Quote:
Originally Posted by simonroyle
The bane of life for a modern day author is marketing.
Whether you're published by a "big house", or indie publisher. For DIY authors the horrible truth to now is that the average self-published book sells less than 200 copies. That statistic might be changing with eBooks but with the number of new books rapidly increasing probably not.
The only way to attract attention is through blog tours, or networking (and if you're a US author) book signings etc.
But what if a competition was tied into book sales?
Something like this:
- For every 500 books sold a lucky draw is held and one of the 500 gets 10% of all sales; same for 5000 books sold or well pick a number...
- This book reaches 5000 be entered in a lucky draw (with proof of purchase) to win a free holiday to (fill in exotic destination here - Fiji for example)
Question: would such a competition or prize make it more or less likely that you would buy a 3.99 book?
Are such methods "tacky"?
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Interesting idea...I don't see it as a reason not to buy your works nor do I see it as a reason to buy your books. But either way it's sort of a moot point because it will likely be illegal in the US and classified as gambling.
Contests and give aways are tricky in the US. Contests which award cash, smell of money laundering and number running...now this applied only to US offerings, still I would say to discuss it with an attorney before trying it out online.
I like and applaud your attempt at finding a way to increase any marketing buzz via a hope your plan goes viral...but really it is tough to run a true contest here in the US because of laws controlling them.