As some people will know, early in June I offered a LibraryThing giveaway, providing 50 copies of Inside Evil to people on LibraryThing in return for reviews. I had many hopes, not to increase sales, but to get reviews. Here are the results.
It can safely be said, that the LibraryThing giveaway was a bit of failure. At the very least, it failed to live up to expectations. Of the 50 books that I offered, 39 people downloaded the novel from Smashwords which I would think is a pretty good result. However, over the course of the past month, I’ve only had ONE review and around FOUR Goodreads adds. It’s a little disappointing, as I hoped that a ratio of at least 10% would give me a review, but alas, so far, the one sole review is all I’ve had. Still, this was a 4star one so it’s not a complete loss and I was ecstatic to see that the reader posted on LibraryThing, Amazon and Smashwords.
Of course, when you’re running a LibraryThing giveaway, it’s important to remember that the types of people bidding in these contests are the type of readers who may well have a substantial backlist of books to read. After one month, I’ve had one review. However, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be more to come in the future as individuals finally get around to giving Inside Evil a go.
Would I use LibraryThing’s giveaway again?
At the end of the day, it’s a great giveaway tool and so, yes, I would use it again. I plan to offer 50 copies of Tower of Souls to readers about a month before the release. This should give people the chance to read the book and make a few reviews so that when it goes live on Amazon and Smashwords, there is already some feedback available. Obviously, it’s a sequel, so people winning the book may even buy Inside Evil first so that they’re caught up on the story.
If you’re thinking of using a LibraryThing giveaway, then don’t expect great instant results. Be happy for the reviews that you do get in, and utilise it as a way to get your work read and find a few new fans and followers.
Geoff Wakeling 
Geoff – it will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of months. In my experience one month isn’t long for reviews to come in – it takes a while, people get busy. On the other hand you say the giveaway was ‘in return’ for reviews. If people download on that understanding I hope they will keep their end of the bargain. I have aquired several good books on this basis from Goodreads and have always felt that I must review or at least give feedback if that was the agreement. Maybe you just need to give it a bit longer before you decide if it has been a failure or not.
Hi Wendy,
I will totally give it a little longer and see if more reviews arrive. I have noted that some of the ‘adds’ on Goodreads are currently reading or have added Inside Evil to their must-read lists. Hopefully, down the line, this mean that a few more roses trickle through.
Geoff, thanks for a good description of how to do the Goodreads thing. Very helpful to other authors. Have you had any more success with it since July?
Hi Robin,
No problem, it’s a learning curve for all of us. Despite offering books for review, reviews have not come in thick and fast. However, the three or four I got (about 5/6% ratio) were 4/5 star reviews so I shouldn’t complain.
I think it’s a great resource to utilise, I just think review expectations should be kept relatively low. 🙂