I remember the moment I decided when I’d launch I Unlove You to the world, and how I said to myself, “We need to celebrate by doing a massive giveaway at the same time!”
When you’re someone like Stephen King or JK Rowling, I imagine a giveaway is rather easy. You decide to literally give away lots of your own books, knowing an army of people will enter, share, and get true value from your offer. When you’re me, a mere up-and-coming self published author… well, I can’t imagine a hoard of folk beating down the door to win a signed copy of my own book.
My mother would like it, but if we were to make this a MASSIVE giveaway… we had to think outside of the box.
That’s what this post is all about, delving into:
- WHY we decided to do this giveaway (and why we chose the grand prizes we did)
- WHO this giveaway is for (and how we wishe to focus on two very important types of people)
- HOW we created, setup, and managed this beastly offering (step-by-step so you can do it too)
As often is the case, it’s why you choose to do something that matters above all else. From a truly selfish standpoint, I wished to create this giveaway in order to spread the word of I Unlove You’s launch and gather new email subscribers, but this isn’t the main reason. There are cheaper and easier ways to spread the love and grow your list, but few as involving and outreaching as a giveaway like this.
I suppose you’re wondering what this I Unlove You Giveaway looks like, right?
Well, there’s 3 types of prizes specific to three types of people who live in the world.
- The UK Main Prize = a crate of beautiful coming-of-age books from my own bookshelf
- The USA/Canada Main Prize = a 3 month subscription to OwlCrate
- The Rest of the World Main Prize = 3 Signed copies of I Unlove You
We’ll get into why there are three types of prizes soon, but right now we’re focussing on why this giveaway exists at all.
You see, when you launch a new novel like I Unlove You, you’re tempted to make it all about this single book. It’s easy to fall into a state of me-me-me, which is never good. There are too many people in the world who make it about me-me-me, and I do my best to not be one of these folk. But around a big launch like this… It’s difficult. It’s really damn difficult.
It comes down to fear for the most part: the fear of failing, the fear people won’t like your book, the fear two years of hard will fall flat on its face.
But no matter who you are, and no matter how big your big-day is, it’s never about me-me-me.
This is why we crafted The I Unlove You Launch Giveaway in such a way:
Because it introduces folk like you to other amazing books
Because it shares a peek into my own reading-world, and the novels that mean something to me
Because it introduces people to an amazing brand like OwlCrate
Which in turns, introduces people to new books, artists, and authors doing great things
Because although so much of this is about I Unlove you, not everything has to be
Beyond this, it allowed me to expand and extend this Forever Free Concept and the journey we’re on together. For instance, I sign and write a message in each of the books that appear in the incredible crate of booky-goodness. I deliver this crate (along with my better half) to the winner… to their door… so we’re able to meet and grab a coffee and extend our relationship.
I wish I could have opened this to the entire world, but I don’t have the funds or resources to make that happen. But I do have the capabilities to forge a great connection with OwlCrate who deliver a similar personal experience.
Simply put, I wanted to place meaning into this giveaway. I wanted YOU, no matter where in the world you live or whether you win or not, to feel like you’ve not just been sold to once again. I wanted to make it about other books, other than I Unlove You.
I wished to make it about other people, other than myself.
Which brings us to the all important who…
THE TWO TYPES OF WHO THIS GIVEAWAY IS FOR
Like I say, the entire why behind this giveaway is to make it about the who.
- Avid Readers who wish to be part of something bigger than single book (are you one of them?)
- Reviewers & Authors & Businesses who share the same mindset as me.
The first who is obvious, right? It’s readers like you. It’s people who love books and love to read new books. It’s people who like to win signed copies and place them on their bookshelf. It’s people who wish to discover new books and further their journey into the book-reading abyss.
But what about the second who? What about the reviewers and the authors and the businesses? What does this mean?
Well, let me share something with you that you may not know. There are wonderful book reviewers and bloggers in this world, and the vast majority of these read a lot of books each week for free (in other words, they don’t get paid by authors to read them. The reviewers who appear in newspapers and magazines… these guys get paid. But these online mavericks who read books from writers like me? They read for the sole purpose to read.)
I owe a lot to these amazing reviewers and bloggers. I’m lucky to call a few of them friends. Authors like me tend to make it about me and my book. I email them and ask for them for help, and plead with them to read my book and share it with their audience. We often email lots of these people, ultimately spamming them and smashing them in the face with a sales message.
It’s not cool, and I’m not proud to be one of these authors.
I honestly want reviewers and bloggers to know I appreciate them, and I wish to help them and befriend them and be better than the majority. So although this giveaway is designed to place a smile on an avid reader’s face, it’s also for the Reviewer & Blogger.
You see, I haven’t asked many reviewers to review I Unlove You. I want them to. I hope they will at some point. But instead of spending the weeks leading up to the launch asking them for reviews, I share this Giveaway with them. I invite them to place an actual excerpt from the book on their blog. I invite them to share this giveaway with their own audience, because I believe their audience will love it (being avid readers, and all).
Instead of asking what 95% of authors ask for and hoping they invest 6-8 hours into me and my book, I invite them to share something valuable with their audience; something that will only take them a matter of minutes.
I believe us authors need to escape the me-me-me mindset and think about the reviewers and bloggers more often. These guys and gals put so much time and effort into things, and for a self-published writer like me, they’re often the difference between success or not. I wish to befriend them and develop real relationships with them, and I don’t think pleading for a review is the best way to kick such a friendship off.
So… yeah… I hope they review I Unlove You at some point, but not now. At the moment, I hope they enjoy the giveaway, and I hope their own audience enjoys it too.
As for the authors and businesses… well, this includes brands like OwlCrate. Here lies a business that offers something amazing to avid readers, and I believe they share similar ideals to me. This giveaway brings the opportunity to connect with them, forge a relationship, and begin a friendship. There are other businesses with these like-minded ideals, and other authors too.
This giveaway is for them. This giveaway is for all of us who wish to spread the love of literature.
Sure, it’s about I Unlove You and its launch, but it isn’t all about I Unlove You and its launch. It plays a rather small role, which I’m 100% okay with.
Now we’ve covered why we’re doing this and who it’s for, let’s consider how we did it and the tools we used. You may be surprised at just how simple this all is, too…
WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW HOW I DID ALL OF THIS?
If you’re a writer or curious reader, you may like to know HOW I did all of this. I’m happy to share the complete step-by-step process with you, but rather than add everything into this post, I created a separate PDF for you.
No need to sign up or add your email. Just click the button below and you’ll get instant access to it. Enjoy.
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WHAT DO YOU THINK OF A GIVEAWAY LIKE THIS?
I don’t want to pretend that this giveaway is the best thing since sliced bread. I don’t wish to trick you into believing I’m the only author who does stuff like this, because I’m not. But unfortunately there are far too many writers (I was one of them – still am, to extent) that let’s fear get in the way of offering real value.
But I do like to think the reasons why this giveaway exists matter, and the people who it’s designed for… well, I hope they love it.
It isn’t hard to create or setup or manage, but without giving it meaning a giveaway like this achieves little. You may get some new email subscribers but who cares? These newbies probably won’t and they’ll probably unsubscribe soon enough. We have to give people a reason to give a damn these days, and this is never more apparent around the launch of a new book.
After all, this is the first time they’ll come across I Unlove You. This is my latest novel’s first impression. How do I wish to come across as an author.. a person… ?
But what about you? What do you think about this giveaway and the prizes on offer? Do they excite you? Do they tempt you into entering? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so be sure to say hello on FACEBOOK or TWITTER. And if you like what you read here, you may like to join The Merry Misfit Facebook Group that’s full of avid readers just like you.
TURNDOG
HAVE YOU GRABBED YOUR FREE COPY OF I UNLOVE YOU YET?
If you enjoy Coming-of-Age Novels that feature real moments you yourself can relate to, and love stories with a twist that leave you reaching for a tissue, you may like to introduce yourself to Aus & B.
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>> GRAB YOUR FREE COPY NOW <<
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And don't forget to share to this post with all those you know. It's time to help spread the (un)Love
