more readers to your site?

Ariadne · Post by **Ariadne** » Mon December 22nd, 2008, 2:50 am

I probably get some new readers when I run contests, but more typically, I think it convinces a bunch of longtime lurkers to finally show themselves

The time I ran the giveaway with six books at once was my most-commented-upon blog post ever. That is, until my latest Tacky Covers post (when the Smart Bitches linked to me) - does their site ever get a lot of traffic!

Julianne Douglas · Post by **Julianne Douglas** » Thu January 8th, 2009, 6:57 am

How funny--today I got contacted out of the blue by a publicist from Penguin with an offer of free books to give away on my blog! As soon as I get them, I'll post details.

Now, maybe if I post a question about how to get a book contract, an editor will call with one in a few days....