As readers what do you think of this idea?

[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"?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

No. Yes.

[carld]

No, contests don't generally interest me. Write a good book about a subject I'm interested in, price it reasonably, promote it tactfully on sites like Mobile Read, and I'll almost certainly buy it.

MR member williemeikle has done that for his book The Invasion, and I snapped it up.

[desertgrandma]

what carld said.

I did the same thing over the weekend on a book by Wayne Chan.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97648

Contests don't get readers to buy books....subject matters that interest them and informative blurbs do.

[ATDrake]

Less likely. Not strictly tacky per se, but reeking of desperation. Makes it look as though deep down inside you didn't really believe your writing was good enough to be read on its own merits without holding out the offer of a bribe to do so.

I would also have both trust and uncertainty issues as to whether the bookseller would a) actually pay up the proposed prizes, b) be able to afford to a).

Better to tuck a special link to receive a coupon to get % off the sequel/related works in the back of your book, for the benefit of those who actually read it to the end, in my opinion.

[kindlekitten]

you know that old fashioned curly fly paper that you hang from the ceiling?

yeah....

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Less likely. Not strictly tacky per se, but reeking of desperation. Makes it look as though deep down inside you didn't really believe your writing was good enough to be read on its own merits without holding out the offer of a bribe to do so.

I would also have both trust and uncertainty issues as to whether the bookseller would a) actually pay up the proposed prizes, b) be able to afford to a).

Better to tuck a special link to receive a coupon to get % off the sequel/related works in the back of your book, for the benefit of those who actually read it to the end, in my opinion.

Interesting comments. I put this question up because competitions work with almost every other product known to man. You're looking at this from the perspective of the indie book seller on this site (which is what it is :-)). Imagine for a moment though that a sticker in the top right hand corner of a printed book on a bookshelf say in Borders or B&N from a major publisher, say Penguin or Random house - Buy this book for a chance to win a safari in Africa (let's say the book was a biography of Hemingway.

Would that change the perception?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by simonroyle

Interesting comments. I put this question up because competitions work with almost every other product known to man. You're looking at this from the perspective of the indie book seller on this site (which is what it is :-)). Imagine for a moment though that a sticker in the top right hand corner of a printed book on a bookshelf say in Borders or B&N from a major publisher, say Penguin or Random house - Buy this book for a chance to win a safari in Africa (let's say the book was a biography of Hemingway.

Would that change the perception?

I would rather buy a lottery ticket.

[Clancy_s]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Less likely. Not strictly tacky per se, but reeking of desperation. Makes it look as though deep down inside you didn't really believe your writing was good enough to be read on its own merits without holding out the offer of a bribe to do so.

I would also have both trust and uncertainty issues as to whether the bookseller would a) actually pay up the proposed prizes, b) be able to afford to a).

Better to tuck a special link to receive a coupon to get % off the sequel/related works in the back of your book, for the benefit of those who actually read it to the end, in my opinion.

For me, this.

Particularly the part about the desperation.

[Freeshadow]

not for me

if there would be such bundles of book and lottery there would be as i assume some connections between prize and topic fitting to each other - so in this case either both the prize and the topic would be interesting for me as an individual, or both would be not. im the 1st case i'd have taken the book as it is without any gambling atttached to it.

if the prize d sound nice but the book to basic in matters (fact) or just boring (fiction) i'd not buy it because it would be far too much money given just to take part in the lottery.

OTOH i am not sure if offering a sales share as prize d'be legally safe - it certainly would not be simple as far as paying taxes is concerned, but it'd be not my business.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by simonroyle

Interesting comments. I put this question up because competitions work with almost every other product known to man. You're looking at this from the perspective of the indie book seller on this site (which is what it is :-)). Imagine for a moment though that a sticker in the top right hand corner of a printed book on a bookshelf say in Borders or B&N from a major publisher, say Penguin or Random house - Buy this book for a chance to win a safari in Africa (let's say the book was a biography of Hemingway.

Would that change the perception?

If I were interested in a biography of Hemingway, (Or whatever subject) I might buy the book after leafing thru.........if I weren't, no amount of 'gimmes' would persuade me to.

But thats just me.

[timezone]

I am more interested in a loyalty discount and not a contest. Give me a discount for x number of books sold or a discount for being a member. Barnes and Noble and Fictionwise are examples of this type of reward. Forget for the moment why you may not like them. Just making a case for this type of reward.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by simonroyle

Would that change the perception?

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?

[AlbertaCowboy]

I've never really had to be bribed to read. If a book isn't worth my time on it's own merit, then the one-in-a-billion chance at a free vacation isn't going to change my mind. I just wonder if one would have to attend a mandatory five hour timeshare presentation while at the "resort" in order to collect on the trip...

[simonroyle]

Originally Posted by AlbertaCowboy

I've never really had to be bribed to read. If a book isn't worth my time on it's own merit, then the one-in-a-billion chance at a free vacation isn't going to change my mind. I just wonder if one would have to attend a mandatory five hour timeshare presentation while at the "resort" in order to collect on the trip...

That made me laugh :-)