I got sad news in an email from Goodreads yesterday that said that they will start charging a fee to authors for having a giveaway. Not just a paltry fee either, but a hefty $119 per giveaway. Or a shocking $599 to get a premium placement on their giveaway section. The news left me reeling. They aren’t actually offering any new services either, although they claim this change offers “even more powerful book marketing benefits that authors have been asking for.” It all looks the same to me, except now they accept Kindle books as well.
With this fee, little indie writers like me will be left in the dust, but I wonder if even the big boys will have any interest in it. It’s not like I ever profited from a giveaway: there were no increased sales from having one, nor did I net many reviews. (Reviews help sales, by the way, so if there are any avid fans out there that haven’t written a review yet for one of my books, it would really be appreciated if you would.) I did get exposure from running the giveaways, but mostly they were just fun to do. It was a way for me to get a book into the hands of a reader who was interested.
I’m sad I’ll no longer have this opportunity, since a giveaway is not worth the fee Goodreads will be charging. But I will be looking for other opportunities, and I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted on whatever I manage to figure out.