Posted on 14 Comments

Bribery AKA My Biggest Giveaway Yet

8/5/2010 Update – it’s not too late to enter!

I’ve always tried to be pretty laid back about promoting myself.  e.g. I really want the work to speak for itself.  I do like to give away stuff here on the blog, and free books are almost always welcome, aren’t they?  If some kindly reader posts a review or rating somewhere, I’m incredibly thankful.

Let’s face it:  reviews and ratings matter.  The more ratings and reviews a book garners, the more attention will follow.  It’s a gradual snowball effect, especially when you’re a very small fish in the big world of millions of available books. 

Thanks to Kait Nolan, I found this article Why Your Review Matters on Amazon and I’m curious.  Really curious.  Will a high number of reviews help a new release like THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN?  Will more reviews help some of my older releases, especially the ones that so far haven’t won any ratings on Amazon at all?

But Amazon is only one piece of the puzzle.

So here’s the scoop (I’ll create a clean page for this contest, but here are the details):

1. Rate and/or review ANY of my releases on any book site, including but not limited to Amazon, Goodreads, Shelfari, B&N, Audible, etc.

2. Review any of my releases on your blog or website.

3. Advertise this contest on your blog, website, Facebook and/or Twitter.

4. Send me the links.  One link = one entry.

Prizes:  We’ll begin with two $50 gift certificates to ANY online book retailer of your choice. 

Optional Prizes:  If we hit 20 Amazon reviews or more on THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN before July 31st, I’ll throw in another $50 gift certificate to any online book retailer.  If we hit 20 Amazon reviews or more on any of my other releases before July 31st, I’ll throw in an additional $25 gift certificate for each book that breaks the 20-review threshold.

To Enter:  send an e-mail with subject BREAK 20 GIVEAWAY to joelysueburkhart AT gmail DOT com with your link(s) to each review and/or rating (or capture a screen shot of your Tweet).  You may enter as many times as you wish before July 31st, 2010 midnight CST.

Please do write HONEST reviews for my books that you’ve actually read.  The more real and thoughtful the review, the more impact it’ll have on future buyers.  Obviously I hope you love my books, but I don’t expect raving fangirl 5 star +++++ reviews.  Honest!

Please note:  the reviews and/or ratings can be old!  (e.g. previously submitted on any of my earlier releases)  Please do send me the links, even if I’ve blogged about your wonderful review before.  I simply don’t have the time to go searching across the ‘net because I’m writing a new book.  I definitely want to reward people who’ve already reviewed me in the past.

THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN is available for reviewers to download at NetGalley.  For any of my other releases, if you have a blog/website for which you’d like to review a book, drop me an e-mail and I’ll hook you up.

Any questions, comments, etc. that I should address before I write up the main contest page?

14 thoughts on “Bribery AKA My Biggest Giveaway Yet

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by joelysue, Sharon Muha. Sharon Muha said: RT @joelysue: New post: Bribery AKA My Biggest Giveaway Yet http://bit.ly/aTPMh9 […]

  2. Oh SWEET. And lucky me, I’m just sitting down to write a review for The Bloodgate Gaurdian! :mrgreen:

    I’m totally willing to post up my older reviews for Amazon too. They probably need to be polished anyway. 😳

    oooh, I’ve never heard of Net Galley before. Awesome! Thank you Joely!

  3. I’d be interested to hear the results of your experiment when it’s all over. Great strategy, Joely!

  4. Eee! I gotsta pull out some stops!

  5. […] I stumbled on NetGalley when Joely mentioned it as a way to get a hold of an ARC for The Bloodgate Guardian for a chance to win her BREAK 20 GIVEAWAY. […]

  6. […] Joely’s books) by July 31st to be entered to win at least two $50 gift certificates! Details here. Joely always has her nose buried in a book, especially one with mythology, fairy tales, and […]

  7. I am going to post it on 3 pgs. I love contests!!!

  8. Boy SJ you are everywhere aren’t you… I haven’t seen you around since last month!!!

  9. Brandy – Ubiquity is my specialty. It’s all part of my master plan to be a godamn ninja. :mrgreen:

  10. ROFLMAO… SJ that is too funny. I havn’t seen you around much since Spring Showers, what have ya been up to??? I haven’t seen Tree either…

  11. Brandy- I suddenly think you have me confused with someone else. 😳 🙁 I’m sorry, I thought perhaps I had met you at Coyote Con under another name or something.

  12. what is coyote con?

  13. […] Contest:  Review or rate THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN (or any of Joely’s books) by July 31st to be entered to win at least two $50 gift certificates!  https://joelysueburkhart.com/?p=2759 […]

  14. […] Joely Sue Burkhart always has her nose buried in a book, especially one with mythology, fairy tales, and romance. She, her husband, and their three monsters live in Missouri. By day, she’s a computer programmer with a Masters of Science degree in Mathematics. When night falls, she bespells the monsters so she can write.    Contest:  Review or rate any of Joely’s books to be entered to win a $50 gift certificate!  Details […]

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