Giveaways, and what they are actually for
A giveaway is one of the few pieces of book marketing an author can run alone, at a cost they control, on a day of their choosing. That is exactly why it gets run for no reason in particular.
The usual reason is to "get the book out there". It does not do that. A giveaway with no barrier in front of it reaches one specific population: people who enter giveaways. They enter dozens a week, they are entering yours because it is there, and almost none of them will read the book.
That is not an argument against giveaways. It is an argument for running one only when you can say, before you start, which of three things you are buying.
The three reasons that hold up
Seeding reviews before launch. A small, targeted giveaway to readers of your genre puts copies with people who might post about the book in the weeks when a new listing has nothing on it. This is close to an ARC campaign and often better run as one — see Getting early reviews without breaking a rule.
Growing a list of the right readers. An entry form that collects an email address turns a giveaway into list-building. The list is the asset; the book is what you paid for it. Whether that is a good trade depends on who entered, which depends on structure.
Giving a venue something to run. A bookstore, a library, a festival, a book club or a podcast often wants something small to offer its own audience. A signed copy costs you one book and gets you mentioned to a room someone else assembled. The highest-value version, and the one authors ask for least.
If your answer is none of those three, you are printing copies to feel busy.
The prize decides who enters
This is the whole mechanic, and where most giveaways are lost before anyone enters.
Give away your book. Only your book. People who want a free copy of a specific novel are, by definition, interested in that novel.
Never sweeten it. A tablet, a gift card or a bundle of someone else's products turns your giveaway into a sweepstake. You get many times the entries and a list of people who wanted the tablet. Entry numbers go up, everything you actually wanted goes down, and the number on the screen tells you it went well.
Signed, numbered or first-edition copies work. They are worth more to a reader of yours and nothing to a prize hunter, which is precisely the filter you want.
Small is fine. Three copies to the right people beats fifty to the wrong ones, and costs less to find out.
Entry mechanics, and the honest trade
Asking for an email address lowers entries and raises quality. That is the trade, and a good one if list-building is your reason. Say plainly on the form that entrants are joining your mailing list, and give them the same first email any other subscriber gets — see The newsletter, and what to give people for joining.
Never ask for a review in exchange. Offering a copy in return for a review — or for a positive one, or entry weighted by leaving one — is against the rules of most stores and can get reviews stripped and accounts penalized. You may give a reader a copy and ask them to consider reviewing it honestly. You may not make the review the price of entry. That is not a technicality; it is the line the stores enforce.
Keep the hoops low. Follow, share, tag three friends and comment daily is built for entries, not readers. It recruits the people who do that professionally.
In the tools. ARC Delivery is the alternative when reviews are the real goal: it emails each reviewer their own watermarked copy and reports who downloaded it, up to 25 per campaign, with files and the recipient list deleted 30 days after the campaign is created. Start your book → · about the tools
Where they run
Platform giveaways. Reader sites and retailers run their own, with their own terms and audience. Volume is high and intent is mixed.
Your own newsletter. The smallest audience and the best one, because they already chose you. Good for rewarding a list, useless for growing it.
Multi-author giveaways. Several authors pool prizes and promote a shared entry form, and everyone gets the combined list. The most effective list-building format open to a new author, and the one most exposed to freebie-seekers — especially when the pooled prize includes a device or a gift card. Check what is being given away before you promote it.
In-person draws. A bowl at a market stall, a sign-up sheet at a signing, a draw at a library talk. Low numbers, high intent, and you meet the people.
Measuring it properly
Entries are not a result. They are a count of people who clicked a button that cost them nothing.
Sign-ups that survive three months. How many entrants are still on the list, still opening, after a quarter. That number, not the entry count, is what the giveaway produced.
Reviews that appeared. Not copies sent. Count the ones that exist.
Mentions you would not otherwise have had. The venue giveaway pays off here, and you can point at where it ran.
Judged that way, most giveaways are small and specific, and a good one looks unimpressive on the day it closes.
The legal part
Prize promotions are regulated, and the rules differ by country and sometimes by state or province: what counts as a lottery, whether you can require a purchase, what terms you must publish, who may enter, and what you must do with entrants' data. Platforms add requirements on top, and some require specific wording.
This is not advice on any of that. Check what applies where you live and where your entrants live, and read the platform's terms, before you announce anything.
Make your book
The tools are free to use: name your book, bring your manuscript or your artwork, and work as long as you like. You only pay when you want the files without the preview watermark.
Next: Street teams and launch groups · More: Cross-promotion with other authors · Book awards and competitions, and which are worth entering · Tracking what actually works