Anyone use Librarything for giveaways?

Yes. I gave away free ebooks. The first few times a got a good number of reviews. Recently, however, I got very few, so far.

Randy

I gave away a dozen freebies or so over there - with the proviso that a review of SOME sort was expected - but I haven't seen one yet - and it has been a couple of months.

I finished one a few weeks ago, giving away 25 books. So far, I've received only one review on Amazon, though it was very enthusiastic.

I gave away 44 copies months ago, and I only got one review.

Thanks all. After reading your replies I did feel a bit deflated…but then I checked Library thing and TWO people have requested a review copy!

Lets just hope it's not months until I hear anything back. I know promoting a book is a long game, but still…

About a 5% review ratio. Only takes a few minutes to set up, so go for it, but keep your expectations low.

Are you allowed to do a free giveaway when you're in Select? I'm not sure whether the original poster is in Select already or is about to sign up.

Very low return rate on reviews -- if you have less than 50 people it our chances of getting even one review are slim. But I've always had more people sign up than books being given away. To be honest I think if you get very few requests it's probably a good chance to reevaluate your cover and blurb (unless you write in a niche genre or are promoting short stories, which don't get much attention really).

But anyway, I usually get 5-10 reviews. Hardly takes any work, so it's definitely worth it.

lorelei said:

Are you allowed to do a free giveaway when you're in Select? I'm not sure whether the original poster is in Select already or is about to sign up.

Click to expand...

When I made the original post, the plan was to sign up with Select after the giveaway. But then I forgot about that and just now signed up for Select in order to see what the options are for Select promos. I just checked the T&Cs and you're right, it looks like I'll have to cancel my Librarything giveaway.

But does that mean I can't give anyone a review copy anymore, or send a copy to a review site for free?

Select doesn't allow you to let a third party distribute your books, but even a Librarything giveaway isn't them giving out the book: it's me personally emailing out review copies. Still not allowed?

Edit: I'll do the Librarything giveaway this week, then rejoin Select, rather than tie my brain in knots thinking about the small print!