Quote:
Originally Posted by simonroyle
Would that change the perception?
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The difference, as I see it, is that it would really depend on who was offering the promotion, and why, as well as whether their coffers are deep enough, relative to the scale of the promo.
A corporate sponsor with deep pockets lookings to climb aboard a current popular artistic work by sponsoring something for its readers and thus tying their image to it, sure.
So their hypothetical Win a Hemingway Memorial Safari & Mt. Kilimanjaro Snowboard Fiesta courtesy of your friends The BigOl MegaCorp (makers of Miscellaneous Industrial Products, available in Stores Nationwide) works out. That's how we end up with stuff like PBS' ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre or whatever they call it.
The publisher whose publicity department likewise comes up with a promotion that runs along the line of Win A Personally Signed Copy of XX's Newest Manhattan Fashion Murder By Best-Selling Author and a Killer Shopping Spree Worth $$$$. Also plausible.
They're trying to drum up sales any way they can, and are likely cannibalizing the profits from the rest of their catalogue to pay for it, at least until this promoted title earns its advance back and hopefully sells enough to cover the costs of the promo, which they're banking on.
You'll notice that when contests of this sort are run, they usually are for the big mega-sellers whose authors have made it to the NYT list before, or the book is coming out as a movie and thus being essentially re-promoted to boost tie-in sales while the film rights have probably already been enough to pay for associated costs.
On the other hand, the smaller-scale and independent publisher/author has to be more modest with any such promotions, because to do otherwise gives a feeling of a) needless extravagance, and b) counting the chickens before they're hatched.
Considering the common sayings of "Don't quit your day job, it's very tough to support yourself as a writer", "Hour for hour, you make more money working for the 7-11"*, and so forth and the general complaints about how smaller operations are usually struggling by on shoestring budgets and such, it would make me look askance at any author/publisher not visibly backed by a major source of funding essentially giving away a fair chunk of what looks to be their gross income in any way, shape, or form.
Also, your proposed prize model makes it look highly contingent on securing that many sales to begin with, which your preamble makes look highly unlikely to begin with. That's kind of off-putting, in a way, like those writers who make notes on fanfiction sites about how "you must give me at least X reviews before I continue the story".
Most places which do the book-related win something contests also make it either "no purchase necessary", or at most, "purchase is up to you to make, but the prize drawing is guaranteed for qualifying entrants".
And while smaller operators likely have every intention of carrying through, sometimes the funding simply isn't going to work out, especially should you set a time limit, because it may take you several years to sell that many books.
Personally, I think unless you've got some form of external sponsorship backing (even as little as the local pet shop your aunt owns offering a free bag of kibble for the winner), best to stick to small, easily "paid"-for, realistic contest qualifications as well as prizes, if you're an indie.
Something like "Write a 500 word piece on our special contest guestbook about what you enjoyed most about The Novel, and we'll send you a free copy of one book each from all our authors, personalized just for you, and a set of 5 one-time use Smashwords discount coupons that you can share with your friends" seems more reasonable than the trip to Fiji†.
*I've always wanted to quote from Bimbos of the Death Sun and have it be in context.
† Seriously, even at Amazon's optional 70% royalty, how many books are you going to have to sell to cover the cost of airfare alone, unless you're planning to have it be a one-way ticket?