As you probably know, with most of our promos we have contests. Often authors ask me what they should give away in their contest. So, I'm asking you. What do you like to win? Is it books (print or ebook preference)? How about gift certificates? Promotional items? Something else?
Let us know your thoughts. Be specific in what you like. Also let us know what makes you want to enter a contest. For me, it's the ease (meaning not a whole lot of hoops and ways to get entries) and then the prize being offered.
The contest will run until Sunday, June 28. To enter, leave your answers to what prizes you like to see in a promo contest. Your entry in the contest is not complete unless you leave an email address in your post or send an email (with the subject June Contest) to admin.bookblog@gmail.com expressing your interest in entering.
Updated... I just realized that I never stated a prize. Sorry about that. Winner will win a print book off of my bookshelf.
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I enter contests for books (print) because I love to read. I also enter for gift certificates especially those from Amazon because it gives me to get books that are out of print that I may not have read. As for promotional items it kind of depends on what they are but they need to be useful i.e. pens, magnets, notepads. What I don't like are complicated contests.
ellentoo20 (@) gmail.com (without the spaces and parenthesis)
I love to enter contest! I like for the contest to be easy because I don't have a lot of time. I enter for print books because I love to read and I am old fashion and like the feel of that paper in my hands. I have never got on the e-book train, because I don't have a reader and I don't like to set at the computer and read. I also love the gift certificates, promo items, candy and a little of everything else. It is a thrill to me to win something. With books you get to try new authors. Thanks for asking.
lead[at]hotsheet[dot]com
I normally only enter contests for print books & gift cards. I like the feel and smell of books so I try not to read e-books.
bjhopper(at)me(dot)com
I prefer print books and gift cards (even GC to stores other than bookstores). While I like the scavenger & web hunt contests, I don't want to have to spend too much time completing my entry.
I recently took part in (an won, btw) a month-long blog hunt. It was fun at first, but then some other the people forgot to post the contest on their blogs, etc. Things kind of broke down a bit in the middle. Several times I almost threw in the towel.
A book such as Maggie's is a great contest prize! We're talking hardcover, library quality not paperback or e-book. I know because I also have had novels published by Five Star/Gale. They're all top quality.
Jacqueline Seewald
The Drowning Pool, Five Star
I've discovered so many new authors from contests that I've won. Print books and gift ceritificates are probably my first choice, but I am a huge ebook fan, and love it when an author offers an ebook, especially with multiple formats.
The ease of a contest does make a difference. My online time is pretty limited, so a single entry with a random number winner tend to be what I enter the most often.
caity_mack(at)yahoo(dot)com
they offer gift certicates then i can get many books
thanks
kimehak@yahoo.com
I love to win ebooks, print books, and gc for more books :).
I love reading so its books for me! Too gift certificates because then if we have a book by that author we still can chat and buy more books to read!!
I enter a lot of different contests. My favs are books, but I also like promotional items, baskets, gift cards, etc. I agree with you about having to jump through hoops. Many times, if I have to spend half the day preparing answers for a contest, I will say, "forget it!"
Whoops! My email is:
reading_frenzy@yahoo.com.
My favorite prizes to win are print books and gift certificates. I don't like eBooks, but I wouldn't turn one down if I won it! Ease of entering the contest in important. I like the "leave a comment" contests the best. Thanks!
Diana in Olathe, KS
E-mail: bookofsecrets(at)yahoo(dot)com
I love to win books. Print over ebook, but I will enter for both. The easier the entry, the better.
I think the entrant should be responsible to check the post to see if she won.
I love that we can let you know we want to enter the contest without having to post our email addy.
The reason this contest caught my attention is that the end date is June 28th, my birthday! I especially like to enter contests involving my favorite authors. In those cases, I love signed books. Promos included (like bookmarks) are great too! Gift cards to bookstores are always welcome. I am not a fan of e-books as I do not ,as yet, own a Kindle. I do enter contests of authors I've not read, in hopes of finding a new fave. I prefer not to be quizzed in order to win. As I said, I'm not always familiar with the authors work. Tamara Holbert: tamara4ku@msn.com
The reason I enter book contests are for the books (print) that the authors are offering. If the authors are willing to sign the books the better the contests are. The easier getting the entries the better.
Sue
okibi_insanity[at]yahoo[dot]com
I enjoy entering contests and like winning a variety of things. If the author is in print I prefer print copies the most as I like actually "holding the book". However, I am a big ebook fan as well and enjoy these immensely, I've found a lot of great books/authors only available in ebook format.
Aside from the books I think I enjoy giftcards most, with a choice of which merchant the card is from.
Pam S
pams00@aol.com
I think that it is wonderful when authors offer contest prizes when they are publicizing a new book. I have discovered many new, and now favorite, authors through blogs and contests.
I most enjoy winning print books, and gift cards are great, too. Thanks for the chance to win, and for making it so easy, too!
castings[at]mindspring[dot]com
I prefer e-books because, 1 I don't have space for more books, during the last strong earthquake, there was a big layre of books on the floor. 2 I don't need to pay for shipping or wait for weeks and e-books can't get lost on the mail.
But if I didn't have practical considerations, I'd prefer treeware too.
sscout@gmail.com
Gift certificates are a great idea, as are opportunities to learn more about authors and their initiatives. The e-book give-away is also a welcome option. You can give and receive those wherever you are:)
Speaking to authors about contests and prizes (long reply, sorry): I kind of like scavenger hunts with multiple prizes and multiple winners. I've done some blog-tour type things that I enjoyed, or come back to the same blog every day for a while. One author asking twenty questions for one ebook download prize that will have many entries I won't usually do. I still am on the fence about prize notifications. Many authors specify that you must read their newsletter to learn the winner's name, or check the website, which I am sure is meant to make people come back and visit your site more than once, read the newsletter, etc, and I can understand and support that. On the other hand, I belong to over 200 yahoo groups. Even on digest and special notices from most, and many others monthly newsletter mailings, that's a lot of mail to sift through. I really need to purge about 50 of them that I only read once a month or so. I usually keep a minimum of 80-90 tabs open in Firefox; and don't remember to check back on all of them every day. That said, I would like one reminder email from the author - even if it says "respond within 3 days" or a week.
I don't enter contests if I'm not interested in the prize (or unless I have something I really want to say, as for this post). Now sometimes a newsletter prize where all on the list are automatically entered may not be to my taste, or a duplicate. In that case I would email the author and say to pass it on to someone who would enjoy it more than I would.
Prizes. Lots to say on this one. I have way too many magnets, as many bookmarks as I'll use in years, and I cleaned out my cupboard and got rid of at least a
dozen mugs. I have what I need and like. Same for mousepad. T-shirts usually only come in a size L or XL - which does me no good. I prefer downloads of books, or a gift certificate to an author's
publishers or fictionwise. A gift certificate or gift card to BN.com (Barnes & Noble), Amazon.com, or Borders is great.
My TBR pile is huge; I'd rather books in it be ones that I chose to have in my house and not read, rather than yours. I think that books you own (yours or other authors) are fine for prizes, but not for newsletter random drawings. If it's something you have to DO something to enter, then I don't have a problem with passing on books, but I prefer that the book be specified so that if I already own it, I don't enter. No offense meant, J & J; just giving my honest opinion and choosing to not enter this one, but I wanted to express my opinion anyway, because I know authors can spend a lot of money on promo items and they'd rather the money be well-spent.
Besides Amazon GCs, there are also Starbucks or Bed Bath & Beyond gift cards. I prefer to select my own bath products and scents or candles; again, if I like the scent of a prize I'll enter, and if I don't, I won't. Same with things related to books - paperweights, jewelry, art cover) prints or whatever. I know many people love and collect signed cover flats. Personally, I don't have a place or way to store them, so they aren't a *good* prize to me.
I am also in favor of "consumable" prizes - pens (especially pens, they disappear from my house at an alarming rate), notepads, post-it
pads, etc. It may just be that I am getting a little older, or that I am going to be downsizing from my house to a condo or apartment in the next couple of years, but I really don't need more "stuff."
I feel like I sound persnickety, but for most things I don't think I am; what I have tried to do is give my honest opinions about the questions asked.
I just wanted to comment to Amy before I chose the winner, and I hope she reads this. I always give people a choice of what books they win off of my bookshelf. I'm sorry I didn't pick a couple titles to throw out there this time. But I always communicate with the winner to try to find something that the winner would like off of my shelves and if we can't find a book, then we make other arrangements. I would NEVER just send a book to a person because we all have different tastes in books.... which is one of the great things about this blog as we don't just feature authors of one genre.
And to pick our winner. Diana, you're our lucky winner. I'll be sending an email to you shortly. I need you to respond to it with your mailing address and the genre of book you'd prefer to read and we'll figure out what book off my shelf will work for you. :) I need you to claim the prize before July 15 or it will be forfeited.
I visited ur promotional gifts site Juliette, and I learned a lot. I'd just like if u update it more often. Do u sell products on ur site or just an informational site?
Hello Albert
I'm glad you're interested in my promotional products web site. Well, you could have sent me an e-mail where I could have explained you more about it, but I'll tell you here in short.
This web site is meant to be a reseller web site, but for now it is just informational. We'll see about upcoming projects. I know it haven't been updated for some time but, at this stage, we are in the planning phase so this is why.
Greetings