I'm thinking of running a comp. Advice?

Crombus

Hi all. This is my first post so please don't kill me!

I've just written a shortish book for Amazon Kindle and had a cover designed, but haven't yet uploaded anything. It's a true story about a small group of people who made a lot of money by innovative but legal means, and I'm told it's an entertaining read.

Because I'm a new and unknown author, I was thinking of running a competition to promote the book. I'd use Google internet advertising (AdWords) to post an ad similar to this:

Win £500 for your review
Read my ebook (title inserted here)
and write the best review to win!
(web address inserted here)

The website would ask readers to email their review to me as well as posting it on Amazon, so that I knew their email address if I declared them the winner. The website would have a link to the Kindle book, which could be downloaded for £1.20.

As you may know, Amazon rank their Kindle ebooks (top ten, top twenty, etc) by number of sales made. The number of sales are influenced by good reviews from readers. The point of the competition is to generate a high volume of download sales and get lots of good reviews.

The only problem I see is that Amazon may believe I'm gaming their system, although their Terms & Conditions don't prohibit what I propose. Of course, they could always amend their rules!

Anyway, I have to say that I don't know the first thing about competitions, but you good people do. That's why I'm asking for your comments about the whole concept. Your input would be greatly appreciated - good or bad. If the competition goes ahead, hopefully someone from this site will win the £500!

Soosieboo

It must be pretty scary wanting to publish your first book!
Thanks for popping by and asking for advice and opinion.

First thing to be aware of is that you would not be able to post your competition here yourself.

It would be great to have a competition like this but there are some things to bear in mind. (only IMHO mind you)

Entries only after purchasing the e-book - ok if it's the sort of book one would normally read.

Winner is the 'best' review - this may encourage people to write something along the lines of what they 'think' you want to hear. Thus giving the e-book a better rating that it may deserve. (It may well deserve glowing reviews who knows )

I regularly read e-books and quite often write reviews but would never compromise my own integrity by giving a glowing review in exchange for a chance to win a prize.

Why not offer it to a few bloggers who do book reviews, they'll be able to give you constructive feedback on the book.

If you go down the route of a competition make sure you have some Terms & Conditions (UK only / worldwide / age restriction / how prize would be paid / time scales etc)

Many people take advice from Di Coke over at http://superlucky.me/category/winning-advice/promoters/

You could also check ASA/ CAP code about running a competiton successfully.

Good Luck!

JessicAhh

Soosieboo wrote: »

Entries only after purchasing the e-book - ok if it's the sort of book one would normally read.

This is a good thing, in my opinion, for a competition promoter: it means you'll only get entrants that enter who have the book / are willing to buy your future works...

However... do check the ASA's rules on purchase necessary competitions to ensure you do everything above board

If you offer this internationally, make sure you list the £500 as "£500 / $850", so that it's obvious that it's international - not everyone reads the Ts and Cs!

You should also state how you will pay the money in your Ts and Cs: I suggest PayPal would be the easiest way, especially if the comp is international.

Instead of referring to "best" review, I suggest something like "thorough" or "in depth"...

jmilli2

If it is purely for reviews then put the book in Kindle Direct Publishing Select and then you can offer it for free for 5 days (you can choose the dates). Advertise the fact that it is free and the competition for reviews. Don't do it for 'best' review. Do it as a random draw from all reviews over a certain amount of characters (so that they aren't just - 'book was good' and stuff like that.

That way you get the reviews, your advertising and downloads, you don't get the royalties from the book sales but if it's to get your book up the rankings and some reviews and in more people's e-hands then that's what you want.

I don't think you will get many takers at all for a pay to enter competition for an unknown author.

JessicAhh

jmilli2 wrote: »

I don't think you will get many takers at all for a pay to enter competition for an unknown author.

I think this is a good point... But a lot of people will be willing to gamble £1.20 for a potential £500 win - do make sure you can genuinely afford the £500 though. Companies spend an awful lot in marketing and competitions, and not all of them get them back the money or equivalent increase in brand value as it did to run the competition

Crombus

Soosieboo wrote: »

It must be pretty scary wanting to publish your first book!

* * * * *
Why not offer it to a few bloggers who do book reviews, they'll be able to give you constructive feedback on the book.

It's not too scary publishing a first book if you've always faced the fact that it could easily fail. I've been meaning to write it for years - now it's out of my system.

Thanks for your advice about having it reviewed by bloggers. You mention Di Coke; do any others spring to mind?

Crombus

JessicAhh wrote: »

... do check the ASA's rules on purchase necessary competitions to ensure you do everything above board

* * * * *

Instead of referring to "best" review, I suggest something like "thorough" or "in depth"...

Thanks, I've just checked the ASA and CAP rules, and leart a few things!

Your suggestion about "thorough" or "in-depth" rather than "best" review is great - far less chance of me upsetting Amazon by unfairly attracting high praise. Maybe I'll specify the most "insightful" review. Then people will feel they can criticise without being penalised.

Crombus

jmilli2 wrote: »

... put the book in Kindle Direct Publishing Select and then you can offer it for free for 5 days (you can choose the dates) ...

On your suggestion I've just had a look at Kindle Select, and that 5-day free download period could certainly give a welcome boost. Thanks!

Crombus

JessicAhh wrote: »

... a lot of people will be willing to gamble £1.20 for a potential £500 win - do make sure you can genuinely afford the £500 though. Companies spend an awful lot in marketing and competitions, and not all of them get them back the money or equivalent increase in brand value as it did to run the competition

I can afford the £500, but was wondering if £300 would do the trick. Thing is, Google AdWords advertising will easily cost me another £500 to £700. Will I get the whole £1,000 back? Anyone's guess, frankly.

The way I look at it, this will be the first book of 4. If I can get traction on the first, it will greatly help the sale of the subsequent three.

Soosieboo

Di Coke is a blogger who specialises in 'comping'. She's a bit of an authority on how to run competitions.
I don't know if there is a specific # to use to find book bloggers. If this is something you'd consider doing you could use twitter and the #bloggerrequest tag.

emmaglet

As a blogger who runs competitions, I would suggest lowering the prize but running the competition more than once.

I just give away £20 Amazon vouchers, and I receive thousands of entries. So £500 is very, very generous.

Are you definitely set on using Adwords? It is expensive and not very effective. I've got a few ideas for you, but I'm not going to waste my time posting them here if you definitely want to use them. I'm available on PM though