Two weeks ago, I revealed I was holding a Goodreads Giveaway for my book Living Rent Free In My Head. I wanted to do a giveaway to get exposure for the book, and hopefully some reviews prior to it being released. That way there was a general consensus around the book before its wide release.

On Sunday, the giveaway ended after being up for two weeks. The 100 people who were selected to receive a free copy have been notified and already sent their book. I wanted to highlight some results from the giveaway to anyone authors who may be interested in holding one themselves with Goodreads.

The standard price for having a Goodreads Giveaway is $119. The premium version which has a few more features is $519. I discourage authors from buying the premium version. I brought the standard version and worked to my liking. Nothing the premium version offers is worth paying an extra $400 for. The standard version will work just fine, I promise.

During the course of the two week giveaway, I had 714 people enter to receive a copy. Way better than I anticipated. My hope was to get 300 to 500. I didn’t even think over 700 people was a possibility. But it was. Obviously, not all 714 will not read my book.

Most people probably entered because it was a chance to read a free book and if they didn’t win, they probably forget about it. But the fact that even 714 knows about my book and some of them may be interested in buying my book if they didn’t win a copy, is a win for me. Even a small percentage of those people buying my book would be more than I could have hoped for.

In terms of reviews, it’s too early to say if the giveaway will garner me many reviews. In many giveaways, not all 100 winners will read the book. Nor will they all review it. But giving at least 20 or 30 reviews would be a huge help to me, so I’m hopeful it will eventually reach that point.

My goal of giving my book more exposure was definitely accomplished. If you want people to be aware that your book exists, I think looking into holding a Goodreads Giveaway should be on your list if you can afford it. My goal of getting reviews is yet to become fully realized, but I’m optimistic that I’ll get at least 20 reviews in due time.

Was holding a Goodreads Giveaway worth it? For me, I believe it was. However, it won’t be for everyone. Some people won’t want to give away free copies of their books for the chance of them being reviewed. I get that. Holding a giveaway comes down to what an author wants to get out of it. I wanted to get exposure and reviews. Other authors may want other things, so a Goodreads Giveaway won’t work for every author. Do your research, make some goals, then you’ll know if you should try it out.