Help me run a contest giving away a book
I recently had a book published -- it's a novelty personalized supernatural romance/mystery tale that runs about $50 including postage. (Not my pricing, by the way! I don't value my work *that* dearly!) Anyway, I have the publisher's permission to give away a copy of this book to one of the readers of/visitors to my serial. My thinking is that anyone on my mailing list or posting to my EpiGuide-hosted forum would be able to enter this random drawing.
Since I'd like to use this contest to promote / encourage reader participation and feedback, I was thinking of instituting some method whereby anyone can send in an entry by email, but people could also 'earn' additional entries by doing stuff like posting on my message board, posting on the mailing list, writing a review on varioius fiction directories, and so on. Very similar to the points systems so many of you guys use. Obviously, people who have multiple entries will have a better shot of winning.
I'm not sure if this is a good idea, or even exactly how this would work. This would all have to be manual, since I'm not using Drupal or Wordpress ... just my li'l ol' HTML-driven site. Should I think of a runner-up prize? (I know: two copies of the book! heh heh...)
So what do you guys think, is this too convoluted or might this be a good way to a) promote the book, and b) promote About Schuyler Falls? I also need a way to pick random numbers; if anyone knows of a script or website that might be good for this purpose, please let me know.
Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to offer.
Thanks, MeiLin! I really appreciate the idea. I know I'm weird in this respect, but the "if my readers do ___, I'll do ____" school of promotion isn't my thang. I know this works well for many other writers, but I just can't get the bad taste out of my mouth; I'd feel as if I'm bullying my readers. Maybe because I hate the way some authors are so petulant when it comes to reader feedback. I've seen FF.net (and EpiGuide) writers justifiably lambasted for pouting, "if I don't get reviews I won't continue with the next chapter!"
Of course that's much worse than what you're suggesting ... I'd be offering something extra, not threatening to withhold a regular installment. Still, I want to give away the book with no strings attached as a thank-you to my readers. I don't want them to think I'm making them jump through hoops. Is that silly of me? Probably, considering I've been giving away my content for twelve years now. What can I say, I'm a bit crazy.
As an aside, Facebook's contest rules are intimidating enough that I want to stay very far away from making any promotion contingent upon joining FB. Though I do like the idea of joining as an FB fan or Twitter follower being one part of a points system.
Heya Kira.
The people from SmartBitches Trashy Books often have contests that they just let people comment on the giveaway post. if it's a book about Hockey Romance, they ask a question about "what's your favorite sports romance subgenre?" or something like that, a question related to the content of the book. Then they uses Random.org to pick random winners.
I don't know if you have comments available at your site though.
However, I'd focus the raffle on one place only, having it both on your site and on your forums seems to overcomplicate things.
Be sure to let me know when and how you do the contest, so I can announce it on ergofiction 
Thanks so much, JanOda! That's a great idea. (And I love Smart Bitches, Trashy Books too!)
I don't have comments exactly -- people respond through the message board and/or the email forms, the latter of which are posted at the end of each episode. I definitely don't want to be too complicated, you're right about that! That way lies madness.
Once the contest begins I'll drop you a line. Thanks a million for offering to announce it!
Random number generator: http://www.random.org/
Think of a simpler way to go. Possibility:
Get people to sign up to follow you on Twitter or at a Facebook fan page. If you reach the target of x, you'll do a random drawing to give away the book. This will lead to RTs and status posts that will reach people who otherwise mightn't have heard of you.
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