Being an Author is a job with some pretty responsibilities and duties, a part from the publisher, you too have a certain amount of responsibility in order to highlight your book among the readers, which requires certain duties from your side. Well, a ‘Giveaway Campaign’ is one of the simplest and most popular tool, which you can carry out as a duty to fulfil your responsibility of creating a buzz of your book amongst the readers!
Over the time, a Giveaway Campaign has been proved as an ‘Economically Effective’ method for the Authors to bring back their books into limelight even after years of their books’ release. Now in order to launch a Giveaway Campaign you need to take care of certain steps and these steps will set up the principles of your giveaway process.
So, let us understand the basics to create a giveaway campaign, by going through these ‘5 Simple Steps’ required to make your giveaway process smooth and effective.
Step 1) Decide your Giveaway Platforms: Fortunately, there are multiple platforms available for you to run your Giveaway Campaign. You need to analyse among those platforms and see where you will obtain the best possible result. You also have the option of choosing all the platforms if you are certain that your campaign will perform awesome everywhere. Well, some of the most trending platforms to launch your giveaway campaign are Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & Goodreads. You may also launch your campaign at other platforms too, like your own personal website or any educational portal.
Step 2) Offer some Prizes: Mediocre, irrelevant prizes will not create excitement or attract serious readers. You need to think outside of the box on this one by being imaginative and original. Everyone loves to be surprised so you may offer a few more things apart from the Signed Copy of your Book. Things like Discount Coupons, Amazon Gift Card, Relevant Subscriptions, Themed Gift Baskets, Guidebooks, Book Launch Pass, & Bookmarks can be some of the other things you may offer to the winners of your Giveaway Campaign.
Step 3) Establish Your Giveaway’s Duration: You need to establish a duration for running your Giveaway Campaign. This duration should be fixed well in advanced and you must make sure that you can give full attention to your campaign for that number of days, which you have fixed as the timeframe or duration of your giveaway campaign.
Now, you must remember that you are running your giveaway campaign to generate a buzz for your book, so running the campaign for a longer duration is definitely going to be much more effective. Running your Giveaway Campaign for a longer duration will help to get seen by more number of readers!
Step 4) Create Contest Rules: All contests and sweepstakes must have official rules that are easy to find. Thankfully, most giveaway tools will provide a fill-in-the-blank type template you can adapt for your own use. Just in case you want to compare, here is what your rules must do –
- Detail the name and address of the sponsor and promoter
- Describe the number of prizes, the prize(s), the odds of winning, and the retail value
- Include eligibility requirements (age, residence, etc.)
- State the legal jurisdiction in which the giveaway will be regulated
- Provide the opening and termination date of the campaign, as well as the date the winner(s) will be announced
- Explain entry procedures (i.e. an email address submission via the giveaway entry form)
- Detail how winners will be selected, as well as when and where a list of winners can be obtained
- State whether all prizes offered will be awarded and how prizes not claimed will be distributed or re-awarded
- Declare your right to obtain the names of winners, as well as your right to publicize their names and likeness
Step 5) Promote your Giveaway Campaign: Now, with all of the other steps in action it is time to drum up some attention and put your giveaway in front of as many of your target readers as possible. This means hard-core promotion across all platforms including your email list, social media platforms, blog, and website. In addition, you will want to reach out to book bloggers and podcast hosts, call in favours from friends, family, and others in your network, and set up a few paid ads (if you have the budget). Keep in mind this is a ‘Time Sensitive Event’, so you will want to set enough time aside to focus your attention on promoting your giveaway for its duration.
Well, as you can see that it is not something that very complex and nothing if you see this book promotional tool in economic terms. A Giveaway Campaign is seriously cost effective and if followed with some honest efforts then it is bound to give you a desirable result.
Written By NEEL PREET – Author of the Books, Voice From The East (2016); Journey With Time Place And Circumstances (2018) & Indian Defence Files (2021).
