# 170k+ Readers. Build HUGE Newsletter (Get 5k-20k subscribers in ONE promo!)



## Guest

Free Kindle Giveaway got a make over and some sister companies. We are bigger than ever and we do it ALL to grow your audience.

Our services are frequently changing, with new opportunities coming in weekly to get the best subscribers for the best price. Join our FREE Facebook Marketing Group for more info.

Facebook Marketing Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/976086735798716/

***

For cheap promotions of your book, you'll need to see view our sister company, genreCRAVE:
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,234876.msg3272201.html#msg3272201

For new release promotion, visit Hungry Author Services:
http://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=232686.msg3241140#msg3241140


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## Catherine Lea

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Now accepting sign ups for JUNE...
> 
> Only a few spots remaining. The last promotion was a success!
> 
> More Info + Sign Up Here:
> http://beccahamiltonbooks.com/author-promotion-opportunity-offer-a-kindle-fire-prize-giveaway-for-only-10/
> 
> -Free Kindle Giveaway Mailing List is Growing Quickly!
> -Reaches 1000's of readers
> -Participating Books Tweeted to over 100,000 Twitter Users
> -Participating Books Featured on our growing page
> -Build Your Audience on Twitter, Facebook, or Personal Mailing List
> 
> Any questions, email [email protected]
> 
> *This thread will be updated monthly with the latest sign up opportunity.*


Forgive my ignorance, but is this only for Paranormal and Lit? Or would you consider thrillers?


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## Guest

We do all genres! Our last giveaway included a couple erotica titles as well.


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## Guest

10 spots left


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## SabrinaLacey

I'd love to suggest a Pinterest Pinning as a rafflecopter possibility - and I just signed up.


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## Guest

Great idea, Sabrina! I think our July raffle has an "other" option


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## Guest

just a couple spots left now


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## BlairErotica

I sent in my form yesterday but have heard nothing from you. Is that normal?


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## Guest

Yes, everyone will be emailed on the 20th with introductory information and their invoice. Payment to be received by the 22nd, and by the 24th all participating authors will receive all the raffle and promotional content along with some tips. The promotion itself runs the 1st through 7th


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## BlairErotica

Excellent!


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## Paul Kohler

I just entered my info!  Sounds fun.


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## Guest

Glad to have you, Paul. That was post 666 for you lol.

We have a great selection so far!


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## Guest

We have about 3 spots left


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## Ryan Sullivan

Hey, Rebecca. I just sent my sign-up.  Did I get in this time?


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## Guest

I just signed up. Hopefully I got a spot


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## Guest

Everyone who has signed up up until now is in for June. June is now FULL. I will update the main post with July's info. Thanks


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## Guest

Sign ups for the July and August Kindle Giveaways are now open! Slots are still $10 each and include:

Promotion on FreeKindleGiveaway.com and BeccaHamiltonBooks.com
Promotion through my twitter to over 100k followers (@InkMuse)
Promotion through FKG on Facebook and Twitter
Promotion to the FKG mailing list
Opportunity to Cross Promote with other authors in your genre

We promote the giveaway AND your book to all of these channels. We also do a paid boost of the giveaway through GiveawayPromote.com

*Please note the intention of this sponsorship is to help you grow your social media platforms and mailing lists! It's NOT a sales promotion; however, we do give every opportunity to our audience to learn about your book and purchase it if it interests them.*

SPOTS ARE LIMITED! FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. July spots started filling up last month and sign ups must be complete by June 14th. Thank you! Feel free to share around but be sure to sign yourself up first so you don't miss out!

We do offer $1 to you for every referral you send up. Simply have them put your email or name in the referral sign up box on the form.

http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/sponsors/


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## Crime fighters

What date is the giveaway for July? I have a release on July 7th.


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## Marilyn Peake

I signed up for July and August. Crossing my fingers I get included. Thanks for the opportunity!


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## Guest

The promotion runs from July 1st to July 7th and August 1st to August 7th. Those planning for a new release I usually recommend selecting the mailing list option. This way you can email when the giveaway is over to let them know your book was released. You can make your spot on our mailing a facebook page. I try to be clear so people aren't mislead: This is a way to build your audience. We DO try to give every opportunity to an increase in sales, however, this isn't like a bookbub type service where you are going to make a ton of money directly off the promotion. But you will get a lot of book-interested people to follow you, and some sales may happen organically from there. There are some people who follow to enter the giveaway, then unfollow after, but I would say 90% or higher stay following  Our last winner even said she was excited to read and review the books we sent her with the kindle (many authors chose to donate books to her directly).


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## Guest

Marilyn Peake,

I see your sign ups and you made the cut off for both  we just started accepting entries this time so we are only at 12. Usually after the promo we email the authors from the last promo and we get another surge of sign ups (they like the results and want to do it again). If there is overflow, those authors get first dibs on the next month's spots.

Some tips:
If signing up for multiple spots, skip the next month.
If signing up every month, change what you are targeting (twitter, facebook, or mailing list).
Alternately, change up which books you are promoting.

This way you will always be getting "fresh action"


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## KL_Phelps

signed up!


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## SabrinaLacey

Checking in to say that I'm a part of the current giveaway and my numbers on FB keep going up every day. (I'm really not skilled with the Fb page as some authors are, so I really appreciate this)

xx, 
S.L.


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## Guest

Glad to hear that, Sabrina! It seems each promotion doubles the last! A few authors have even gotten direct sales (which we hoped would happen, but wasn't something we were expecting so early--we were just expecting to build following to help with future sales). The links are definitely getting traffic through facebook and twitter, so it seems to be pretty good exposure. We are thinking we will leave the authors promo tweets running for the duration of the month, until it's time to load the new authors


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## twilcox

My book is currently going through edits. When we sign up, how soon are you expecting to have everything in (sales page links, etc.)?


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## Guest

Ideally we like to have all the info at sign up, at latest when we take payments (usually on the 15th-20th) However, we have many authors participate prior to release, as building your following prior to release (especially mailing list) is, IMO, the absolute best way to have a successful release! (I do new release management for authors as my main job, and ALL of my authors have made amazon bestseller lists on release day) and what I do is no magic secret (I even tell my clients before they hire me--they just prefer me to do it lol): build a following. That's it. Get as many bookish people on your mailing list and social media as you can and offer them enticing deals on release day and you're golden


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## Ryan Sullivan

Rebecaa, this info would be on other threads, and perhaps I should go looking there, but I've had a mailing list since before my first book's release in June last year, and I've only managed to get one sign-up. That's even with a link in the back of the book. I have the link on my blog (I only just moved it higher, but I only have 4 followers anyway -- new blog and all). And in the current giveaway, I haven't had any sign-ups, which was my condition of rafflecopter entry.

Is there some kind of trick (technique) to getting legitimately interested readers on your mailing list?

If you don't want to go into it all here, I'll go looking through the forums again, but I wanted to get your take on it.


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## Crime fighters

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Ideally we like to have all the info at sign up, at latest when we take payments (usually on the 15th-20th) However, we have many authors participate prior to release, as building your following prior to release (especially mailing list) is, IMO, the absolute best way to have a successful release! *(I do new release management for authors as my main job, and ALL of my authors have made amazon bestseller lists on release day)* and what I do is no magic secret (I even tell my clients before they hire me--they just prefer me to do it lol): build a following. That's it. Get as many bookish people on your mailing list and social media as you can and offer them enticing deals on release day and you're golden


Tell me more?


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## Guest

Ryan, go ahead and email me and I'll share some tips with you on how I get mailing list sign ups aside from these promos (these promos are the best though). However, you are getting sign ups through this giveaway. In the past, we redirected them to another site, but we found that by doing this, some people (not all) skipped the mailing list sign up option (maybe they didn't understand what they were supposed to do?) Anyway, so we are trying something new this time! We are having them input their sign up directly onto the form, and then at the end of the giveaway, we will email the participants with the emails of those who joined, so they can upload to their list. I looked at yours to see how many you are at so far, and so far you have had 97 people submit their email to be added to your mailing list at the end of the giveaway. If you look at the Rafflecopter, you will see what I mean about how we are collecting these emails for you. Don't worry, we will pass them along to you when the giveaway closes


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## Guest

K.B. said:


> Tell me more?


email me any questions  [email protected]
I can provide references if needed, too.
My services include all your pre-release marketing for 3-6 months leading up until release, including getting you early reviews (our goal is at least 10 reviews ready to be posted on the day your book is released--however, some people get more, some get less), a twitter release party, and my focus being to promote your book at all lengths to see you off to a successful start. I also give marketing advice to help you market your own book following release. Unfortunately, I rarely have time to market my own book anymore since I started doing this LOL Also, I sense my book has run it's course and it's just time to get some new material out there.


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## Crime fighters

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> email me any questions  [email protected]
> I can provide references if needed, too.
> My services include all your pre-release marketing for 3-6 months leading up until release, including getting you early reviews (our goal is at least 10 reviews ready to be posted on the day your book is released--however, some people get more, some get less), a twitter release party, and my focus being to promote your book at all lengths to see you off to a successful start. I also give marketing advice to help you market your own book following release. Unfortunately, I rarely have time to market my own book anymore since I started doing this LOL Also, I sense my book has run it's course and it's just time to get some new material out there.


Well, that's not going to work then, as I've got 33 days until release  
But something did catch my eye;



TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Ryan, go ahead and email me and I'll share some tips with you on how I get mailing list sign ups aside from these promos (these promos are the best though). However, you are getting sign ups through this giveaway. In the past, we redirected them to another site, but we found that by doing this, some people (not all) skipped the mailing list sign up option (maybe they didn't understand what they were supposed to do?) Anyway, so we are trying something new this time! We are having them input their sign up directly onto the form, and then at the end of the giveaway, we will email the participants with the emails of those who joined, so they can upload to their list.* I looked at yours to see how many you are at so far, and so far you have had 97 people submit their email to be added to your mailing list at the end of the giveaway*. If you look at the Rafflecopter, you will see what I mean about how we are collecting these emails for you. Don't worry, we will pass them along to you when the giveaway closes


Awesome! But how does that work with confirmation? Also, I signed up for the July release with the mailing list option, but my release is on the 7th. I could segregate the list and send another announcement out to the new sign ups, I guess.


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## Guest

I can send to you on the 7th if you need  Or if you email me on the 6th I'll send you what you have so far, then send you the rest when it ends. This is more work *for me* but I'm doing it because it means ya'll get more subscribers this way. I want everyone to get the most out of the promo. 

Also, if you want to talk to me about your promo, I could give you a special plan and price to help with your release since there would be less time doing work up to release--we can still get you on those lists and if we start right away I should be able to get you several reviewers in time, too.


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## Ryan Sullivan

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Ryan, go ahead and email me and I'll share some tips with you on how I get mailing list sign ups aside from these promos (these promos are the best though). However, you are getting sign ups through this giveaway. In the past, we redirected them to another site, but we found that by doing this, some people (not all) skipped the mailing list sign up option (maybe they didn't understand what they were supposed to do?) Anyway, so we are trying something new this time! We are having them input their sign up directly onto the form, and then at the end of the giveaway, we will email the participants with the emails of those who joined, so they can upload to their list. I looked at yours to see how many you are at so far, and so far you have had 97 people submit their email to be added to your mailing list at the end of the giveaway. If you look at the Rafflecopter, you will see what I mean about how we are collecting these emails for you. Don't worry, we will pass them along to you when the giveaway closes


Wow! That's a huge shock! Suddenly I have a mailing list, lol. That feels weird, hehe. Okay, that makes this one of the most valuable promotions I've ever done, and I haven't had many great ones. I will go ahead and email you, too. I have a book coming out in the next few months, as soon as I can finish editing and get the book cover done.

Thanks. 

*Head explodes*


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## Crime fighters

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I can send to you on the 7th if you need  Or if you email me on the 6th I'll send you what you have so far, then send you the rest when it ends. This is more work *for me* but I'm doing it because it means ya'll get more subscribers this way. I want everyone to get the most out of the promo.
> 
> Also, if you want to talk to me about your promo, I could give you a special plan and price to help with your release since there would be less time doing work up to release--we can still get you on those lists and if we start right away I should be able to get you several reviewers in time, too.


I'm going to probably have to pass on the service for this book, as I'm already suffocating from all the work left to do. Example, the book is still with the editor and the ending hasn't been written yet. I'm also short on funds until the 23rd. Thanks though, and I'll give your website a check.


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## Marilyn Peake

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Marilyn Peake,
> 
> I see your sign ups and you made the cut off for both  we just started accepting entries this time so we are only at 12. Usually after the promo we email the authors from the last promo and we get another surge of sign ups (they like the results and want to do it again). If there is overflow, those authors get first dibs on the next month's spots.


Thanks so much! I'm super-excited about this!


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## Guest

K.B. said:


> I'm going to probably have to pass on the service for this book, as I'm already suffocating from all the work left to do. Example, the book is still with the editor and the ending hasn't been written yet. I'm also short on funds until the 23rd. Thanks though, and I'll give your website a check.


I admire you sticking to a deadline! I tend to push planned publications back because I'm a little OCD and want everything to be perfect lol It still never is though


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## Crime fighters

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I admire you sticking to a deadline! I tend to push planned publications back because I'm a little OCD and want everything to be perfect lol It still never is though


I already missed the first release date, and I really don't want to have to make any more graphics for another date change 

Plus, I've already booked a book blitz.


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## Kristy Tate

I went to the website and I think I signed up. Am I too late? Can I be on board for next month?


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## Guest

Kristy Tate said:


> I went to the website and I think I signed up. Am I too late? Can I be on board for next month?


I don't think I see you on the form, unless you signed up under another name? we have plenty of availability in August. June is already half full, and I haven't even sent out the mailing to invite current participants to the next one. I'm actually kind of surprised how quickly July's is filling up, many who are excited by the results they are getting with this month's promo.

Here are the direct sign up links:

July:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mKF075AO3FkmJE7w06fSD57mUbOmNiBH_E4iZccCl9w/viewform

August:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/11tZa5AgboV46xDpcSIjSh2AmNlYaDR7U2S2bmxYAIuU/viewform

Anyone who misses sign ups will definitely be given a chance to sign up for a future date instead. Eventually, we wold like to do a new giveaway each week, but for now it's just once a month.


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## SunshineOnMe

We were emailing, did you see my sign up?


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## Guest

got you, CeeCee! But only because you said something! It appears some of the sign ups were on the June giveaway (which is already under way) so even less spots available than I thought. I transferred those people over to the correct place and will look to see where I have the wrong link directing to the old sign up. Thanks for speaking up!


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## Guest

The FEATURE spots are filled for July, August, and September, so if you are looking for that, you need to email me. Otherwise, August has tons of availability still for the $10 promo and July is almost full.


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## Guest

June's results are in! I was really happy to see our mailing list sign ups got 170-240 personal sign ups each! Hopefully next month will be even better!


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## Ryan Sullivan

This promotion helped me grow my mailing list from practically nothing! Just signed up for July.


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## Guest

So glad, Ryan! That is what we like to hear <3


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## MarilynVix

Just added my books to both the July and August giveaways.
Looking forward to this giving a boost to both my books. My second novelette is coming out end of June. 
Great way to get the word out about my books. Thank you!


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## Incognita

I submitted a form to participate in the August promotion but haven't heard anything in reply?


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## Guest

8 spots left for July  Don't worry, if you end up on overflow we'll even put together a second giveaway for July or offer you a spot in august or in another type of popular giveaway.

10 spots on august are already filled, too. Christine, I see you on there! We don't email anyone until it's time to collect payment, which is usually the 14th-20th of the month before.


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## Incognita

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> 8 spots left for July  Don't worry, if you end up on overflow we'll even put together a second giveaway for July or offer you a spot in august or in another type of popular giveaway.
> 
> 10 spots on august are already filled, too. Christine, I see you on there! We don't email anyone until it's time to collect payment, which is usually the 14th-20th of the month before.


Ah, okay! Looking forward to it!


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## Guest

only 5 spots remaining!


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## Crime fighters

I can't remember if I signed up for two spots or one... I know I did the mailing list, but I don't remember if I did the facebook as well.


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## Guest

K.B. said:


> I can't remember if I signed up for two spots or one... I know I did the mailing list, but I don't remember if I did the facebook as well.


I have you for both <3


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## Crime fighters

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I have you for both <3


Yee-Haw


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## Pauline Creeden

Just signed up  Thanks!~


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## Guest

I signed up for July!  Hope I made it!


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## Guest

Everyone who signed up for July made it  But July is now full and will not be accepting anymore submissions! Thank you


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## twilcox

Is it time to sign up for Aug or not yet

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk


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## Guest

We're not actively seeking August sign ups yet, but the august form is open for anyone who wants to sign up early. We already have 19/50 sign ups for August.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/11tZa5AgboV46xDpcSIjSh2AmNlYaDR7U2S2bmxYAIuU/viewform


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## Rex

Yea! I'm in, I'm in!

Thanks for this opportunity. 

RC


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## Crime fighters

Does the order in which the names appear matter at all? I got the invoice but I'm torn between putting gas in my tank or paying the invoice right now lol.


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## Guest

You should definitely put gas in the tank first! But yes, we do list people on the raffle in the order payment is received, aside from boosted and feature posts. Feature is at the top. Boosted is the next tier, listed in order that they paid. Then the rest are listed in the order they paid. Then we have the mailing that goes out, which is slightly different. It's also in tiers (feature title, boosted titles, then regular listings) but those tiers are not listed by payment, but rather by how well we think the subscribers will respond to each book. Highly-reviewed books with exceptional covers would get priority in those cases. FWIW, I freaking love your book cover 

We do our best to do it as fairly and sensibly as possible, and this is what we've came up with. Of course, I'm sure some people have better ideas of how it could work. While we couldn't possibly take on every suggestion we receive (because some are in direct conflict with one another lol) we do consider all suggestions.


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## Crime fighters

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> You should definitely put gas in the tank first! But yes, we do list people on the raffle in the order payment is received, aside from boosted and feature posts. Feature is at the top. Boosted is the next tier, listed in order that they paid. Then the rest are listed in the order they paid. Then we have the mailing that goes out, which is slightly different. It's also in tiers (feature title, boosted titles, then regular listings) but those tiers are not listed by payment, but rather by how well we think the subscribers will respond to each book. Highly-reviewed books with exceptional covers would get priority in those cases. *FWIW, I freaking love your book cover *


Thank you! Unfortunately, I didn't send the cover or the link because it won't be available at the start of the giveaway.



> We do our best to do it as fairly and sensibly as possible, and this is what we've came up with. Of course, I'm sure some people have better ideas of how it could work. While we couldn't possibly take on every suggestion we receive (because some are in direct conflict with one another lol) we do consider all suggestions.


I think it's a great service, done in a fair way and I've submitted my payment. Gas can wait until I get paid in a few days


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## Guest

We will still use the awesome cover in the mailing to encourage more sign ups


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## Crime fighters

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We will still use the awesome cover in the mailing to encourage more sign ups


Kick-Awesome!


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## Erica Conroy

Hi, I filled in the form and submitted it, but I think I might have gotten something wrong. I sometimes need a bit more explanation.



> Rafflecopter Link *
> The link they will need to complete the rafflecopter (twitter page, facebook page, mailing list form, etc)


I had picked mailing list as an option, so does this ^^ mean the link to the form people will need to fill in to join the mailing list, or something else?


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## Guest

Erica Conroy said:


> Hi, I filled in the form and submitted it, but I think I might have gotten something wrong. I sometimes need a bit more explanation.
> 
> I had picked mailing list as an option, so does this ^^ mean the link to the form people will need to fill in to join the mailing list, or something else?


Yes, the link to the mailing list. Although, we have actually been collecting the emails direct on the RC and forwarding them to the authors at the end of the promotion as we find more people sign up when they don't have to go to a new window to do so.


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## Guest

Just a heads up, August is half-booked. We expect it may be fully-booked by July 10th.


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## Guest

Exciting news! *After August's promotion*, you will no longer need to wonder if you made the cut off! We are accepting payment through the site now to book your spot. The system records inventory, so if you are able to pay, your spot is secure! Please note that FEATURE spots are booked through September, but Basic spots are still available and can be boosted  Please remember that August sign ups will still be handled as they were previously--just sign up and you will be invoiced later. Thank you!


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## Heather Hamilton-Senter

I'm signed up for July, right? When does it go out?

Heather Hamilton-Senter on the sign up.


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## Guest

Heather Lori Harding said:


> I'm signed up for July, right? When does it go out?
> 
> Heather Hamilton-Senter on the sign up.


Yep! I have you for July! The rafflecopter is already set up. I will send out an email in a little while with details and begin scheduling posts for Twitter and facebook, as well as schedule the mailing list email. Then, on July 1st, the giveaway will go live!


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## Patty Jansen

I signed up for August. I just got my July email, and I think I may have signed up with the same book. Could I change the sponsored link later? This is my first time taking part, so I'm still working out how to use the form most effectively.

Will we be getting the August confirmation/invoice mail soon?


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## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> I signed up for August. I just got my July email, and I think I may have signed up with the same book. Could I change the sponsored link later? This is my first time taking part, so I'm still working out how to use the form most effectively.
> 
> Will we be getting the August confirmation/invoice mail soon?


Yes, you can change the sponsor link later! Please try to email me [email protected] before July 14th with any changes you want! invoices for August won't go out until July 10-20th. September will work differently. We're trying to work out how to run this most effectively ourselves


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## trublue

Can't remember if I signed up for August or not:-/ 
Age is catching up  to me. I will email.


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## Guest

trublue said:


> Can't remember if I signed up for August or not:-/
> Age is catching up to me. I will email.


Hi, Lola! We have you for August (as of today) and you're all set to go for July


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## Guest

I just signed up for August. I hope I get in


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## Guest

Kitten said:


> I just signed up for August. I hope I get in


you're in


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## Guest

17 spots remaining for August!


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## Marilyn Peake

Did I sign up for August? I'm sorry I didn't keep track of that. I can really vouch for this promotion! Since I became a sponsor in the July Giveaway, I've gained about 300 more Followers to my Twitter account! It's amazing - every few hours, I've gained more Followers! 

*UPDATE:* I just realized I probably didn't sign up for August yet, since the sign-up form just became available.  So I signed up. I really hope I get in. The July promotion has been fantastic for me!


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## Guest

I have you for August, Marilyn, and yours is one of the books that sold copies during the promotion! I think it's that lovely cover of yours! <3


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## Patty Jansen

The July promo netted me 203 new Facebook likes so far  . Not bad for $10

The sponsored book is free, so it can't have sold any copies 

I can't remember if I've paid for August. I'll also send you a different book link.


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## Marilyn Peake

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I have you for August, Marilyn, and yours is one of the books that sold copies during the promotion! I think it's that lovely cover of yours! <3


Thank you so much! This makes me very happy.  You run an awesome promotion!


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## Vaalingrade

Ah, what the heck? I signed up the site rather than my books. Makes more sense to generate more fans than more sales at this point.


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## Guest

I'm glad you ladies are enjoying the results!

A tip:
If using the promotion monthly, rotate out your book links (if possible) and definitely your promotion links (ie, if you did twitter this time, do facebook or mailing list the next time). This is because some of our entrants are repeats, BUT our "regular players" are growing, so every 3 months you should be able to repeat a promotional link and still see tons of fresh traffic for that particular venue 

August invoices haven't been sent out yet, but starting with September's promotion, it's going to be a lot easier for authors to remember if they signed up and to know ahead of time if their spot is secure. We're using paypal check out (starting with September's promo), which means if you complete check out, you have a spot, and then you just fill out the form. Then if you're ever unsure if you've signed up, you can just check your paypal or email history to see if you booked for that month already 

Also, for the time being, we leave your promotional tweets on our account from the start of one promo to the next, so you will get a month of promotional tweets for your title (in addition to the facebook post and mailing list).

I'm looking forward to the day where one promotion can grab us each 1000 new audience members. Of course, as with all promotions, not everyone who sees our books will buy them, but it's that many more pairs of eyes which means that many more chances! Also, the benefit to this is instead of being seen by these people 1 time (such as on a mailing) you may be seen by them additional times through your own mailing list, tweets, or facebook timeline 

We're really excited about where this could lead in the long run!


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## Guest

Vaalingrade said:


> Ah, what the heck? I signed up the site rather than my books. Makes more sense to generate more fans than more sales at this point.


You'll end up with both promoted. The raffle link will build your audience (facebook likes, twitter follows, mailing list sign ups) Then the "sponsor link" is the link we use under the raffle--which can be your book or your website. Generally, these really don't get much traffic, but the authors like it  Then we usually put one of your books on the facebook page and twitter. If you sign up and want to use your website on the facebook and twitter pages, that's fine, too  But it's very easy to build your audience (through the raffle) and draw attention to your sales page (through the sponsor link).


----------



## Guest

Kitten said:


> I just signed up for August. I hope I get in


You're in! We have 9 spots left now!

Our mailing list sign ups this rotation were 138-198 and about double that for facebook likes and twitter follows.


----------



## Guest

7 spots left for august. Most likely tonight I will be doing the social media share to invite, so if you want in for august I recommend signing up before then!


----------



## Guest

5 spots  Posting to social media now!


----------



## Rin

I signed up for October, November and December.


----------



## Guest

Rin said:


> I signed up for October, November and December.


I saw that! I hope the new interface was easy enough to navigate!


----------



## Guest

couple more spots left


----------



## Rin

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I saw that! I hope the new interface was easy enough to navigate!


I didn't have any problems.


----------



## Guest

Rin said:


> I didn't have any problems.


Fantastic <3


----------



## Ryan Sullivan

Are you still emailing out the subscriber lists from the July promotion? I haven't received mine yet.


----------



## rachelmedhurst

Thought I would give this a little go! Fingers crossed.


----------



## Guest

Ryan Sullivan said:


> Are you still emailing out the subscriber lists from the July promotion? I haven't received mine yet.


You should have by now! I am so sorry for that. I pulled it out of our email history and re-sent.


----------



## Guest

rachelmedhurst said:


> Thought I would give this a little go! Fingers crossed.


Hope you like it! Our previous promotions have been successful in building an audience


----------



## Guest

I have been using this method to build my mailing list for a couple months now. I have a few lists, but I had a chance recently to use my biggest one (900+ subscribers). I found the results to be on par with what I expected. 20% opened the email. Of those who opened the email, about 10% clicked purchase links. I realize this is only about 2% of my total mailing list, but what I found most telling was that many of the people clicking the purchase links were emails I didn't recognize (IE, not existing fans, who had probably already heard my offer through facebook and twitter). My goal is to build my mailing list to 10,000 by next year (I keep my goals lofty LOL) but I figure at that point if even 1% of my total mailing list goes as far as to purchase, that would be 100 sales in email blast. I cannot speak for other people's expectations, but I'm good with this


----------



## NRWick

I don't know if there are any spots left for August, but I submitted for a sponsorship after having a lot of success for the mailing lists a few months ago. Hopefully, I'm able to make it in this time!


----------



## Guest

We had a last minute cancellation, NR, so if you want to email me I can give you that spot

[email protected]

Otherwise, we're starting sign ups for September now


----------



## Guest

September is now up for grabs


----------



## Guest

We also have some last minute AUGUST slots from people who neither payed nor contacted me to cancel. Email me if interested [email protected]


----------



## Guest

bump!!

My mailing list built through this got me 60 sales this week over 2 mailings!


----------



## Guest

We still have priority availability for September--usually we fill up after each giveaway--so remember when you sign up early you get a better listing spot in our mailing list and on the raffle


----------



## Guest

Results are in! Over 300 participants in this month's giveaway  


Can't wait to see what those numbers look like next month! We've also added some new features--you can get thunderclap support, goodreads to-read ads, or anything else you select as an option on the giveaway raffle


----------



## Guest

32 spots left for September


----------



## Guest

Half full for September


----------



## Guest

Books that sold copies through our latest promotion.

SHIFT
A Prescription for Delirium 
Hunting Wold (and the book before it, Alpha Wolf)
Marigny Street
PANDORA
Summer's Deadly Kiss
Summoned
The Breakers Code
Together Apart

Congrats! We always hope for this, though we know it's not the main purpose of our service! It seems every month we sell more books than the month before!


----------



## Guest

Site updated to make checkout easier!


----------



## dotx

Just paid for a spot. Thanks!


----------



## CaeliaPortier

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Site updated to make checkout easier!


Site update is awesome and I'll be honest...it's just what gave me that push to try this out! Looking forward to seeing (hopefully!) the results!


----------



## KDMcAdams

I signed up for a September spot. Thanks!


----------



## Guest

Glad the site update was a help! We are trying to make this as easy and fair for everyone as possible. I have to admit, I'm really excited about how each month is getting better than the last in terms of people buying the books that are being promoted! The goal has always been to build an audience, but let's be real--we all like promos that result in sales <3


----------



## Incognita

I signed up and paid, but didn't really get a response. I hope that just means it's all copacetic, and you'll be in touch closer to September when the promotion actually starts.


----------



## Dean F. Wilson

I just signed up for September


----------



## dotx

Paid a few days ago and haven't received a response either.


----------



## Guest

For those who have not received a response, could you please check your spam folder? You should have received an automatic response. I won't personally contact anyone until it's time for things to get rolling  In the meantime, be sure you completed step two of the sign up (that is what the automatic confirmation instructs you to do). But do email me [email protected] if you don't see the confirmation in your email or spam folder, so that I can investigate that. I've had several friends check out and they confirmed they received the automatic response, so this is concerning.

We only have 6 spots left now.


----------



## Guest

This is what the note is that you should receive after you purchase. It should have been sent automatically. Again, if it wasn't and it's not n your spam folder, please let me know.

***

Step 2, Add your info to the form!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1tUKoUF_l6FCpp1eWXNcR3jOejrwB-GeYq4FdrzhA7Vk/viewform

Remember, first come, first served. The people at the top of the form will be listed at the top of their tier on the raffle and in the newsletter!

TIERS
Tier 1: Monthly Feature
Tier 2: Boosted Sponsors
Tier 3: Regular Sponsorships


----------



## Eskimo

Would like to hear more experiences from those who signed up in May/June. Not that $10 is such a big investment, but I'm what marketing folks refer to as a "late adopter."


----------



## Guest

3 spots left for September 

David, I hope you can get the feedback you are looking for  We have a lot of repeat customers. Some have booked for every month we have listed on the site 

Here is my recent Facebook post alerting people to the remaining availability, for whatever it's worth:

https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaHamiltonBooks/posts/799254663453256


----------



## Incognita

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> This is what the note is that you should receive after you purchase. It should have been sent automatically. Again, if it wasn't and it's not n your spam folder, please let me know.
> 
> ***
> 
> Step 2, Add your info to the form!
> 
> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1tUKoUF_l6FCpp1eWXNcR3jOejrwB-GeYq4FdrzhA7Vk/viewform
> 
> Remember, first come, first served. The people at the top of the form will be listed at the top of their tier on the raffle and in the newsletter!
> 
> TIERS
> Tier 1: Monthly Feature
> Tier 2: Boosted Sponsors
> Tier 3: Regular Sponsorships


It did come through this morning, so I think I'm all set now. Thanks!


----------



## Guest

ChristinePope said:


> It did come through this morning, so I think I'm all set now. Thanks!


I'm not sure yet it's 100% the way I want it to work, but with changing a few settings I did get this notice to go out. It was *Supposed* to go out automatically at the time of ordering! Oops! sorry about that <3


----------



## CaeliaPortier

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I'm not sure yet it's 100% the way I want it to work, but with changing a few settings I did get this notice to go out. It was *Supposed* to go out automatically at the time of ordering! Oops! sorry about that <3


I received the email fairly soon after signing up this week. I would say like within minutes.


----------



## Guest

CaeliaPortier said:


> I received the email fairly soon after signing up this week. I would say like within minutes.


Thank you for this feedback! Hopefully it runs smoother for everyone now.


----------



## John Van Stry

I signed up Tuesday for the September slots, now I'm not sure if I got an email or not. Is there a way to check?


----------



## John Van Stry

Okay, i have definitely NOT received an email notice. I put the transaction number in when I re-filed last night, and got nothing.  I don't know if I filled the form out incorrectly, or what. But I have definitely filled it out twice now and submitted it.

If I don't get an email by Monday I'm going to have Paypal pull my money back.


----------



## My_Txxxx_a$$_Left_Too

Content removed due to TOS Changes in 2018. I do not agree to the terms.


----------



## Incognita

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I'm not sure yet it's 100% the way I want it to work, but with changing a few settings I did get this notice to go out. It was *Supposed* to go out automatically at the time of ordering! Oops! sorry about that <3


I guess my only concern about this glitch is that if spots get ranked according to when you get replies back from people, it's not really fair to those of us who didn't get the form until days after we paid. It may be something to take into consideration.


----------



## Guest

ChristinePope said:


> I guess my only concern about this glitch is that if spots get ranked according to when you get replies back from people, it's not really fair to those of us who didn't get the form until days after we paid. It may be something to take into consideration.


The form is listed on the sign up page. If people follow the directions that are on the sign up page (that tell them to return there to complete step two) then they will not have this problem. The note was ADDED because people were NOT following the directions and apparently needed to be told twice  I think this is fair. I cannot control people who do not follow the directions (trust me, I wish I could! It would make things easier!)


----------



## Incognita

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> The form is listed on the sign up page. If people follow the directions that are on the sign up page (that tell them to return there to complete step two) then they will not have this problem. The note was ADDED because people were NOT following the directions and apparently needed to be told twice  I think this is fair. I cannot control people who do not follow the directions (trust me, I wish I could! It would make things easier!)


It still would probably help to have some sort of auto-responder that reminds people to go back to the page. I guess this is what's been set up now, but it wasn't working when I made my payment (and obviously it didn't work for several of the other people who commented here, either). I'm sure the glitches will be sorted out eventually.


----------



## Guest

I also have to add that in the previous months, no one received any notification from me until a week before, and it was not a problem. I will *still* be sending on the manual email I have sent out in the past. If you filled out the form and put in your paypal confirmation, you are on the form, same as you were before 

Here are the directions as they appear on the site:

September

Step 1: Secure Your Spot Now by Clicking Here!

Step 2: After making payment above, Click Here to send us the information for your promotion!

No one needs to wait to hear back from me to fill out the form. Most people were figuring this out, but a few were not. That is why I added the confirmation notice with directions for step two. Step two has always been "doable" without the confirmation notice and was just added as a courtesy for those who are in a rush and forgot to go back to complete step 2. But there is nothing on our end that "blocks" anyone from following the directions on the site, so I just want to be clear about that so no one is getting panicked unnecessarily <3 If you filled out the form, you are there. You will receive the email letting you know when things are being set up <3 

I am sorry that I had to change the way this was done, but we were dealing with TONS of people who were signing up for spots and NEVER paying or even sending a courtesy email to let us know they had changed their mind. 

You don't receive a confirmation from the form. You receive a confirmation for your order, if that is where the confusion is coming from? Unfortunately they are not going out automatically, so I have to do in to "mark complete" for the notification to send. I am still working on making this automatic. BUT this still does not stop anyone from filling out the form after they pay. You do not need me to email you step two to complete step two. It is listed in the directions on the site.

Please stop filling the form out twice  Once is enough! If you are ever unsure, you can EMAIL me [email protected] and I will check the form for you to make sure your response was accepted. Generally, though, you can tell, as the Google form will show a "response sent" type message after you click send (in your browser, not in your email.)

Christina, I have you on the form. I also have Ann Christy.


----------



## Guest

ChristinePope said:


> It still would probably help to have some sort of auto-responder that reminds people to go back to the page. I guess this is what's been set up now, but it wasn't working when I made my payment (and obviously it didn't work for several of the other people who commented here, either). I'm sure the glitches will be sorted out eventually.


Indeed. That's why I am trying to get the auto-responder set up. To help with those who forget to fill out the form. In the meantime, people will have do their best to be accountable for following the directions. I'm going to be running some tests tonight to figure out how to get this system better automated. My main concern right now, though, is that some people aren't getting the confirmation even when I'm manually sending them out. That does not make sense to me, especially since most ARE getting it. I would think spam folder would be the issue, but I'm hearing some people checked their spam folder and didn't see it. So more work is required on my part and will be done shortly


----------



## Guest

John I had you on there twice. I deleted the second entry. You are good to go. But your confirmation was sent and I'm not sure why you did not receive it. Please add [email protected] to your email "safe list" so that you get the manual email I send out a week before the promotion begins  Thanks!


----------



## Guest

Okay, I added another email automation and did a test run. Here is what happens when I place an order...

1) Paypal receipt received.
2) I received an email to my regular inbox that says "Your Free Kindle Giveaway order receipt from August 17, 2014" (For what it's worth, I have gmail) This automated email includes the information for step 2! Yay!
3) After I mark the order complete, I instantly receive an email in my inbox that says "Your Free Kindle Giveaway order from August 17, 2014 is complete" (This is not automated, but if the automated email is going out now, I don't think this step is even necessary) However, I am concerned that people are saying they didn't receive this email as every order I have is currently marked complete. 

If anyone places a new order and does not receive the first 2 emails immediately, please let me know and I will check the system again. It should be fixed now, though. Always be sure to check your spam and other folders. Also, if worse comes to worst, just please remember that if you made payment and filled out the form with your paypal confirmation numbers, YOU ARE GOOD TO GO. And you may fill out that form through the website, without the email confirmation. I still want to know if you don't get yours, so we can try to work out any glitches, but I don't want anyone panicking  If you completed steps 1 and 2, you are golden! You will receive an email from me before the giveaway begins as well, same as before. 

Thanks


----------



## dotx

I still haven't received anything ...


----------



## Guest

Diana, I am not seeing anything for you unless you are using a different email than the one you used for the May Sponsorship. (I'm not ever getting a paypal confirmation). I don't see you on the form, either. Can you forward me your paypal confirmation or the email you paid with via paypal? This way I can look it up. so long as you paid, all you have to do is fill out the form. Confirmation is really just a "bonus" email. Getting one versus not getting one does not have an bearing regarding whether you secured a spot. The only thing that confirms a spot is making payment and filling out the form. 

I can try resending your confirmation though if you can let me know what email you used in our system. Thanks!


----------



## NRWick

Hmm, I haven't received #2 or #3 email, but I only paid yesterday for myself and my pen name. I did receive the Paypal receipt, though. It was only yesterday, though. Is it possible the problem is because my paypal email might have been different from the emails I used to submit the entry forms? (The paypal account is my publisher email.)


----------



## Guest

NRWick said:


> Hmm, I haven't received #2 or #3 email, but I only paid yesterday for myself and my pen name. I did receive the Paypal receipt, though. It was only yesterday, though. Is it possible the problem is because my paypal email might have been different from the emails I used to submit the entry forms? (The paypal account is my publisher email.)


I have you  I just sent the manual for yesterday and the day before tonight, so it should have come through on whatever email you used on the website (#3 email). Any orders after tonight will receive #1 and #2. Either way, if you paid and filled out the form, you are good to go, same as before.


----------



## Guest

Also! I did make the form results public and people can edit their own form entries now  This way if you are unsure if you are on the form you can double check, or if you want to change something from your own entry you can


----------



## Guest

September Giveaway starts soon! October is filling fast!


----------



## Guest

October is almost half full


----------



## Guest

October is more than half full! Feel free to email any questions to [email protected]


----------



## Steve Vernon

Okay - so I have signed up for October. Hope I make the cut.


----------



## Guest

Steve Vernon said:


> Okay - so I have signed up for October. Hope I make the cut.


Under the new structure, if check out is complete, you made it  I have adjusted for confirmations to send out automatically so hopefully that is actually the case now. It worked on the trial runs, though one might want to check their spam folder as well. You can email me if you ever are concerned that something did not go through as it should have. [email protected]


----------



## SA_Soule

Thank you! I signed up and paid extra for the boost! ;-)


----------



## Writerly Writer

I received a confirmation but no #2 and #3 emails.  I'm in the September giveaway.


----------



## Guest

KJCOLT said:


> I received a confirmation but no #2 and #3 emails.  I'm in the September giveaway.


We were having trouble with September, but October people should be getting the confirmation emails  I definitely have you though. I remember yours was one of my favorite covers in the lots for September  Kick off is tomorrow!


----------



## Guest

Are those who signed up for October receiving confirmation? If not, I would like to continue to troubleshoot that. However, as long as you filled out the form, you are good to go and will be contacted when I start setting everything up. I cannot believe how fast October is filling up! And the response to September's giveaway so far has been one of the biggest responses yet, and we're only a day and a half into it! <3


----------



## K.A. Madison

This sounds great.  I signed up for October, but didn't get a confirmation.  I have a question - on the 2nd part of the entry process, if I want both a mailing list and Facebook like option, I have to submit the form twice?  Is that how it works?


----------



## Guest

K.A. Madison said:


> This sounds great. I signed up for October, but didn't get a confirmation. I have a question - on the 2nd part of the entry process, if I want both a mailing list and Facebook like option, I have to submit the form twice? Is that how it works?


Drats! I really thought we had worked that confirmation thing out. I will look into it again. Thank you for letting me know! Yes, for every slot you buy, you fill out the form. So if you buy 3 spots, you fill it out 3 times. This also allows people to submit more than one book for promotion. So while your twitter and mailing list may be the same for all of your books, you could put in two different amazon links to be promoted in the mailing list and on the website. Hope that helps!


----------



## K.A. Madison

Ok thanks.. I inadvertently submitted the forms a couple of times.  Disregard the subsequent entries.


----------



## Guest

K.A. Madison said:


> Ok thanks.. I inadvertently submitted the forms a couple of times. Disregard the subsequent entries.


It's okay. It happens <3 We'll sort it out. Thanks for letting us know!


----------



## Ryan Sullivan

I signed up for October and I think I saw myself on the list, but I didn't get a confirmation email.


----------



## D-C

Hi there - signed up & paid for Oct - but no confirmation email (just letting you know)


----------



## Guest

Thanks for the updates! total bummer before my trial runs worked  Will do more trouble shooting tonight! Also... I have some special planned for October that I think will make it even more successful


----------



## Windvein

Checking in to report that I signed up for the October giveaway on 9/2 and haven't received any emails except the Paypal invoice. I have filled out the Google form. I signed up for Scary Mary. Looking forward to hearing more.


----------



## Guest

What is strange is when I check out, I do get a confirmation :/ I also get a confirmation when I mark an order as complete. I am trying to figure out why so many are not getting these confirmations. Has everyone checked their spam and promotion filters, too? I'm going to email the cart service we use also and see what they say. I know that it is probably frustrating to those signing up not to have received a confirmation. I appreciate everyone giving feedback about the issue and being so patient as we continue to try to resolve this!


----------



## D-C

It's not in my email clients spam folder, but sometimes my service provider stops emails before they even get to my spam filter. I'll dig deeper later.


----------



## Windvein

I kept an eye on my spam folder and nothing appeared unless it was in Chinese. I've gone ahead and added freekindlegiveaways[at]gmail.com to my contacts, but I don't know why those emails would bounce. My email is handled by gmail.


----------



## Guest

Considering how many it's happening with, I think it must be on my end. I just wish I knew what was going on. All the settings are correct and the test runs keep working out fine. I think WooCommerce is conspiring against me 

That said, we do plan to have a complete site make over sometimes in 2015, and when we do, we'll have a developer fix this issue once and for all (if we can't fix it by then) I will continue trying to fix in the meantime, and will gladly answer any emails from anyone who is unsure about their status <3


----------



## Guest

If you participated in September's giveaway, we have emailed you with your mailing list results (as that is the only thing not obtained directly over the course of the giveaway). Please let us know if you did not receive your sign ups! This was a GREAT month with an average of 160-240 sign ups per mailing list and 200-300 likes per facebook page, etc. 

October only has *11* spots left. We also have a special promotion planned for October to further boost the results <3


----------



## KDMcAdams

I just wanted to drop a note and say that I was in the September giveaway and am totally blown away, the results and the service were amazing. My August news letter went to eleven subscribers (four of them live in my house and one bounced but thats for another thread). My september news letter will go out to over 200 subscribers. I know it's up to me to keep them interested and on the list but this was a great way to get a leg up in starting that list. 

Thanks Rebecca!


----------



## Guest

KDMcAdams said:


> I just wanted to drop a note and say that I was in the September giveaway and am totally blown away, the results and the service were amazing. My August news letter went to eleven subscribers (four of them live in my house and one bounced but thats for another thread). My september news letter will go out to over 200 subscribers. I know it's up to me to keep them interested and on the list but this was a great way to get a leg up in starting that list.
> 
> Thanks Rebecca!


So glad to help! If you want some tips on keeping them interested, my tips are (regardless how you build your list):

*Make it visual! Lots of quality images to break up the text!
*Get to the point! (Most don't want to read newsletters--they want to read books!)
*Put purchase links in 1-2 spots on the newsletter. At the top for those who are impatient and ready to go, and at the bottom so those who read don't have to scroll back to find it.
*Give incentive--I always have some kind of giveaway going on when I send the newsletter. Doesn't have to be anything big. Just don't make it the book you are featuring because you want them to BUY that, not try to win it  I've done rings, downloadable bookmarks, books by OTHER authors I like, small giftcards ($5) and I put that in the newsletter title. Example: October Paranormal Book Deals PLUS $5 Gift Card Giveaway! Then make the giveaway simple to enter. Only a couple tasks. With things like this, they want to stay tuned for their next opportunity. In the meantime, you schmooze them into buying your books 

Also I recommend not mailing too often. Once a month is PERFECT! When you start emailing daily or weekly, I think people start to feel spammed, even if you aren't spamming them. I try to keep my newsletters to go out for new releases and big promotions--this way I can reach as many people directly because they haven't unsubscribed in the meantime.

Have realistic expectations and remember the more people you email, the more opportunities you have! The more opportunities, the more SALES! Yes, you might have a lower ratio of people buying (ie, maybe before 5/11 bought, now 20/200 buy -- guess what? That's STILL more sales! It's worth it!) You can always do clean up overtime but give people a chance to get involved in your newsletters. Speaking from experience, there are some newsletters I open every few months (Even though they email me weekly) and I buy from those newsletters maybe one 1 in 4 times that I open. But I DO buy. And I AM interested. It's just a matter of my mood and my finances 

I hope your new newsletter brings you some new fans <3 Thanks for participating!


----------



## Guest

We had a cancellation today (via paypal dispute). Someone ordered yesterday and disputed today that they didn't get a confirmation email. We are still working on this, sorry! But then they said something about a January 2015 form and not wanting January. We just put up forms for January, but the other months (October-December) are STILL listed on the site. They had also purchased a boost instead of a sponsorship (without purchasing a corresponding sponsorship to go with it.

I kindly ask that anyone participating please follow the directions on the site (http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/sponsors/) and contact us if they have any questions. [email protected] or [email protected] Also, please give us a day or two to respond. We are not a big business with many employees to respond to emails on the hour every hour. I realize the directions may be confusing to some. I have already put things in bold and red to help avoid people skimming over important steps, but I will look over the site again when I have more time to see if there is a way we can streamline the directions and make it easier for people to follow. In the meantime, I remain available to answer any questions.

*I also am excited to say our reach for October's giveaway is already at almost 800,000! I'm really excited to see the results of this one compared to previous months. Good luck to all those participating!

*


----------



## Erica Conroy

Just wanted to share my experience. I think I had a freebie in the July promo to gain newsletter subscribers. I received a startlingly number of emails from it and only recently uploaded them to mailchimp for my latest newsletter. I did notice half a dozen people submitted multiple email accounts (gmail and yahoo with the same thing before the @, etc). I totally understand though, who wouldn't want to submit more than one email addy for a kindle! I decided to add them all cause, hey, they supplied them  I had a few people (gained from the promo) unsubscribe promptly after the newsletter went out. I was only slightly irked when a few of them chose 'I did not sign up for this' option when unsubscribing. _Yes, you did! You just forgot._ >.<

Overall though, it's a great promo opportunity, especially for the price. Who wouldn't say no to the exposure, book ranking bump and subscribers/likes/etc?


----------



## Guest

Erica Conroy said:


> Just wanted to share my experience. I think I had a freebie in the July promo to gain newsletter subscribers. I received a startlingly number of emails from it and only recently uploaded them to mailchimp for my latest newsletter. I did notice half a dozen people submitted multiple email accounts (gmail and yahoo with the same thing before the @, etc). I totally understand though, who wouldn't want to submit more than one email addy for a kindle! I decided to add them all cause, hey, they supplied them  I had a few people (gained from the promo) unsubscribe promptly after the newsletter went out. I was only slightly irked when a few of them chose 'I did not sign up for this' option when unsubscribing. _Yes, you did! You just forgot._ >.<
> 
> Overall though, it's a great promo opportunity, especially for the price. Who wouldn't say no to the exposure, book ranking bump and subscribers/likes/etc?


I HATE when people do that! If you are going to unsubscribe, fine, but don't say you didn't sign up! Or I have people mark as spam. It's not spam. Just unsubscribe. The good news for me has been that it still works out that I get more sales sending to more emails. I don't retain them all, but the ones that DO retain help me increase my sales. I really think bigger mailing lists must operate the same way. I would say on average I add like 200 new mailing lists with each giveaway, and about 10-12 people unsub when the next newsletter goes out. That's still a good retention rate for me, especially since I am seeing an increase in sales (although my CTR has gone down). But I rather have a lower CTR with more total sales, In other words, a mailing list of 7 where 7 people buy is great, but I rather have a mailing list of 700 where 70 buy Much lower percent, but way more sales 

My new favorite is asking for Amazon Author Page likes though  I went up quite a bit and I hear that can help visibility?


----------



## scottmarlowe

Just signed up for October and November.


----------



## JETaylor

Just signed up for October and November as well.


----------



## Guest

October is now full 

Sorry to those who are confused due to the confirmations not sending. This is really driving me a little nuts   I have checked my settings a dozen times. A little research shows this is a common problem. Now it's not even working with my test orders (it was before) and I have tried the recommended trouble shooting methods and that has not fixed anything. I just spent the last 2 hours on this with no progress. (I did, however, add the option to pay via Amazon for those who don't like paypal.)

Will continue to try to figure out the confirmation thing. It would really make things much easier for everyone. I appreciate those who have been patient about this issue. I know it's been going on a couple months now, and it's just as frustrating for me.

Those who signed up for October will receive an email tonight with an update


----------



## Guest

Hi! If you are part of October's Giveaway, please check your email! We have some people who signed up on the form but we have NO record of payment for--not in our email, our paypal, or our check out system! I am not sure if some signed up but forgot to sent payment or if somehow all 3 systems lost record, so we are asking you forward your payment record to us! We also have some people who put in double entry when they only paid for one entry. Please understand that, especially with the boosted posts that we invest back into, we cannot give you two promotions for one payment. We are working to get the system arranged in such a way that is less confusing. Thank you for your patience and understanding


----------



## Guest

Everything all sorted for October and a thank you gift was issued to everyone who was inconvenienced. Thanks again!


----------



## Guest

I believe we have finally resolved the issue with the confirmation emails! <3 Once this is fully confirmed it will allow us to simplify the way the site works


----------



## Incognita

Thanks, Rebecca, for offering this great service! It's really made my mailing list grow by leaps and bounds -- just signed up again for November!


----------



## Crime fighters

Erica Conroy said:


> Just wanted to share my experience. I think I had a freebie in the July promo to gain newsletter subscribers. I received a startlingly number of emails from it and only recently uploaded them to mailchimp for my latest newsletter. I did notice half a dozen people submitted multiple email accounts (gmail and yahoo with the same thing before the @, etc). I totally understand though, who wouldn't want to submit more than one email addy for a kindle! I decided to add them all cause, hey, they supplied them  I had a few people (gained from the promo) unsubscribe promptly after the newsletter went out. I was only slightly irked when a few of them chose 'I did not sign up for this' option when unsubscribing. _Yes, you did! You just forgot._ >.<
> 
> Overall though, it's a great promo opportunity, especially for the price. Who wouldn't say no to the exposure, book ranking bump and subscribers/likes/etc?


This happened to me as well in the July promo. I think I had five hard bounces and received a warning from Mailchimp. At that moment, I decided to not use the mailing list signups for any giveaway that doesn't require double-confirmation. That was partly my mistake, by not choosing that option when I imported the list. I've done many giveaways to build my mailing list, and I've never had a problem with hard bounces.

When I sent out my cover reveal newsletter a few weeks ago, I estimate that about thirty percent of them went into spam folders. Indeed, I have a few people on my list who are there to verify that emails are going through. I think there's a simple solution to get out of spam folders now, or at least I hope so. I think I just need to change the "from email" in the list settings.

Just wanted to give a warning that it might be in your best interest to use double-opt in with the names you get from this list, because at that point, the "I didn't sign up for this" option looks a little silly on their end, and not on yours.


----------



## Maddie_K

I've signed up Flower's Fang for November. I JUST missed the Oct cut off (put in my cart, but waited a few min to check out, then said it was sold out). 

Anyway, I'm excited to see the results.


----------



## Guest

K.B. said:


> This happened to me as well in the July promo. I think I had five hard bounces and received a warning from Mailchimp. At that moment, I decided to not use the mailing list signups for any giveaway that doesn't require double-confirmation. That was partly my mistake, by not choosing that option when I imported the list. I've done many giveaways to build my mailing list, and I've never had a problem with hard bounces.
> 
> When I sent out my cover reveal newsletter a few weeks ago, I estimate that about thirty percent of them went into spam folders. Indeed, I have a few people on my list who are there to verify that emails are going through. I think there's a simple solution to get out of spam folders now, or at least I hope so. I think I just need to change the "from email" in the list settings.
> 
> Just wanted to give a warning that it might be in your best interest to use double-opt in with the names you get from this list, because at that point, the "I didn't sign up for this" option looks a little silly on their end, and not on yours.


I can confirm I also get some bounces and unsubscribes. However, I continue to build my mailing list this way because my sales per newsletter have increased overall. I use Mad Mimi though and don't have the issue with spam or warnings. I tried to use Mail Chimp but it was nothing but trouble (and that was before I started building my mailing list this way). That said, for me it's a lot easier to put up people's facebook and twitter than mailing lists, so I wouldn't mind if everyone chose those options only LOL


----------



## Guest

FlowersFang said:


> I've signed up Flower's Fang for November. I JUST missed the Oct cut off (put in my cart, but waited a few min to check out, then said it was sold out).
> 
> Anyway, I'm excited to see the results.


Glad to have you!


----------



## Guest

Everyone who orders after 9/28 should receive a confirmation email  Feel free to let me know if these still aren't going through so I can yell at WooCommerce a bit more


----------



## Guest

October just ended! November is 80% full!


----------



## scottmarlowe

Got my email signup results for October this morning. Impressive, most impressive...enough that I just signed up for December as well.

Thank you, Rebecca, for organizing this. I'm already signed up for November, so looking forward to another run.

I am interested, however, in how the retention rate works out. Obviously some people signed up only because they wanted to win a Kindle. Some may unsubscribe, but hopefully most won't.

For those who have gone through this process before, can you comment on your strategy moving forward? Did you simply merge the new emails into your primary list (this is what they signed up for, after all) and go ahead as usual with your next email? Or did you send a separate email just to those people as a sort of intro, giving them an opt out opportunity in the process?


----------



## Ryan Sullivan

Scott, I import them into my list straight away. I haven't sent any emails yet, but I would just continue as normal, emailing whenever there's a new release and leaving it at that more or less.

So, I have serial subscribers. I don't really mind because I AM getting more than 100 real new subscribers each time. The first time I think I got over 200. The second time I got 167, but 44 of them were already on the list, so really I got 123. This last time I got 182, but 42 were already on the list, so really I only got 140. I also have one "role-based email" subscriber who keeps signing up.

I don't know if this is avoidable or a problem, but it's a fact. Again, I don't really mind because it is effectively getting me new subscribers. I'm up to a beautiful 486; at the start of the year I had less than 10.


----------



## scottmarlowe

Ryan Sullivan said:


> Scott, I import them into my list straight away. I haven't sent any emails yet, but I would just continue as normal, emailing whenever there's a new release and leaving it at that more or less.
> 
> So, I have serial subscribers. I don't really mind because I AM getting more than 100 real new subscribers each time. The first time I think I got over 200. The second time I got 167, but 44 of them were already on the list, so really I got 123. This last time I got 182, but 42 were already on the list, so really I only got 140. I also have one "role-based email" subscriber who keeps signing up.
> 
> I don't know if this is avoidable or a problem, but it's a fact. Again, I don't really mind because it is effectively getting me new subscribers. I'm up to a beautiful 486; at the start of the year I had less than 10.


Thanks for the info. I think I'm going to go with that approach as well. The October promo more than doubles my current list, so I'm pretty happy with the results.


----------



## Rin

I got 164 subscribers!  

I sent a campaign with a free book, and I've already had a decent number of downloads from this new segment.


----------



## K.A. Madison

I have to agree... this is an awesome service.  Got 176 new subscribers!  WOW!  I added them to a separate list just so I can send them a "welcome" email and offer them a free book for people interested.  So far, 2 of them have unsubscribed, but so far, so good.


----------



## Rin

K.A. Madison said:


> I have to agree... this is an awesome service. Got 176 new subscribers! WOW! I added them to a separate list just so I can send them a "welcome" email and offer them a free book for people interested. So far, 2 of them have unsubscribed, but so far, so good.


If you use MailChimp, you can send a campaign just to a certain segment of your list, so that you don't have to make multiple lists.


----------



## Guest

Glad everyone is liking the results  I always get some repeats and unsubscribes, too, but like you all, I just look for that overall number to go up and for my sales to go up from each newsletter. It would be awesome if all or most would buy something  but no mailing list works that way LOL At least we have "direct access" now and just because they didn't buy today doesn't mean they won't buy next time! I love using this for thunderclap campaigns lately, though!


----------



## Dean F. Wilson

I got 159 mailing list signups for October.

I just purchased a slot for Nov and Dec


----------



## Guest

My goal with this is that eventually we can get 500-1000 participants in each giveaway  I know that will take time to achieve and build toward, but I'll keep trying! I would also like to see more sales directly from the giveaway. We are seeing some, and I know that's really not the point, but it would be so awesome IMO if eventually it worked out that way


----------



## Guest

Only a few spots left for November


----------



## Marilyn Peake

This is such an awesome program! I've been signing up for months and am signed up into next year. In a few months, my number of Twitter followers went from around 350 to over 1,000...and, every time I've had an increase in Twitter followers, I never seem to lose more than 5 people after the giveaway ends. I love this program!


----------



## Guest

So glad users are loving it! Only 10 spots left on the November Giveaway! 

This month's promo is scheduled to go out to nearly a million social media users! <3


----------



## Kate.

I could definitely use some social media love! Just bought my place, looking forward to seeing the results.


----------



## A.W.Hartoin

Just got my slots for Nov and Dec. Can't wait to see what happens with my mailing list.


----------



## mrforbes

I'm not completely sure how it works yet, but I just signed up for the next 3 months based on the results mentioned here


----------



## Guest

2 spots left!

For those who are new, don't worry about a thing! We will be sending an email when things are getting started up and again when the promotion goes live and again at the end of the promotion!


----------



## Guest

Info for November went out!


----------



## Maddie_K

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Info for November went out!


Really? I thought I was signed up for November but I didn't get anything


----------



## Leif Sterling

Hi,

I want to sign up for November, but I can't find the buy button anywhere.

I am on this page:
http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/cart-2/

This shortcode is at the bottom of the text "[woocommerce_cart]". Is something wrong with your WooCommerce?

Thanks!
_*~Leif Sterling~*_


----------



## Guest

Maddie_K said:


> Really? I thought I was signed up for November but I didn't get anything


I definitely have you. But you put your first name in the name box and your last name in the email box, so I didn't have an email for you  If you want to email me [email protected] I can forward you the email I sent out


----------



## Guest

My head is going to explode. Woocommerce disappeared from my site   I have to reset everything up. This will take a few hours. Sorry.


----------



## Guest

False alarm  It got deactivated somehow, but once I reactivated it, everything came back. WHEW! 

November is full, we are scheduling for December now.


----------



## Guest

We have February listings up also, INCLUDING the Single Spot for Featured Titled!


----------



## Guest

December is half booked


----------



## Marilyn Peake

I'm signed up through January for Twitter.  I'm thinking about possibly starting to build a mailing list sometime in 2015. How do authors sign up for the Kindle Giveaway to have people added to their mailing list? I've been intrigued by this every time I hear how well it's working. (The Twitter program also works really well. I've added 700 Twitter followers since I started signing up for the Kindle Giveaways.)


----------



## Guest

Marilyn Peake said:


> I'm signed up through January for Twitter. I'm thinking about possibly starting to build a mailing list sometime in 2015. How do authors sign up for the Kindle Giveaway to have people added to their mailing list? I've been intrigued by this every time I hear how well it's working. (The Twitter program also works really well. I've added 700 Twitter followers since I started signing up for the Kindle Giveaways.)


For mailing list, you would just select the mailing list option on the form. Then we collect information directly through the raffleopter and at the end, we send you your personal list of sign ups


----------



## Marilyn Peake

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> For mailing list, you would just select the mailing list option on the form. Then we collect information directly through the raffleopter and at the end, we send you your personal list of sign ups


Thanks so much for that information. I think I'll try that sometime in 2015.


----------



## Paul Kohler

I thought I'd report back to this post with my results. I chose the mailing list when i did this earlier this year. Since the list add, which was around 180 I think, more than half have unsubscribed. Take today for instance - I sent out a newsletter (which I send out no more than once a month) and announced a new release coming up on 11/25, and then offered the book for FREE to all my subscribers. I STILL got 3 unsubscribes in the first 4 hours. 

I think this a great "idea", but the value of those subscribers is questionable. I would rather have half of the subscribers that want to be there, as opposed to all those that just jumped on for a chance to win a Kindle. They are not true fans. Just my .02 worth.


----------



## scottmarlowe

Paul Kohler said:


> I thought I'd report back to this post with my results. I chose the mailing list when i did this earlier this year. Since the list add, which was around 180 I think, more than half have unsubscribed. Take today for instance - I sent out a newsletter (which I send out no more than once a month) and announced a new release coming up on 11/25, and then offered the book for FREE to all my subscribers. I STILL got 3 unsubscribes in the first 4 hours.
> 
> I think this a great "idea", but the value of those subscribers is questionable. I would rather have half of the subscribers that want to be there, as opposed to all those that just jumped on for a chance to win a Kindle. They are not true fans. Just my .02 worth.


I think your experience echos what I was wondering about earlier in the thread. I, however, have yet to test out how 'sticky' my subscribers wind up being. I have a new release in the works, though, so I'll find out soon.

If nothing else, it's a bit more exposure than I had before the promotion, and I appreciate the effort that goes into setting up and maintaining this month to month.


----------



## Guest

Amazing Results This Month!!! Over 900 people entered the giveaway! Our feature author received *612 mailing list subscribers*! Other people who chose the mailing list authors received 193-243! Can't wait to see what next month brings! We have an idea that we hope will make next month even better! Thank you to all who participated!


----------



## Guest

Here is the advice I started including for the Mailing List option folks  Hope it helps!

What to do: As with any mailing list, it's up to YOU to use these emails wisely. Be engaging. Don't over-email as this increases them feeling like they are being spammed. Personally, I have the most success when I only email with 1) free gifts, 2) MAJOR news (movie deals, publishing deals, etc) and 3) ONCE for a pre-order and ONCE to announce release. If you are emailing every day, every week, etc, you may risk getting "tuned out" by anyone who isn't a die hard fan.

What to expect: Some people WILL unsubscribe. Some people WILL mark as spam, even though they signed up for it. Some emails WILL bounce. If you have participated before, some people will ALREADY be on your list--this is why I recommend rotating between this and another giveaway option. However, I guarantee if you use your email list wisely and offer a GREAT product, your sales will increase. 

My personal experience: I have been doing this for six months now. My mailing list went from 100 to 4000 and my sales went from 3-5 per email to 30-60 per email. My "ratio" is lower, but my SALES are higher, and IDK about you, but I rather sell to 1% of 10,000 (100 people) than to 10% of 100 (10 people)! 

To put into perspective, when I use BookBub, they send to a million readers, but I get maybe 200 sales. That's a very small percentage of their subscribers. This is just part of having and maintaining a mailing list 

As for getting "fans" to sign up, I always suggest people cross post the giveaway to their blog/facebook/twitter. Your fans on those platform may need incentive to join your mailing list, and a mailing list is the MOST direct way to reach them. For example, I have 104,000 twitter followers, but they don't all see my tweets because they might not be on when I'm tweeting or they might be following a lot of people or too busy to click my link and then lose it. When I post something more eye-catching (a chance to win a kindle!) they stop what they are doing. This is a great opportunity for people to offer a kindle giveaway for $10 a month instead of $140 a month all out of their own pocket. They can use the giveaway as a tool to get their fans to follow them on more than one platform. For those who have studied marketing, you also know how important it is for the SAME person to see your book in MULTIPLE places before they buy. Get your twitter fans on your FB page, your FB fans on your mailing list, etc. This is a tool to bring you NEW readers AND to get and maintain the attention of your existing fans as well.


----------



## Rin

Paul Kohler said:


> I thought I'd report back to this post with my results. I chose the mailing list when i did this earlier this year. Since the list add, which was around 180 I think, more than half have unsubscribed. Take today for instance - I sent out a newsletter (which I send out no more than once a month) and announced a new release coming up on 11/25, and then offered the book for FREE to all my subscribers. I STILL got 3 unsubscribes in the first 4 hours.


I've done the mailing list once, and will be doing it again next year - when I got my new subscribers, I sent that new segment a welcome email with a free book - so that they had an introduction to me before telling them about a new release. Worked fairly well, I had about 50 downloads (from a list segment of 160).


----------



## Guest

Rin said:


> I've done the mailing list once, and will be doing it again next year - when I got my new subscribers, I sent that new segment a welcome email with a free book - so that they had an introduction to me before telling them about a new release. Worked fairly well, I had about 50 downloads (from a list segment of 160).


I love this idea <3 It's great to connect with new people before throwing things at them hehe


----------



## batmansero

I've never tried to send a newsletter to a 'segment' on mailchimp.  How do you do it?  How does it know who is in what segment?


----------



## Mark E. Cooper

I haven't tried this promo, so please take my words as opinion okay? So, I have run my own giveaways to get sign ups for mailing lists in the past. I have used rafflecopter and similar word press widgets. What I have learned is the following:

1. Giving away intangibles such as ebooks and audiobooks get around 200 sign ups, and a few dozen likes and tweets
2. Giving away Kindles get 1000s of sign ups (yay!) and tons of tweets, a few dozen FB likes
3. Combining both (pre-loading the kindle with your own books) works the best. Same numbers of signups as (2), but follow on sales are better.

BUT... you risk damaging your list. If you send an email and get 100s of unsubs, watch out! Your account can be closed for that. How do you mitigate the risk? Two ways: Segment your list into "normal" and "giveaway" segments, or better still, have the giveaways sign up to a separate list entirely. I have a separate giveaway list for this reason.

After a giveaway, I send a "results" email to them. Saying thanks, and that Jane Doe of xyz won the Kindle Voyage. Stay tuned for more giveaways coming soon blah blah. Oh and PS, is anyone interested in joining my new release newsletter? I give a link, and some of the giveaway peeps join my main list. Safer done that way I think. I cannot afford to mess up my main list.

Anyway, as I said, I haven't tried the promo in this thread, but I think there are takeaways for any rafflecopter type giveaway that are relevant. I'm running my Christmas one right now in fact.


----------



## Guest

I use MadMimi. I never have a problem  If anyone has a problem with mailchimp at any point in the future, I'm pretty sure all you have to do is prove that they asked to be on your newsletter/where they came from. You can email us at that time and we will chop up the rafflecopter export and send you just your submissions to they can see them. Or better yet, you can just have them contact us directly for proof of sign up request. We are very, very careful with how our giveaways are arranged (for legal reasons). 

As a tip to anyone hosting these giveaways on their own, remember to put a note somewhere on the giveaway giving them the option to email you for an entry spot. There needs to be a "free entry" (as in no purchase necessary and doing nothing of value to you (such as joining your mailing list) otherwise the giveaway is illegal. This is why we have the option in our Terms of Service to email us for an entry. 

So far, doing this 6 months, my mailing list has not become messed up in any way. If you have any concerns, I recommend selecting a different option: Facebook like, Twitter Follow, Thunderclap support, etc. Facebook likes seem to get a lot of action


----------



## Rin

April Ryder said:


> I've never tried to send a newsletter to a 'segment' on mailchimp. How do you do it? How does it know who is in what segment?


New campaign -> Select List -> Send to a new segment -> Then you get a bunch of options, I just use "added since last campaign".


----------



## scottmarlowe

Rin said:


> I've done the mailing list once, and will be doing it again next year - when I got my new subscribers, I sent that new segment a welcome email with a free book - so that they had an introduction to me before telling them about a new release. Worked fairly well, I had about 50 downloads (from a list segment of 160).


That is an excellent idea. I just got another couple hundred subscribers, so I think I'll try this before I send anything about the next release.


----------



## Rin

scottmarlowe said:


> That is an excellent idea. I just got another couple hundred subscribers, so I think I'll try this before I send anything about the next release.


^_^ Glad to be of help.


----------



## Kate.

Thanks Rin, I'll try that as well!

I had the 193 signups - and I'm thrilled! It's better than I'd hoped, especially for a bronze sponsorship. Do you notice much of a difference between the bronze and silver in number of subscriptions, Rebecca?

There were also a couple of borrows on my book during the first week that I suspect might have come from the promo, which is very exciting. I'm giving it another go next month!


----------



## Guest

Darcy said:


> Thanks Rin, I'll try that as well!
> 
> I had the 193 signups - and I'm thrilled! It's better than I'd hoped, especially for a bronze sponsorship. Do you notice much of a difference between the bronze and silver in number of subscriptions, Rebecca?
> 
> There were also a couple of borrows on my book during the first week that I suspect might have come from the promo, which is very exciting. I'm giving it another go next month!


<3


----------



## Guest

Maisy said:


> Now that like-gating isn't allowed on Facebook, how are you handling the facebook like part of the giveaway?


As far as we've been told, our giveaways are safe for this as liking a page is not REQUIRED. Facebook doesn't like the illegal approach to gaining likes with giveaways. It's important to have a "free entry" option. Now, if Rafflecopter removes the like option to prevent people from abusing the feature, then we'll have to take another approach, obviously


----------



## Guest

I read the latest update!

http://blog.rafflecopter.com/2014/11/fan-gate-alternatives/

We will be using their Facebook alternative of "visiting" and will find a way to encourage people to "like" within the new guidelines 

We have emailed everyone who was already signed up for the facebook like option the opportunity to switch to another option. There weren't many signed on for that option 

Thanks.


----------



## Guest

Darcy said:


> Thanks Rin, I'll try that as well!
> 
> I had the 193 signups - and I'm thrilled! It's better than I'd hoped, especially for a bronze sponsorship. Do you notice much of a difference between the bronze and silver in number of subscriptions, Rebecca?
> 
> There were also a couple of borrows on my book during the first week that I suspect might have come from the promo, which is very exciting. I'm giving it another go next month!


I missed your question, sorry! The range this time was 193-243 -- the higher up on the form, the more attention, but there's not a huge difference


----------



## Kate.

Thanks! I'm glad even the bronze slots get a good amount of attention. I haven't sent an email yet so I'm not sure how many will unsubscribe, of course, but it would only take five sales of a new release $2.99 title to make back the sponsorship cost. It looks to me like this is one of the better promotion options out there.


----------



## Guest

We have 18 spots left for December


----------



## Guest

When should we expect the confirmation email? Thanks.


----------



## Jerri Kay Lincoln

I signed up.  How and where do I give you information on the book?


----------



## Guest

Jerri Kay Lincoln said:


> I signed up. How and where do I give you information on the book?


I can answer this. When you go back to the site after PP confirms your payment, there is a link to a document on Google Docs. Fill in that info. (FYI, if you're using a pen name, as I did, you might want to put the PP payment ID instead of your email address, since everything you put on the form is accessible to others who have signed up too.)


----------



## Patty Jansen

I just paid for an ad, but the google form won't submit. I can't see anything wrong with it, and it gives me no reason.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> I just paid for an ad, but the google form won't submit. I can't see anything wrong with it, and it gives me no reason.


Strange indeed. Email freekindl[email protected] and I will take your info and put it in manually for you. Very sorry for this. Never had this problem before, so if anyone else has it, please let me know so I can look into any possible cause.


----------



## Guest

:-x said:


> I can answer this. When you go back to the site after PP confirms your payment, there is a link to a document on Google Docs. Fill in that info. (FYI, if you're using a pen name, as I did, you might want to put the PP payment ID instead of your email address, since everything you put on the form is accessible to others who have signed up too.)


I believe the new forms are private (Dec, Jan) please let me know if not!

Everyone should have received an email confirmation by now. I will push through a second one manually right now. If you haven't received one in the next 15 minutes, please email [email protected] to let me know. Thanks!


----------



## batmansero

I got confused (it happens often) so emailed you to confirm whether you have all my details.  I also couldn't remember what email address I'd signed up with, so if you receive something from an address that doesn't match your records, that's me.  I helpfully included book/author/link details in the body of my email though


----------



## Guest

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I believe the new forms are private (Dec, Jan) please let me know if not!
> 
> Everyone should have received an email confirmation by now. I will push through a second one manually right now. If you haven't received one in the next 15 minutes, please email [email protected] to let me know. Thanks!


Dec. Wasn't private as of yesterday afternoon.

And still no confirmation email as of 3am mdt. Will email you later today.


----------



## vkloss

Are there any December slots left?


----------



## Guest

:-x said:


> Dec. Wasn't private as of yesterday afternoon.
> 
> And still no confirmation email as of 3am mdt. Will email you later today.


I'll look into it. Says private on my end.

Sound people are getting double confirmations and others are getting nothing? can you please also check your spam and promotion folders?


----------



## Guest

vkloss said:


> Are there any December slots left?


10 spots left for December.


----------



## Ty Johnston

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> 10 spots left for December.


Just sent payment and form. So ... 9 now?


----------



## Guest

Ty Johnston said:


> Just sent payment and form. So ... 9 now?


Yes, 9 now. The website keeps inventory.


----------



## Guest

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I'll look into it. Says private on my end.
> 
> Sound people are getting double confirmations and others are getting nothing? can you please also check your spam and promotion folders?


It says it came in at 11:41 this morning. Some weird delay. Anyway, I got the confirmation email. Thanks.


----------



## Guest

:-x said:


> It says it came in at 11:41 this morning. Some weird delay. Anyway, I got the confirmation email. Thanks.


Very strange indeed! I was sleeping at that time lol


----------



## Guest

1 spot left!


----------



## Guest

Now booking for January!


----------



## jegarlick

I think I applied for this...does anyone know if you get notified? Or if it just happens? Do you get word back if you are only on it, or if you are not on it too? Thanks. J


----------



## trublue

jegarlick said:


> I think I applied for this...does anyone know if you get notified? Or if it just happens? Do you get word back if you are only on it, or if you are not on it too? Thanks. J


if you they still have space then you would be taken to the paypal link. If you paid, they would get back to you in a few hours or the next day. At least thats what's always happened when I sign up with them.


----------



## jegarlick

Oh, thanks... I think I must have messed up then...sigh.


----------



## jegarlick

Ok...NOW I've signed up. Do you have to ask for them to activate certain features i.e.: mailing list? Or do they all activate once you've paid and are one the list. Sorry, first timer. Not understanding.


----------



## Guest

jegarlick said:


> I think I applied for this...does anyone know if you get notified? Or if it just happens? Do you get word back if you are only on it, or if you are not on it too? Thanks. J


You're on the form so you're on the promotion! You already paid, and you're already on the site, your facebook post is scheduled, your in the email, and we'll have tweets loaded soon! I usually send out a email just before. Running behind from the holidays so not getting that out until now


----------



## Guest

jegarlick said:


> Ok...NOW I've signed up. Do you have to ask for them to activate certain features i.e.: mailing list? Or do they all activate once you've paid and are one the list. Sorry, first timer. Not understanding.


Sorry for the unusual delay! We will take care of everything based on what you sent on the form! We hunt down what we need if need be and only bother you for more info if we absolutely need it. I know it may seem almost too easy, like you're missing something, but that's only because we are trying to do as much of the work FOR you as possible!


----------



## AA.A

Can anyone give some feedback on this? Empact on Sales? Mail list?


----------



## Guest

Ahmad_Ardalan said:


> Can anyone give some feedback on this? Empact on Sales? Mail list?


If you read through the thread, a lot of people have shared the impact on their mailing list, facebook, and twitter. As for sales, we are not directly focused on that. That would happen as a by-product to building your platform. I can say that I went from selling a few books from each mailing to selling 30-60 per mailing. It's worth noting my sales-per-capita is lower, but there are just so many followers now that the total sales is higher.

In other words, I would sell 10 copies to a mailing list of 100
or I would sell 30-60 copies to a mailing list of 4000.

The percentage is lower, but the total sales is higher. Sort of like using an Mailing List service, only you are creating your own.


----------



## AA.A

Just done! Silver tier, mail list!


----------



## scottmarlowe

Just curious...what's the most entries you've seen for a giveaway? I pushed it pretty hard yesterday on Twitter, my blog, and Google+, so hope that helped.


----------



## Guest

scottmarlowe said:


> Just curious...what's the most entries you've seen for a giveaway? I pushed it pretty hard yesterday on Twitter, my blog, and Google+, so hope that helped.


Thank you for helping! We had almost 1,000 total entrants (individuals) last month! Though the "average" number of "actions" each person gets is usually about 150-300. Our feature titles seem to get all entrants. I am really hoping we can grow every month! Fingers crossed this month is bigger and better than last!


----------



## Rin

This month's results!

142 names, of which 108 were new.  I've just sent a campaign to this new segment, with a free copy of Mirrorfall. *crosses fingers for downloads*


----------



## Lisa Grace

I'd like to sign up two separate books for the January campaign. Can you provide the link? Thank you.


----------



## Guest

Average Mailing List sign ups were 132 - 454! We had 915 participants this month, 418 of which were new 

I am not sure how the facebook likes went. We have over 130 new, despite it being a "visit" option now.

As for sales, we continue to promote the book throughout the month, but we had TONS of clicks and a few purchases:
12 Days of Christmas: Naughty or Nice?
All the Lonely People: British Detective Series (Rafferty & Llewellyn cozy mystery Book 12)
Holding Holly: A Love and Football Novella
Hope for Her (Hope Series Book 1)
Noah Mitchell (Mitchell - Healy Series Book 1)
Isabella (Mitchell - Healy Series Book 2)
Lullaby (Book of Dreams 1)
Misguided (A Death Dwellers MC Novel)
OUTLAW REVENGE (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel)
Shimmy for Me: A Novella (California Belly Dance Book 1)
The Darkbow Collection - Six Epic Fantasy Novels (The Kobalos Trilogy, and The Horrors of Bond Trilogy)
The Release Club 1: Jezebel & Daire (The Brown Bag Series)
Write to Success (A Guide to Self-Publishing by Eight NYT & USA Today Bestselling Authors)

Some of these books might not have been from the promotion, but I am including them all as I am not sure if they are from the authors who participated. These are just the sales that Amazon logged for us from our promotional efforts so far this month. I know direct sales are not the goal here; the goal is to create a larger long term fan base and gain new exposure. But the sales that do occur are still nice 

New Sponsors can sign up here: 
http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/sponsor-sign-up/

You need a unique sponsorship for each book/rafflecopter option.


----------



## Lisa Grace

Okay, found the sign up sheet on page one OP post. Done. 

Personally, I picked the mailing list option as I fear other sites charging to be effective like FB, fear they will die overnight, like My Space, or slide into being irrelevant to shrinking groups Twitter vs. Instagram.


----------



## Rin

LisaGrace said:


> Personally, I picked the mailing list option as I fear other sites charging to be effective like FB, fear they will die overnight, like My Space, or slide into being irrelevant to shrinking groups Twitter vs. Instagram.


I know I've said this a few times in during this thread, but mailing list can be great - you can get some good immediate engagement by sending a welcome email to those new subscribers (free books help too  ).


----------



## Moist_Tissue

Pardon my ignorance--I'm just now reading through this thread. I have two books that I will be releasing in January. Do you only promote books that have already been released? I read the requirements for a Gold Level slot, so I wasn't sure if that applied to all levels.


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> Pardon my ignorance--I'm just now reading through this thread. I have two books that I will be releasing in January. Do you only promote books that have already been released? I read the requirements for a Gold Level slot, so I wasn't sure if that applied to all levels.


We have promoted many upcoming authors.


----------



## scottmarlowe

This promotion worked out well for me once more. 146 sign-up's, 96 of which were new. I've added about 300 subscribers to my list over the past 3 months I've been participating, putting my list at just over 500 emails now.

Based on a previous comment by Rin (thanks, Rin!), I sent a 'welcome' email to new subscribers, thanking them for signing up, explaining a bit about me, and, of course, a few freebies to get familiar with my writing. I even tossed in a notification about an ongoing sale on some of my other books (something I normally don't use the list for, but I figured since I'm already contacting them, might as well).

The proof, I think, is in the retention rate, which I'll know about soon enough.


----------



## Guest

Hope it works out for you  I get some unsubs and also some bounced emails, however, I use my mailing list every month, and it's now at 4400, so the numbers definitely keep going up, and I would say I am retaining most sign ups! My open rate / interaction rate is lower than when the subscribers were all personal friends and fans (about 100 dedicated people) however, the total number of people interacting and purchasing has gone UP. I guess it's like that bookbub thing. They mail MILLIONS of people for you, but only a small, small fraction actually buy your book.


----------



## Moist_Tissue

I added my tweet but I didn't include a shorten URL. I have two slots. I can edit one of the slots, but I need to be able to edit the other. Is there a way?


----------



## delly_xo

Hi there! I signed up, but never got an email....


----------



## Guest

delly_xo said:


> Hi there! I signed up, but never got an email....


Did you check your spam folder? I can try generating another one but if you didn't get the first one you might not get the second one either. I can try sending another way as well, but chck your spam folder first and let me know, please. If it's gmail, it could also be in the "promotions" tab.


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> I added my tweet but I didn't include a shorten URL. I have two slots. I can edit one of the slots, but I need to be able to edit the other. Is there a way?


I can edit it for you if you need. Please email me [email protected] and let me know which month you signed up for and what name you entered. I don't see a Conan Doyle for January.


----------



## Moist_Tissue

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I can edit it for you if you need. Please email me [email protected] and let me know which month you signed up for and what name you entered. I don't see a Conan Doyle for January.


Just sent you an email.


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> Just sent you an email.


All sorted now


----------



## delly_xo

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Did you check your spam folder? I can try generating another one but if you didn't get the first one you might not get the second one either. I can try sending another way as well, but chck your spam folder first and let me know, please. If it's gmail, it could also be in the "promotions" tab.


it was in my spam folder - thanks !


----------



## Scottish Lass

scottmarlowe said:


> This promotion worked out well for me once more. 146 sign-up's, 96 of which were new.


I had similar results; 130 new sign-ups to add to the 140+ I got in July.

That was just for the basic $10 spot, so I'm happy with that


----------



## Guest

We have 16 basic spots left for January, which is shaping up to be another amazing promotion


----------



## Kirkee

Hi Rebecca,

Sent you PM. Paid my $20 for Fifty Shades of Tinsel, etc. What's my next step? 
Thanks.


----------



## Guest

Kirkee said:


> Hi Rebecca,
> 
> Sent you PM. Paid my $20 for Fifty Shades of Tinsel, etc. What's my next step?
> Thanks.


replied to PM, but the form should be emailed to you from our system. If it's not in your spam or promotional folder, etc, let us know!


----------



## Moist_Tissue

I am participating the January promo, and I am thinking of doing my own giveaway the week after my books to release. Is it possible to have a giveaway that requires the person to do certain steps, like adding my Twitter account, leaving a review on Goodreads or their blog, or liking my facebook page? The more steps they do, the more draws in a giveaway?


----------



## theaatkinson

my first time participating. hope I did everything right....


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> I am participating the January promo, and I am thinking of doing my own giveaway the week after my books to release. Is it possible to have a giveaway that requires the person to do certain steps, like adding my Twitter account, leaving a review on Goodreads or their blog, or liking my facebook page? The more steps they do, the more draws in a giveaway?


On our giveaway, you get 1 entry per slot you pay for. Entries can be adding a book on goodreads, following a twitter account, visiting a facebook page, supporting a thunderclap campaign, etc. Yes, they get a new entry for each one. We don't do leaving a review, sorry. However, if you run your own giveaway, you can do anything you want, of course!


----------



## Guest

11 spots left for January!


----------



## Guest

9 spots left now, all Bronze ($10 without boost, $20 with)

http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/product/january-giveaway-sponsorship/


----------



## batmansero

I wanted to share the results of my participating in this giveaway in the hopes that it helps others.

I did the December one for newsletter sign up and provided a two day freebie.  I received 147 email addresses and 5 days ago sent them--and only them--a newsletter explaining how they had signed up to my newsletter via the free giveaway site.  Told them if they had no interest that they wouldn't hurt my interest if they unsubscribed and then offered those who chose to stay on the list a free copy of another ebook to download.  Also included links to other books.  FYI: anyone of them could have downloaded the freebie as I provided the link then and there.

Results:

145 emails received
2 emails bounced
82 opened emails
5 unsubscribed (1 no longer interested / 4 unspecified)
25 people downloaded freebie (plus one person downloading twice)
1 person clicked on another book link

This is just the results of this newsletter campaign over 5 days.  I don't know if any are being converted to true fans or just or are just there for freebies.  Those 25 though might go on to buy the next in the series of the freebie, but I don't have any way of knowing as the next book is not yet released so there is no smart link to track...yet.


----------



## Guest

Thank you for sharing your results, April!


----------



## Rin

April Ryder said:


> This is just the results of this newsletter campaign over 5 days. I don't know if any are being converted to true fans or just or are just there for freebies. Those 25 though might go on to buy the next in the series of the freebie, but I don't have any way of knowing as the next book is not yet released so there is no smart link to track...yet.


I've had a lot of luck with not too many people unsubscribing the months later - I only lose about five per month.


----------



## Guest

Rin said:


> I've had a lot of luck with not too many people unsubscribing the months later - I only lose about five per month.


This is my experience, too  The retention rate has been pretty good!


----------



## Guest

We have 6 bronze spots left for January  Everyone who received a kindle for a holiday gift will be looking for books and getting this newsletter, and everyone who didn't get the kindle they were hoping for will be entering to win! Can't wait to see how this month goes!


----------



## Guest

5 spots left 
http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/product/january-giveaway-sponsorship/


----------



## Guest

2 spots left


----------



## Moist_Tissue

This runs the first week of January?


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> This runs the first week of January?


It does! Next one runes first week of February.


----------



## Guest

Getting everything ready for January 1st! Get ready for the awesome


----------



## Moist_Tissue

Looking forward to the start of this. Nice group of book covers!


----------



## Guest

We are doing an extra promotional boost this month with this promotion. If it's effective we will include it in future months also.


----------



## Guest

We already have more entrants in this week's campaign (on day 3) than we had in all of last month's campaign (7 days). Hoping it keeps up steam <3


----------



## Guest

We had a 20% increase in the giveaway so far this month from last <3


----------



## Guest

I'm wrapping up the raffle now and will be emailing those who selected the mailing list option with their sign ups


----------



## Guest

MAILING LIST RESULTS
For those who selected the mailing list option, your lists have been sent. This was a GREAT month. Our authors received between 227 and 320 mailing list subscribers each!

Even though our promotion is not geared for sales (it's for building your audience to lead to sales down the road) we have sold 44 books so far this month. Our tweets will continue to go out all month long. 

Thank you to everyone who helped make this promotion a success!


----------



## Rin

Over 100 FB Likes and...

308 mailing list sign ups! Of which, around 210 were new - sent a free books to all the newbies, so we'll see how it goes. ^_^


----------



## Guest

Rin said:


> Over 100 FB Likes and...
> 
> 308 mailing list sign ups! Of which, around 210 were new - sent a free books to all the newbies, so we'll see how it goes. ^_^


Love that you got so many new sign ups! Good luck sending out the freebie <3 Also glad that we have been able to get the Facebook "Likes" in


----------



## Kate.

235 subscribers for me, which I'm stoked about!


----------



## JR.

> - One raffle slot worth 1 point.


What's a raffle slot? What is one point worth?


----------



## Rin

JR. said:


> What's a raffle slot? What is one point worth?


The giveaway is run via rafflecopter - each slot on raffflecopter is one action (mailing list, Facebook, etc). For each action, the entrant gets a point (or points) towards winning the prize.


----------



## Guest

32 spots left for February!


----------



## JR.

Thanks, Rin. Definitely interested in the March run, if a March 1st release is okay. Otherwise April.


----------



## Guest

March is up on the site, and we accept books pre-release, new release, and existing titles


----------



## Guest

28 spots left for February


----------



## Guest

We are at 48 book sales for this month too, thanks to the tweets we send out month long promoting everyone's work. As a reminder, to those participating, be sure to include hashtags in your tweets to extend the reach. Everything is tweeted through win freekindlegiveaways it's also tweeted to my personal acct, so it's going out to over 106,000 Twitter users!


----------



## Kate.

Just to let you know, Rebecca, Google Forms is letting us see the other submissions, including email addresses.


----------



## delly_xo

I am SO signing up again! You guys got me 227 mailing list subscribers...before I had only 8!  Woo hoo!!! Thanks for a great service


----------



## Guest

Darcy said:


> Just to let you know, Rebecca, Google Forms is letting us see the other submissions, including email addresses.


Thank you. I will change the settings. Not sure why this is happening. Hoping in 2015 we can get a site redesign that includes hosting submissions on our own database.


----------



## Guest

I cannot seem to find how to change this  Even when I googled for a solution, what they said was the solution isn't an option on my screen--maybe they removed that option? Does anyone have up-to-date directions on how to do this? Or, alternatively, a recommendation for a different form submission to use in the meantime?


----------



## delly_xo

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I cannot seem to find how to change this  Even when I googled for a solution, what they said was the solution isn't an option on my screen--maybe they removed that option? Does anyone have up-to-date directions on how to do this? Or, alternatively, a recommendation for a different form submission to use in the meantime?


Hi there - maybe what you can do is create a survey through surveymonkey.com to gather the information? that way it won't be visible to anyone but you?


----------



## RubyMadden

Hey Everyone! I thought would share some results. I participated in the Jan giveaway. Due to jumping in late, I was the LAST Rafflecopter author. I opted to have participants sign up for my email/newsletter list. I'm VERY pleased with the results.

257 total new subscribers
6 bounces
1 unsubscribe (so far, dead serious... I had anticipated more, but not so far) _*1/25 update = 5 unsubscribes after 3 campaigns, still much lower than expected!_
50% open rate
25% click-through rate (I provided 5 free copies of eBooks) 
4 new ARRC members (I have an advance-read-review-copy program for those interested)

Would I recommend? Absolutely!
Will I do again? Yes, in a couple months!

Cheers,

Ruby


----------



## Guest

delly_xo said:


> Hi there - maybe what you can do is create a survey through surveymonkey.com to gather the information? that way it won't be visible to anyone but you?


Thank you! I'm going to look into that now


----------



## Guest

RubyMadden said:


> Hey Everyone! I thought would share some results. I participated in the Jan giveaway. Due to jumping in late, I was the LAST Rafflecopter author. I opted to have participants sign up for my email/newsletter list. I'm VERY pleased with the results.
> 
> 257 total new subscribers
> 6 bounces
> 1 unsubscribe (so far, dead serious... I had anticipated more, but not so far)
> 50% open rate
> 25% click-through rate (I provided 5 free copies of eBooks)
> 4 new ARRC members (I have an advance-read-review-copy program for those interested)
> 
> Would I recommend? Absolutely!
> Will I do again? Yes, in a couple months!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Ruby


So glad you had the great results you deserve


----------



## Guest

We have 1 Silver Spot left for February and 20 Bronze Spots left


----------



## Guest

18 bronze spots left


----------



## Guest

15 bronze spots left


----------



## hayley

Just signed up


----------



## Guest

hayley said:


> Just signed up


glad to have you <3


----------



## Guest

12 bronze spots left


----------



## Guest

11 spots left


----------



## Stewart Matthews

I wasn't sure what a "ready to go" tweet was, so I took a best guess. Did I guess right?


----------



## hardnutt

Just signed up for one Bronze spot in February, and two Silvers, in March and May respectively.

Many thanks for this.


----------



## Guest

M Stephen Stewart said:


> I wasn't sure what a "ready to go" tweet was, so I took a best guess. Did I guess right?


Looks perfect!

Glad to have you both


----------



## trublue

hey!

I entered for last month and the month before that but I don't have a list of the readers who sub my mailing list. Should I check again or did i miss it? Want to make sure its not in spam somewhere: )


----------



## hardnutt

If I remember rightly, I was sent an email by Rebecca and I imported the email addresses straight into my Mailchimp subscriber list, which I then exported to my computer.

But I'm sure she'll explain, without the addleheaded extra from moi!


----------



## Guest

trublue said:


> hey!
> 
> I entered for last month and the month before that but I don't have a list of the readers who sub my mailing list. Should I check again or did i miss it? Want to make sure its not in spam somewhere: )


You should have received an email from me. Yes, you should check your spam folder! If it's not there, you can email at [email protected] with your email that you participated with, and I can search my mailbox for previously sent mailing list subscribers and reforward them to you. Since you would have emailed me at that point, it would go to your inbox for sure


----------



## trublue

Hey!

Sent you an email!
Thx


----------



## Guest

trublue said:


> Hey!
> 
> Sent you an email!
> Thx


I had a different email for you  I just forwarded to your other email now. Let me you if they come through!


----------



## Guest

Only a few spots left for February <3


----------



## Guest

ONE spot left!


----------



## Guest

February is Booked. We have openings in March.


----------



## Claire Frank

I'm giving this a shot for March! Thanks!


----------



## theaatkinson

is there a march link? 
pfft. I'm a ninny. Found it on the first page of posts. signed on for my second round. wooot


----------



## hardnutt

I'm in February's giveaway. My second - I should have asked this last time, but do I just copy and paste the rafflecopter code into whatever blog post I do?

Also, should I blog about it today? Only I got the impression everything happens on the 15 of the month as that's what I understood from my order summary.

Thanks.


----------



## hardnutt

Rebecca,

Forgot to say before, but for my first promo with you in December, my email subscribers increased from 74 to 221!

I see that others on this thread actually send a freebie to their new sign-ups. I missed a trick there! Will have to remember to do it with the February subscribers.


----------



## Guest

Hello everyone. If you participated in this month's giveaway, PLEASE check your email. There was a glitch with the rafflecopter that has impacted our first day of the giveaway. You will see from our email that we are going above and beyond to rectify this problem. We hope you find our efforts adequate and will email us with any concerns. Thank you.


----------



## Guest

hardnutt said:


> I'm in February's giveaway. My second - I should have asked this last time, but do I just copy and paste the rafflecopter code into whatever blog post I do?
> 
> Also, should I blog about it today? Only I got the impression everything happens on the 15 of the month as that's what I understood from my order summary.
> 
> Thanks.


Posting is optional  But you may certainly use that code with any blog post, or f you would like to repost what is show on our website, email me [email protected] and I will send you the HTML code for easy posting


----------



## hardnutt

Thanks, Rebecca. I understand things a bit more now. I've posted both the rafflecopter code and a link to the current giveaway page in my blog post and my newsletter (now up to 252 subscribers!).

My newsletter has just gone out and I'll publish the blog post later today.

It's great to see my subscriber numbers rise at such a rate. Unheard of for me!


----------



## Guest

hardnutt said:


> Thanks, Rebecca. I understand things a bit more now. I've posted both the rafflecopter code and a link to the current giveaway page in my blog post and my newsletter (now up to 252 subscribers!).
> 
> My newsletter has just gone out and I'll publish the blog post later today.
> 
> It's great to see my subscriber numbers rise at such a rate. Unheard of for me!


So glad to hear this! We'll send the new subscribers at the end of the promotion to everyone signed up for that feature  We're also working with Rafflecopter for some other possibilities in the eventual future


----------



## Guest

Remember we added a few extra days to this month's giveaway, so subscriber info will be sent out later than usual (when the giveaway ends).


----------



## Guest

1 silver spot for march and 18 bronze spots for March left.


----------



## dotx

Bought a Bronze spot today!


----------



## Guest

dotx said:


> Bought a Bronze spot today!


Glad to have you on board!


----------



## Guest

Mailing list optioners got 196-453 subscribers this month


----------



## Guest

8 spots left for march


----------



## AisFor

Just purchased my first bronze spot!


----------



## Guest

Good luck! We have 1 spot left for March


----------



## Guest

March is full!


----------



## Guest

We have had at least 197 entrants so far, and we still have over a week left


----------



## Guest

At *minimum* 223 entrants so far this month


----------



## Guest

Here are my affiliate sales of other author's books for March 1-6 according to Amazon (this is how I track everything through the promotions).

Ebook:
Bear Witness 
Bound In Blue x2
Crying Wolf (Black River Pack Book 1)
Fearless Anthology - 12 Sizzling Stories
Fifty Shades of Jungle Fever
His Assistant, Part 3 (His Assistant Serials)
Ignite (Defy Series Book 2)
Loving the Lion: BBW Shifter Mail Order Bride Paranormal Romance (Mail-Order Mates Book 1) x2
MY BROTHER, MY RIVAL: All out of Love (A contemporary romance novel. Book1 )
Magic Touch: 12 Urban/Paranormal Fantasy Novels
Meri (Celestial Passions)
More Than a Feeling (Curves for the Rock Star 3)
Purenet: The Sanction Scifi Series (The Sanction Series Book 1)	
Rock & Release (Summer Love Series Book 1)
Shoot for the Moon (Black River Pack Book 2)
The Unicorn's Tail (The Artifact Hunters)
Vampire Nation	Third Party
Welcome to Hell Box Set: Paranormal Romantic Comedy
White Hart (White Hart series #1) x2

Print:
Dark Debt: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel
Dead Heat (Alpha and Omega)
Shifter Mates (Shifters Unbound)

Audible:
Midnight Voices
The Homing

We continue to tweet your book all month long


----------



## Guest

At least 268 participants so far this month. Can't wait to see the results for everyone!


----------



## Guest

At 277 now


----------



## Guest

192-479 Mailing List Sign Ups Each. Everyone who signed up for that option should have received the email. I will be sending a follow up email soon. I also have a special offer for April


----------



## theaatkinson

just got my results from March! 207 signups. ty!


----------



## Guest

theaatkinson said:


> just got my results from March! 207 signups. ty!


Glad you are happy with the results! We are working to improve with each giveaway


----------



## Guest

My amazon affiliate sales this month. Many of these are authors from the March Kindle Giveaway!

Dark Debt: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel
Dead Heat (Alpha and Omega)
Shifter Mates (Shifters Unbound)
Bear Witness (Pearson Security #1): A Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance
Blown Away
Bound In Blue: Book One Of The Sword Of Elements
Bound In Blue: Book One Of The Sword Of Elements
Claimed (Decadence after Dark Book 2)
Crying Wolf (Black River Pack Book 1)
Crying Wolf (Black River Pack Book 1)
Fearless Anthology - 12 Sizzling Stories
Fifty Shades of Jungle Fever (The Ghetto Girl Romance Quadrilogy Book 1)
His Assistant, Part 3 (His Assistant Serials)
Ignite (Defy Series Book 2)
Loving the Lion: BBW Shifter Mail Order Bride Paranormal Romance (Mail-Order Mates Book 1)
Loving the Lion: BBW Shifter Mail Order Bride Paranormal Romance (Mail-Order Mates Book 1)
MY BROTHER, MY RIVAL: All out of Love (A contemporary romance novel. Book1 )
Magic Touch: 12 Urban/Paranormal Fantasy Novels
Meri (Celestial Passions)
More Than a Feeling (Curves for the Rock Star 3)
Necromancer
Necromancer
Purenet: The Sanction Scifi Series (The Sanction Series Book 1)
Rock & Release (Summer Love Series Book 1)
Shoot for the Moon (Black River Pack Book 2)
Shoot for the Moon (Black River Pack Book 2)
The Unicorn's Tail (The Artifact Hunters)
Vampire Nation
Welcome to Hell Box Set: Paranormal Romantic Comedy (Mel Goes to Hell Series Book 123)
White Hart (White Hart series #1)
White Hart (White Hart series #1)


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## Guest

Remaining Spots for April:
3 Silver
22 Bronze


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## Guest

Any questions, let me know! April is soon approaching <3


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## Guest

Next 20 people to sign up can get 20% off total cart order with code

2020

At checkout!


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## Guest

Only 10 spots remain!


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## RomanceAuthor

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Only 10 spots remain!


Have you thought of doing this separately for genres (and maybe giving away a set of books instead of a kindle)? It would make the mailing list signups much more targeted.


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## Mark at Marble City

I'm in with Bronze plus boost. Thanks for the discount code!


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## Guest

RomanceAuthor said:


> Have you thought of doing this separately for genres (and maybe giving away a set of books instead of a kindle)? It would make the mailing list signups much more targeted.


Eventually with enough participating authors, we may be able to expand to genre specific lists. We do specificy the genre on the form currently. I think people would rather have a kindle than a set of books though. We try to make the prize a high value. $100+ where a set of books is into a fraction of that value. Having done this for a while, I can say it hasn't hurt me not targeting per giveaway. The targeting within the giveaway seems to be working great. I went from 5-10 sales per new release to 40-60 per new release (on mailing list days) in less than a year


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## RomanceAuthor

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Eventually with enough participating authors, we may be able to expand to genre specific lists. We do specificy the genre on the form currently. I think people would rather have a kindle than a set of books though. We try to make the prize a high value. $100+ where a set of books is into a fraction of that value. Having done this for a while, I can say it hasn't hurt me not targeting per giveaway. The targeting within the giveaway seems to be working great. I went from 5-10 sales per new release to 40-60 per new release (on mailing list days) in less than a year


You posted somewhere that your list was 5000. 60 sales means a conversion rate of 1,2%. I think that % would be higher if you offered more targeting. A set of books per genre (you can make it paperbacks. if you give away 10 paperbacks you can easily get to $100) as a prize will attract more targeted signups.

I mean, it's really, really great as an idea, I just think it's not targeted enough.


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## Guest

RomanceAuthor said:


> You posted somewhere that your list was 5000. 60 sales means a conversion rate of 1,2%. I think that % would be higher if you offered more targeting. A set of books per genre (you can make it paperbacks. if you give away 10 paperbacks you can easily get to $100) as a prize will attract more targeted signups.
> 
> I mean, it's really, really great as an idea, I just think it's not targeted enough.


Yes, but more sales is more sales  I'm not worried about conversion rate, I'm worried about sales. I find there are different people who purchase based on each of my mailings, so I don't think it's that only 60 people out of the 5000 are interested, hence why I don't put a lot of stock in conversion rates. Some of my biggest are not readers from my genre. Being able to reach them is really great, because they don't have preconceptions about the genre that I have to meet to please them. I just have to weave a good tale 

(I should probably also specify, the FKG mailing list is about 5,500. My _personal _mailing list is about 2000, mostly built through FKG, and that's where my 60 sales came from. It's still a low conversion rate, and I still am cool with that.) Additionally I might point out that I have used targeted mailing list promotions with other companies with a similar sized mailing list JUST for my genre alone, and still sold less than 60 copies with them, so their conversion rate on my particular book, even with a targeted mailing list, isn't any better. Additionally, it's worth mentioning that most people consider a conversion rate to be how many people OPEN the email, some consider it to be how many people INTERACT with the email. I never gave you that data, so you are basing you information on how many people bought my book. Most mailing list services will tell you what your conversion rate is, and they don't base it on sales. According to my mailing list provider, the conversion rate on the most recent FKG giveaway was 17% and on my most recent personal mailing list was 6% (for a paranormal sales event that included my book).

As far as prize value, 10 paperbacks might appeal to some, but $100 cash or Kindle will appeal to more. I've done the types of giveaways you are talking about, and it was just as time consuming as this, but with much smaller results. By all means, try organizing one to see. Maybe you will have better results and can start your own service using books instead of a kindle.

Also, to do a more targeted service, we would have to run multiple giveaways a month, and since it would divide the sponsors per giveaway, we would have to charge probably $100 a spot instead of $10 a spot. We do list what genre each mailing list is on the form, and people can choose which to sign up for. Splitting them up would not stop people not interested in the genre from participating either, as I've noticed when running different paranormal events. I'm sure you can find other services that are more targeted for your needs, though. Sorry we can't accommodate. You may want to consider organizing something yourself as well. A lot of authors do that with great success. IME, it does mean a much smaller scale results wise, as to achieve what you want, you have to offer free books, and for some people, that's just not enough incentive. We are trying to provide a low-cost, high-result service, and this is the best way to do it. I find it means more total sales, even if the conversion is low. Overtime, I can weed out the less efficient subscribers as well.

I will try to give an example this way.
Offer a free kindle. 1000 people enter. 100 are in my genre. 10 buy my book. Conversion - 1%
Offer a free book. 50 people enter. 50 are in my genre. 5 buy my book. Conversion - 10%
Nice conversion, but less sales. Those who want a high conversion will take one route; those who want high sales will take another.
^this is being generous, as my research indicates that higher targeting only improves conversion rate by 200%.... 200% of 1% is 2%. 2% is considered the average conversion rate. So while 1% is low, it's really not horrible. I'm pretty sure at the time I sent out a mailing for a new release, the FKG at that time was around 4000. That's a 1.5% conversion. If you are only counting my personal mailing list, which is who received the targeted mailing about my book, then my conversion rate was 3%, which is considered good 

(and when I say high sales, I only mean as it relates to large, broad mailing lists versus small, targeted mailing lists. Obviously there are more ways to get high sales. And obviously, over time you can build a large, targeted mailing list.) We got for quick, effective, efficient results. It's certainly not for everyone. But thank goodness there is such a wide variety of services out there--there's something for everyone. What may be less valuable to you may be more valuable to someone else than what you think is more valuable. To each their own


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## Guest

Mark at Marble City said:


> I'm in with Bronze plus boost. Thanks for the discount code!


You're welcome!

May is now available


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## Guest

This is going really well! Giveaway ends soon, then results will be emailed out! Then I'll get to work setting up our Special Edition Autism Awareness Giveaway for 4/14 (ish).


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## Mark at Marble City

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> You're welcome!
> 
> May is now available


I'm in.


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## Guest

Glad to have you! We've sent the follow up emails for the traditional FKG for April. We're running a special event FKG right now  I look forward to putting May's together! It's filling fast and there's a great selection participating!


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## Guest

We have 19 Bronze spots left for May, and our mailing list has grown over 1,500 subscribers this month alone!

http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/product/may-giveaway-sponsorship-bronze/


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## Guest

We just added over 800 NEW subscribed THIS WEEK! Wooooo!!!!! Can't wait to see the results for May!


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## Guest

10 spots left for May


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## Guest

We will be closing sign ups for May soon  
But this is a note that we have "restocked" the site through October!
Sorry, no gold spots available until I post for November-onward...but we have added PLATINUM spots, which get just as much action as our gold slots


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## Guest

scheduling june now  and platinum spots are going fast!


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## Mark at Marble City

Yep, in again. Results for me in April were 152 mail list sign-ups. 3 unsubscribes from my follow-up email. So 149 qualified sign-ups for a bronze slot, which looks like great VFM (YMMV).


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## Guest

Mark at Marble City said:


> Yep, in again. Results for me in April were 152 mail list sign-ups. 3 unsubscribes from my follow-up email. So 149 qualified sign-ups for a bronze slot, which looks like great VFM (YMMV).


Very glad you are having continued success! We are working to continue to grow


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## Victoria J

So, do we find out about signups after the month is over?


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## hardnutt

Hi Rebecca

I've written you an email re my booking for June, but I forgot to add that although my Rafferty & Llewellyn Boxed set lacks the requisite numer of reviews, collectively, they have ten and more four-stars. Will I still be accepted? 
Geraldine


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## Guest

Victoria J said:


> So, do we find out about signups after the month is over?


They are sent at the conclusion of the giveaway. If you were in for May, you should have them by now. If not, please email me [email protected] Thank you!


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## Guest

hardnutt said:


> Hi Rebecca
> 
> I've written you an email re my booking for June, but I forgot to add that although my Rafferty & Llewellyn Boxed set lacks the requisite numer of reviews, collectively, they have ten and more four-stars. Will I still be accepted?
> Geraldine


Our minimums are only for Gold spots, so you should be good to go!


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## Guest

Bronze Spots remaining: 12
Silver SOLD OUT
Gold SOLD OUT
Platinum Spots remaining (special edition giveaway) 9 spots remaining.


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## Guest

9 bronze spots left  Our mailing list is not 6,000+


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## Mark at Marble City

Oh yes it is!

Btw, is the May winner going to be announced on the site? I like to mention it in my follow-up mail.


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## Guest

Mark at Marble City said:


> Oh yes it is!
> 
> Btw, is the May winner going to be announced on the site? I like to mention it in my follow-up mail.


Oh, for sure! I forgot to reflect the winner on the Rafflecopter! You can see it on the website now 

8 spots left for June and 8 left for our Platinum Giveaway


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## Guest

June is almost full


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## Guest

2 bronze spots left for June  
Only 5 platinum spots left for our next platinum giveaway!


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## Guest

2 Platinum spots left and 1 bronze left!


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## Guest

I'll be closing down the option to sign up for June (only 1 spot left) tonight around 10pm EST. I'll be starting to build the giveaway for June then


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## William Meikle

I'm in for the last bronze... it's my 1st time, be gentle with me. PayPal paid and Google Docs thingie done...


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## edwardgtalbot

I'm reading the results here and checking out the site (http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/) and trying to make sure I understand what the promotion is. It sounds great.

I guess my main question is exactly what action(s) does a reader have to take to result in their email address being given to an author at the end of the promotion? Do readers express their preference for certain authors by clicking something? I assume it's not just clicking the book cover because those go to Amazon and don't require the reader to have given their email before doing so. I don't know exactly how a rafflecopter works in terms of collecting email of expressing preference for sponsors, so I can only speculate it has something to do with that.

There's a whole lot of information on your Become a Sponsor page, which is good! But I'm not really clear on the exact mechanics of how an email address winds up making its way to me as someone who is interested in my books and wants to be on my mailing list.

thanks!


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## Guest

The authors select what they want. Maybe they want a Twitter follow. That's done direct through the giveaway. Maybe they want a FB like. Well, we can do facebook visits through rafflecopter and we also give extra incentive for them to actually like the page. Thunderclap is linked to promotions on thunderclap they can choose to support. EVERY option on our giveaways is OPTIONAL so if an entrant doesn't want to like your page, follow you, support you, etc, they don't have to. Do the mailing list option specifically, they have to type their name into a box indicating they want to be added to YOUR mailing list. The form will indicate your genre as well. They can look you up before entering your email, OR they can just sign up, see what comes in their email, and decide if they want to stay subscribed. We ONLY send you the list of emails for those who SPECIFICALLY signed up to be on YOUR mailing list.  We've been doing this for I want to say about a year now? Maybe a little longer? It's worked out very well so far  Hope that helps!


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## edwardgtalbot

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> The authors select what they want. Maybe they want a Twitter follow. That's done direct through the giveaway. Maybe they want a FB like. Well, we can do facebook visits through rafflecopter and we also give extra incentive for them to actually like the page. Thunderclap is linked to promotions on thunderclap they can choose to support. EVERY option on our giveaways is OPTIONAL so if an entrant doesn't want to like your page, follow you, support you, etc, they don't have to. Do the mailing list option specifically, they have to type their name into a box indicating they want to be added to YOUR mailing list. The form will indicate your genre as well. They can look you up before entering your email, OR they can just sign up, see what comes in their email, and decide if they want to stay subscribed. We ONLY send you the list of emails for those who SPECIFICALLY signed up to be on YOUR mailing list.  We've been doing this for I want to say about a year now? Maybe a little longer? It's worked out very well so far  Hope that helps!


Thanks for the info! I only have two follow-ups:

1.I wish I'd asked a day sooner and gotten on board for June. . .
and
2.When do you open July signups? !!

thanks again


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## Guest

edwardgtalbot said:


> Thanks for the info! I only have two follow-ups:
> 
> 1.I wish I'd asked a day sooner and gotten on board for June. . .
> and
> 2.When do you open July signups? !!
> 
> thanks again


LOL! Sorry about that  July will be here before you know it, though. You can sign up for July now, if you like.

July Bronze has 23 spots left:
http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/product/july-giveaway-sponsorship-bronze/

Usually they fill up after each promo. (Thankfully) most people love the results and want to do more.


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## Marie Long

I've gone through all the pages of this thread, but I still didn't find the information I was looking for about this promo. Can someone (perhaps the OP) please explain how this 'promo' works? To my understanding, people here are signing up to be included as a RaffleCopter option for entrants to join their mailing list in order to win a free Kindle? How many of these newsletter signups are genuine fans of people's books vs. random people just looking to get a free kindle? That is what I'm wondering about. I have had the unfortunate experience with a previous giveaway with people signing up with spam/throwaway accounts that they use specifically for Rafflecopter-type giveaway entries, or they immediately unsubscribe from the list once the promo is over. How can we be sure that the signups for this promo are genuine ones from actual people who want to read our books?


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## Mark at Marble City

I can share my recent experience, if that helps. I was a sponsor in April and had 151 sign-ups. I didn't really understand the mechanism either, so I also entered the Rafflecopter as a reader and found I would gain more entry points for the free draw if I did things like "sign up" for those sponsors who had given mail list sign-up as an entry option etc. So comp entrants know what they are signing up to and which sponsor author / book they have signed up to. Those entrants don't go straight onto your mail list, they are emailed to you by TheForeverGirlSeries when the draw closes. 
I manually uploaded that list into my MailChimp with a separate list name so I can keep tabs on them. Then I sent all 151 a mail explaining exactly how I had come by their email address and exactly what I was going to send them in the future - info on new releases, special offers etc, the usual. I had 68.2% opens, 4 initial bounces, 3 unsubscribes and 1 abuse report. After the bounces ironed out, I gained 148 subscribers who stayed with me through the first mailing. Ok, so these aren't die hard fans of the sponsor author or title, but they've come a little closer than the Rafflecopter and, FWIF, Mailchimp is giviing that list 3 out of 5 stars member rating. Also it's a very reasonable cost per subscriber.


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## Marie Long

Mark at Marble City said:


> I can share my recent experience, if that helps. I was a sponsor in April and had 151 sign-ups. I didn't really understand the mechanism either, so I also entered the Rafflecopter as a reader and found I would gain more entry points for the free draw if I did things like "sign up" for those sponsors who had given mail list sign-up as an entry option etc. So comp entrants know what they are signing up to and which sponsor author / book they have signed up to. Those entrants don't go straight onto your mail list, they are emailed to you by TheForeverGirlSeries when the draw closes.
> I manually uploaded that list into my MailChimp with a separate list name so I can keep tabs on them. Then I sent all 151 a mail explaining exactly how I had come by their email address and exactly what I was going to send them in the future - info on new releases, special offers etc, the usual. I had 68.2% opens, 4 initial bounces, 3 unsubscribes and 1 abuse report. After the bounces ironed out, I gained 148 subscribers who stayed with me through the first mailing. Ok, so these aren't die hard fans of the sponsor author or title, but they've come a little closer than the Rafflecopter and, FWIF, Mailchimp is giviing that list 3 out of 5 stars member rating. Also it's a very reasonable cost per subscriber.


Thanks for your sharing your insight. I'm probably going to pass on this. I would rather have actual fans sign up, as I occasionally do things in my newsletter that involve reader participation.


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## Guest

This is a tool for those who want to sell more books. 

If you want to gain subscribers organically, you'll never do so with a giveaway. In those cases, you are looking for fans to subscribe--people who were gonna buy your book anyway. If you want to gain subscribers who might become fans, you have to target people who aren't already your fans. This is how you increase sales. 

So if you want to make NEW fans, use this. If you want existing fans to sign up for another way to be notified of your books release, and not try to reach new fans with this service, then this is not the service to use.

Not every sign up will become a fan, but some do, and if your sales go up overall on your new releases, that's the bonus. 

That said, we don't just do mailing list sign ups. We also do:
twitter follows
facebook likes
thunderclap support
etc

We also promote your book to our mailing list (think like book bub, only a LOT smaller--these people aren't YOUR fans, they are just fans of books, but they might buy a copy!) In addition to that, I promote all titles on my twitter account to about 114,000 followers ALL MONTH LONG...(when my computer is cooperating, anyway. 

The main benefit is the rafflecopter, and the rest is just a bonus I try to include  If it's not for you, it's not for you. I feel like this info is in the thread a few times as well as on the website, but since it doesn't seem to convey well, I will do my best the next time I update the site to make it a bit clearer how it all works. Thanks for your feedback!


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## Marie Long

Thanks for explaining that in detail!


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## B.J. Keeton

I decided to go for this. I have just started trying to build a base of subscribers for my mailing list, and I hope being a silver in July with a boost will help that. 

Thanks for bringing it to my attention!


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## Guest

Marie Long said:


> Thanks for explaining that in detail!


No problem <3 I've worked for publishing houses and agencies and I have helped over two dozen authors become Amazon bestsellers (and over a dozen become USA Today bestsellers). I know a thing or two about this stuff  I always find the talk on mailing lists to be really interesting. I actually wrote an article about all this on April 24th, 2015

http://beccahamiltonbooks.com/authors-and-bloggers-boost-their-social-media-and-mailing-list-by-hundreds/


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## edwardgtalbot

Just submitted New World Orders for Silver for July!


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## Guest

edwardgtalbot said:


> Just submitted New World Orders for Silver for July!


Glad to have you


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## William Meikle

Figured I'd go all in - I'm in for a Platinum in July. Paypal and form things done.


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## AmieStuart

Signing up for July!


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## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Figured I'd go all in - I'm in for a Platinum in July. Paypal and form things done.


I think you will be VERY pleased with the Platinum spot. Last one went AMAZING. Plus you basically get double action on those: Mailing List (automatic) AND a social media platform. I think value-wise they are the best deal. Not to mention you can expect 3-5x as many mailing list sign ups with that one.


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## Guest

AmieStuart said:


> Signing up for July!


glad to have you


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## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I think you will be VERY pleased with the Platinum spot. Last one went AMAZING. Plus you basically get double action on those: Mailing List (automatic) AND a social media platform. I think value-wise they are the best deal. Not to mention you can expect 3-5x as many mailing list sign ups with that one.


Looking forward to it!


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## Guest

1 Platinum Spot left on our next Platinum Giveaway!

Also 8 silver left for July and 22 bronze.


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## William Meikle

134 new subscribers successfully delivered from a June Bronze option. Thank you.

Really looking forward to the July Platinum now.


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## Guest

williammeikle said:


> 134 new subscribers successfully delivered from a June Bronze option. Thank you.
> 
> Really looking forward to the July Platinum now.


you are in for a treat 

And good news is that Platinum is ready to go! I'll be setting it up in the next few days


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## Guest

Platinum is live on the blog and goes out to the mailing list in the morning!


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## edwardgtalbot

I got the email - looks excellent!


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## ArchangelEST

Just signed up for Boosted Silver for July.


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## William Meikle

You're certainly sending plenty of likes to my FB page in this week's promo. Up 100 already. Nice work.


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## Guest

edwardgtalbot said:


> I got the email - looks excellent!


Thank you


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## Guest

williammeikle said:


> You're certainly sending plenty of likes to my FB page in this week's promo. Up 100 already. Nice work.


So glad it's kicked off nicely! Naturally I hope it continued even more than that!


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## Guest

ArchangelEST said:


> Just signed up for Boosted Silver for July.


Very glad to have you!


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## Guest

Just to update, platinum spots went from 16 remaining to 8 remaining overnight! I suspect they will sell out fast once the results are sent out of the current one. So we can probably run a platinum in July at this rate


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## Guest

July silver sold out! We still have bronze 

For anyone who has a friend sign up for July please email me their name and you will get $10 off your next silver or Platinum purchase 

[email protected]


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## William Meikle

When does the current platinum deal finish? I want to evaluate the results of this one before deciding on signing up again - but equally, I don't want to miss out...


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## Guest

williammeikle said:


> When does the current platinum deal finish? I want to evaluate the results of this one before deciding on signing up again - but equally, I don't want to miss out...


In a couple days, and your mailing list results will be sent to you then ☺

Also, I will be randomly selecting one of our July sponsors for a free "free book promotion" we are testing &#128521;


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## Julz

Hey!
I'm signed up for the July Bronze, but didn't get an email about the platinum event and am wondering if maybe I'm somehow not on the email list?
Thanks!


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## Guest

Julz said:


> Hey!
> I'm signed up for the July Bronze, but didn't get an email about the platinum event and am wondering if maybe I'm somehow not on the email list?
> Thanks!


We sometimes will email past participants if we have a special deal going on, but usually you just have to go to our website when you wish to book 

Here is the link to Platinum:
http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/product/platinum-giveaway-march-of-dimes-2/

We have just 7 spots left. When the current Platinum ends, we will email the authors who participated in that and remind them we have another one coming up. Usually that's when our stock ends up running low, though because of the results on our last two promos, it seems we sold more than half of our spots much faster than the first time.


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## Marie Long

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> No problem <3 I've worked for publishing houses and agencies and I have helped over two dozen authors become Amazon bestsellers (and over a dozen become USA Today bestsellers). I know a thing or two about this stuff  I always find the talk on mailing lists to be really interesting. I actually wrote an article about all this on April 24th, 2015
> 
> http://beccahamiltonbooks.com/authors-and-bloggers-boost-their-social-media-and-mailing-list-by-hundreds/


I had a look at your blog post, and you brought a lot of things to light. Thank you for going into such detail. I'm reconsidering trying this out, but I had an idea about this. Do you think it might be a good idea if I made a separate mailing list account specifically for giveaways like these and maybe include a link somewhere to join my main newsletter for people who might be interested in the books I write? Or do you think that would be too much of a hassle? I just don't want to inflate my main mailing list with people who aren't interested in what I do/write. I realize the marketing benefits you have with a large mailing list, even with uninterested people, but I spend a lot of time creating content for my newsletters, and I don't want my efforts to be wasted talking to brick walls/spam/throwaway email accounts....


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## edwardgtalbot

Marie Long said:


> I had a look at your blog post, and you brought a lot of things to light. Thank you for going into such detail. I'm reconsidering trying this out, but I had an idea about this. Do you think it might be a good idea if I made a separate mailing list account specifically for giveaways like these and maybe include a link somewhere to join my main newsletter for people who might be interested in the books I write? Or do you think that would be too much of a hassle? I just don't want to inflate my main mailing list with people who aren't interested in what I do/write. I realize the marketing benefits you have with a large mailing list, even with uninterested people, but I spend a lot of time creating content for my newsletters, and I don't want my efforts to be wasted talking to brick walls/spam/throwaway email accounts....


I would either create a separate list or create a separate group option for an existing list (that's what it's called in mailchimp, other lists may have different options). Either way you can target things at those readers if you want. I'm in the July giveaway and I plan to create a separate list. The real question that I haven't settled on is whether I make readers opt-in again when I add them to my list. My tentative plan is to do so and to offer them a free book for doing so, just like I offer any other subscribers. If they aren't interested in a free book from me, then they probably aren't people I want on my list. I figure if I can even net 50 subscribers this way out of the list I get, that's 40 cents per subscriber. That compares favorably to FB advertising for my list plus by this point these readers will have indicated on two separate that they're interested in me so they are a notch better than an average FB generated subscriber.


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## Marie Long

edwardgtalbot said:


> I would either create a separate list or create a separate group option for an existing list (that's what it's called in mailchimp, other lists may have different options). Either way you can target things at those readers if you want. I'm in the July giveaway and I plan to create a separate list. The real question that I haven't settled on is whether I make readers opt-in again when I add them to my list. My tentative plan is to do so and to offer them a free book for doing so, just like I offer any other subscribers. If they aren't interested in a free book from me, then they probably aren't people I want on my list. I figure if I can even net 50 subscribers this way out of the list I get, that's 40 cents per subscriber. That compares favorably to FB advertising for my list plus by this point these readers will have indicated on two separate that they're interested in me so they are a notch better than an average FB generated subscriber.


I use TinyLetter, so I'm not sure if I get the option to separate addresses by certain groups, but that sounds like a great idea. Is there an option on Mailchimp in which during the sign-up process, the user can check a box of which newsletter(s) they want to subscribe to?


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## edwardgtalbot

Marie Long said:


> I use TinyLetter, so I'm not sure if I get the option to separate addresses by certain groups, but that sounds like a great idea. Is there an option on Mailchimp in which during the sign-up process, the user can check a box of which newsletter(s) they want to subscribe to?


Marie - yes there is, that's what a group in mailchimp would do. Or if you're loading people directly like here you can just put them in the desired group option.


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## Julz

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We sometimes will email past participants if we have a special deal going on, but usually you just have to go to our website when you wish to book
> 
> Here is the link to Platinum:
> http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/product/platinum-giveaway-march-of-dimes-2/
> 
> We have just 7 spots left. When the current Platinum ends, we will email the authors who participated in that and remind them we have another one coming up. Usually that's when our stock ends up running low, though because of the results on our last two promos, it seems we sold more than half of our spots much faster than the first time.


That's awesome! Congrats!! So after I booked is there anymore information I'll need to give? I don't think I gave my mailing list information yet...will I be getting a follow-up email?


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## Guest

Julz said:


> That's awesome! Congrats!! So after I booked is there anymore information I'll need to give? I don't think I gave my mailing list information yet...will I be getting a follow-up email?
> [/quote
> 
> You will get an email with a form to fill out  It's generated automatically so be sure to check spam and "other" folders just in case.


----------



## Guest

edwardgtalbot said:


> I would either create a separate list or create a separate group option for an existing list (that's what it's called in mailchimp, other lists may have different options). Either way you can target things at those readers if you want. I'm in the July giveaway and I plan to create a separate list. The real question that I haven't settled on is whether I make readers opt-in again when I add them to my list. My tentative plan is to do so and to offer them a free book for doing so, just like I offer any other subscribers. If they aren't interested in a free book from me, then they probably aren't people I want on my list. I figure if I can even net 50 subscribers this way out of the list I get, that's 40 cents per subscriber. That compares favorably to FB advertising for my list plus by this point these readers will have indicated on two separate that they're interested in me so they are a notch better than an average FB generated subscriber.


^ This is great feedback  Also, I'm glad my blog post was helpful


----------



## Julz

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Julz said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's awesome! Congrats!! So after I booked is there anymore information I'll need to give? I don't think I gave my mailing list information yet...will I be getting a follow-up email?
> [/quote
> 
> You will get an email with a form to fill out  It's generated automatically so be sure to check spam and "other" folders just in case.
> 
> 
> 
> Perfect! Thanks!!
Click to expand...


----------



## Guest

No problem!

Just sent out the results of the Platinum Giveaway. 1,087 Mailing List Subscribers PLUS they got twitter follows or facebook likes. Not bad


----------



## Julz

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> No problem!
> 
> Just sent out the results of the Platinum Giveaway. 1,087 Mailing List Subscribers PLUS they got twitter follows or facebook likes. Not bad


Woah! In one month?! That's impressive


----------



## Guest

Julz said:


> Woah! In one month?! That's impressive


Yep! 800-1000 seems to be the average on those.


----------



## Mark at Marble City

Very happy with that 1,087 result. A big boost on twitter too. Very happy.


----------



## William Meikle

Yes, very impressive - 1000 new out of the 1087, and over 200 Facebook likes to the page. I've signed up for another Platinum, although I expect there'll be diminishing returns of a sort as many of your entrants will have already signed up now. We'll see how it goes


----------



## edwardgtalbot

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> ^ This is great feedback  Also, I'm glad my blog post was helpful


Yep  Looking forward to the July giveaway, my first one. I'm holding off on a platinum one until I see my open rate on this one, but it definitely sounds promising.


----------



## Guest

Glad to see people happy with the results! Just 3 spots to fill on the Platinum and we'll run it 

For those who participate in two platinum giveaways in a row, I'm curious to hear what your results end up being on the second one <3


----------



## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Glad to see people happy with the results! Just 3 spots to fill on the Platinum and we'll run it
> 
> For those who participate in two platinum giveaways in a row, I'm curious to hear what your results end up being on the second one <3


Me too. 

Had about 20 unsubscribers from the 1000 after sending them a newsletter... actually less than I expected, so that's all good too. And I suspect some of them will sign up again next time round, and unsubscribe again


----------



## Marilyn Peake

I cannot say enough good things about these promotions! I've participated a number of times now. My number of Twitter followers has gone from about 300 to 1,761. And my newsletter, which I only recently started, went from having 2 subscribers which were just me and my husband   to 1,096 after I did one Bronze plus Boost promotion and one March of Dimes Platinum Giveaway.


----------



## Guest

Thank you so much! I'm SO glad to be able to provide a valuable service that helps authors grow themselves <3

We have ONE Platinum spot left. WOW!


----------



## Marie Long

Okay, I will give this a try and see what happens. I'll shoot for August. I don't see the $10 platinum on the Sponsor's Page. Which one am I supposed to choose?


----------



## William Meikle

Marie Long said:


> Okay, I will give this a try and see what happens. I'll shoot for August. I don't see the $10 platinum on the Sponsor's Page. Which one am I supposed to choose?


Looks like the next platinum ( Platinums are $50) is all taken - at least according to the link I signed up through.


----------



## wezelrox

Hi - I signed up for July Bronze giveaway to see how it works and I realize now that I might not have understood properly how it works.  A few questions please.

1. When I sign up for a MAILING LIST slot, who collects the emails? I think I assumed that I did so I put my own link where it says RAFFLECOPTER LINK.  

2.  If I'm wrong, what should go in RAFFLECOPTER LINK? (And I guess that means you collect the emails?)

3. When in July does the promo start and how long does it go for?  

Sorry. I checked through the posts and the website and I couldn't find out how it works.


----------



## Guest

It usually starts on the first of the month and runs for 7-10 days 

For Facebook and Twitter ans we need the link. For mailing list we collect emails and send to you. Otherwise they would be redirecting to 30 or 40 different websites and burning out.


----------



## Marie Long

So which $10 option is everyone in this thread choosing that they're seeing high results? I'm a bit confused, since the title of this thread said $10 promo, but there's apparently a $50 option too?


----------



## Guest

Marie Long said:


> So which $10 option is everyone in this thread choosing that they're seeing high results? I'm a bit confused, since the title of this thread said $10 promo, but there's apparently a $50 option too?


The amount you pay just has to do with placement on the raffles. The $50 is a different giveaway--one that ALSO benefits charity. The $10 option is usually good for getting about 100-200 actions.


----------



## Guest

July promo goes out tomorrow morning! I've emailed all the participants with more info (nothing mandatory, just a note!)

As soon as July promo finished, I'll send out the The Pink Fund Platinum Promo! 

We've put up the next Platinum promo as well--this one to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project.


----------



## Guest

This month's giveaway is going well! Looking forward to the next Platinum!


----------



## Julz

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> This month's giveaway is going well! Looking forward to the next Platinum!


Awesome!


----------



## Guest

Julz said:


> Awesome!


Tomorrow night I will go through to handle closing up the current giveaway and begin scheduling the upcoming Platinum. The following platinum is already selling so hoping to run that one in August


----------



## Mark at Marble City

Just to share some info, I had a delta of 913 subscribers from the last platinum i.e. 913 new compared to my previous 3 bronze outings. I sent a welcome mail and had 465 opens, 41 unsubs and just 1 abuse report (so I didn't get a smack on the wrist from MailChimp). Pretty happy with all that.


----------



## Marilyn Peake

Mark at Marble City said:


> Just to share some info, I had a delta of 913 subscribers from the last platinum i.e. 913 new compared to my previous 3 bronze outings. I sent a welcome mail and had 465 opens, 41 unsubs and just 1 abuse report (so I didn't get a smack on the wrist from MailChimp). Pretty happy with all that.


My results with this promotion and my new MadMimi newsletter were similar. I'm signed up with these promotions for the next few months and am very excited to see what the final number of subscribers will be.


----------



## Marie Long

Thanks, everyone for posting your stats. I'm going to give this a try and create a new list for the giveaway, as one of the posters suggested. We'll see how things go. I bought a bronze package, as well as a platinum package. Always love to support a worthy cause


----------



## Patty Jansen

I just submitted for the Wounded Warrior project. Do I understand correctly that I don't need to enter mailing list signup as an option because I will get the addresses anyway?


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> I just submitted for the Wounded Warrior project. Do I understand correctly that I don't need to enter mailing list signup as an option because I will get the addresses anyway?


You understand correctly  It's a much more simplified process than our standard giveaways, with much BIGGER results!


----------



## Guest

Marie Long said:


> Thanks, everyone for posting your stats. I'm going to give this a try and create a new list for the giveaway, as one of the posters suggested. We'll see how things go. I bought a bronze package, as well as a platinum package. Always love to support a worthy cause


Thanks for giving it a shot! Hopefully it will benefit you


----------



## Guest

Marilyn Peake said:


> My results with this promotion and my new MadMimi newsletter were similar. I'm signed up with these promotions for the next few months and am very excited to see what the final number of subscribers will be.


Thank you both for sharing your results! I hope it continues well  I admit I'm a little bit in love the platinum giveaways at this point.


----------



## Guest

Okay, Platinum (Pink Fund) is live and the next platinum is half sold out


----------



## edwardgtalbot

I figured I'd share the results of adding folks to my list. I just sent a welcome email to them 48 hours ago. email indicated where I got their information and first thing I said was unsubscribe if they no longer wanted to receive emails. Then I offered them the free first book in my series which I use to attract list subscribers who come in through other methods like the back of my book. I included the links to download in epub or mobi right in the email, so made it as easy as possible.

Out of 144 people, I got the following:
-1 bounce
-1 unsubscribe
-0 Abuse Reports
-48.3% open rate (69 opens)
-12.3% click rate to download the book (18 users clicked)

Now, not all opens are people who actually opened the email, due to different email packages technical approach to things. But almost by any measure, a bronze is well worth it. Also, I would guess that the universe of participants is not at all weighted towards fans of action thrillers like I write, so if I got this sort of results I imagine several others genres would do better.

In about ten days I will have a 99 cent promo and I will be sending an email to the list again. This will give me a good sense of how good these prospects really are. The numbers are still small, but if I generate 4-5 sales of the 99 cent book from the list then this is a really big win. Anyone who doesn't open the second email who also didn't open the first time I will remove from my list. For those who open at least one of the first two emails, I'll follow my more standard curation process that I am still refining.

One question I have is how much change there is from month to month in the email addresses? Has anyone done two months in a row and is willing to share how many unique new emails they got the second month?


----------



## William Meikle

I'll let you know, Edward - I've got a second successive platinum running at the moment.


----------



## edwardgtalbot

williammeikle said:


> I'll let you know, Edward - I've got a second successive platinum running at the moment.


Thank-you, sir!


----------



## Mark at Marble City

I did four consecutive giveaways - April 2015 bronze + boost, May 2015 bronze, June 2015 silver, June platinum. The delta (new subscribers that weren't repeats from previous giveaways) was as follows:
April bronze + boost (first run for me) 151 subscribers
May bronze 93 new
June silver 69 new
June platinum 912 new.
Each follow-up email had open rate 50%+ and single digit unsubs, except platinum which had 41 unsubs from 471 opens.
Any way I look at this it's a very effective ROI. I'm keeping all these subs in segments of a list separate from my organic subs, but after the welcome they're behaving very similarly to the rest of my lists.
I've left it alone for July and will be in the next platinum (probably August according to FG).


----------



## Patty Jansen

I just booked a buttload of these. How do we get into the Gold sponsorship?

I also consider them very good ROI, even if you end up with 50 new subscribers each time for a simple Bronze sponsorship. I tried the Facebook advertising thing with Mark Dawson's method, but it was more expensive, more finicky and risky, and I ended up with more rubbish subscribers.


----------



## edwardgtalbot

Mark at Marble City said:


> I did four consecutive giveaways - April 2015 bronze + boost, May 2015 bronze, June 2015 silver, June platinum. The delta (new subscribers that weren't repeats from previous giveaways) was as follows:
> April bronze + boost (first run for me) 151 subscribers
> May bronze 93 new
> June silver 69 new
> June platinum 912 new.
> Each follow-up email had open rate 50%+ and single digit unsubs, except platinum which had 41 unsubs from 471 opens.
> Any way I look at this it's a very effective ROI. I'm keeping all these subs in segments of a list separate from my organic subs, but after the welcome they're behaving very similarly to the rest of my lists.
> I've left it alone for July and will be in the next platinum (probably August according to FG).


Perfect, Mark, thanks for the details!


----------



## tommy gun

I just signed up for the August giveaway.

Hoping I made it under the wire.  

Too much to do and not enough time.


----------



## Guest

edwardgtalbot said:


> Thank-you, sir!


Some people have noted this previously in the thread. I have the master list of everyone who has ever entered and I find only 20% are repeat entries. I'm actually surprised by how many NEW entrants we get each month.


----------



## Guest

Mark at Marble City said:


> I did four consecutive giveaways - April 2015 bronze + boost, May 2015 bronze, June 2015 silver, June platinum. The delta (new subscribers that weren't repeats from previous giveaways) was as follows:
> April bronze + boost (first run for me) 151 subscribers
> May bronze 93 new
> June silver 69 new
> June platinum 912 new.
> Each follow-up email had open rate 50%+ and single digit unsubs, except platinum which had 41 unsubs from 471 opens.
> Any way I look at this it's a very effective ROI. I'm keeping all these subs in segments of a list separate from my organic subs, but after the welcome they're behaving very similarly to the rest of my lists.
> I've left it alone for July and will be in the next platinum (probably August according to FG).


Thanks for sharing! This is great feedback! It is still looking good for the next platinum to go in August. It's selling fast and I suspext when people see the results that will sell out the remaining spots ✌


----------



## Guest

tomgermann said:


> I just signed up for the August giveaway.
> 
> Hoping I made it under the wire.
> 
> Too much to do and not enough time.


You are good to go! We run based on stock so if it lets you check out, you are golden &#128077;


----------



## Crystal_

Following this thread. This is something I'd love to do once I have my next series out.


----------



## Julz

edwardgtalbot said:


> I figured I'd share the results of adding folks to my list. I just sent a welcome email to them 48 hours ago. email indicated where I got their information and first thing I said was unsubscribe if they no longer wanted to receive emails. Then I offered them the free first book in my series which I use to attract list subscribers who come in through other methods like the back of my book. I included the links to download in epub or mobi right in the email, so made it as easy as possible.
> 
> Out of 144 people, I got the following:
> -1 bounce
> -1 unsubscribe
> -0 Abuse Reports
> -48.3% open rate (69 opens)
> -12.3% click rate to download the book (18 users clicked)
> 
> Now, not all opens are people who actually opened the email, due to different email packages technical approach to things. But almost by any measure, a bronze is well worth it. Also, I would guess that the universe of participants is not at all weighted towards fans of action thrillers like I write, so if I got this sort of results I imagine several others genres would do better.
> 
> In about ten days I will have a 99 cent promo and I will be sending an email to the list again. This will give me a good sense of how good these prospects really are. The numbers are still small, but if I generate 4-5 sales of the 99 cent book from the list then this is a really big win. Anyone who doesn't open the second email who also didn't open the first time I will remove from my list. For those who open at least one of the first two emails, I'll follow my more standard curation process that I am still refining.
> 
> One question I have is how much change there is from month to month in the email addresses? Has anyone done two months in a row and is willing to share how many unique new emails they got the second month?


Had almost the exact same results for my bronze in July and I write Contemporary YA  Beyond pleased with the results and definitely signing up again for August!


----------



## Guest

Pleased to see people sharing their results! 😘 Thank you!


----------



## Guest

As for those who were wondering if they signed up in time, yes, here are the remaining spots available for August:

Bronze - 16
Silver - 7
Platinum - 6


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> As for those who were wondering if they signed up in time, yes, here are the remaining spots available for August:
> 
> Bronze - 16
> Silver - 7
> Platinum - 6


How do you get into the Gold sponsorship?


----------



## William Meikle

Still seeing steady likes to the FB page, which I assume is coming from the current Platinum. What with that, and the expected sign ups when they come, I can really recommend this promotion.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> How do you get into the Gold sponsorship?


Those are sold out for the rest of the year  They tend to go within minutes of when I post them. Although, I do think Platinum is a great alternative, as those are easier to secure and give bigger results


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Still seeing steady likes to the FB page, which I assume is coming from the current Platinum. What with that, and the expected sign ups when they come, I can really recommend this promotion.


Glad to hear that! I suspect you'll be EXTREMELY pleased with the sign ups. Two days left, and the promo has been a HUGE success so far <3


----------



## NRWick

Hi Rebecca!
It's been a while since I've signed up for this. What dates do the giveaways start and end each month? I have a new release coming out on August 1st and am trying to determine if I should sign up for August or wait until September.

Thanks!!


----------



## Guest

NRWick said:


> Hi Rebecca!
> It's been a while since I've signed up for this. What dates do the giveaways start and end each month? I have a new release coming out on August 1st and am trying to determine if I should sign up for August or wait until September.
> 
> Thanks!!


It runs the 1st to the 10th


----------



## NRWick

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> It runs the 1st to the 10th


Perfect! Thank you!


----------



## Guest

NRWick said:


> Perfect! Thank you!


No problem


----------



## Patty Jansen

Still wondering how to get into the gold sponsor ship. Do I just need to be really quick or is there a special process?


----------



## JessHayek69

Ordered a Bronze for August


----------



## TromboneAl

Do you have an overview statement of how this works?

IOW, you have things like what you get, what you receive, and how the tier system works, but how about something like this:

*Every month we give away a free Kindle, and thousands of people sign up for the contest. If you become a sponsor of one of these giveaways, by donating a small amount, we will help promote your book in the ways listed below.*

That's how I've inferred that it works, based on a few minutes browsing your site. Make it easy on us time-limited folks, and orient us at the top of the page.


----------



## Matthew Eliot

Does your ebook have to be free, in order to be included in the promo? (I apologise if this is an odd question, but I had a bit of trouble understanding exactly how the promotion works).


----------



## William Meikle

TromboneAl said:


> Do you have an overview statement of how this works?
> 
> IOW, you have things like what you get, what you receive, and how the tier system works, but how about something like this:
> 
> *Every month we give away a free Kindle, and thousands of people sign up for the contest. If you become a sponsor of one of these giveaways, by donating a small amount, we will help promote your book in the ways listed below.*
> 
> That's how I've inferred that it works, based on a few minutes browsing your site. Make it easy on us time-limited folks, and orient us at the top of the page.


Alternatively, just read the first post in this thread. That's all I needed to do and I understood it just fine.


----------



## TromboneAl

Yes, and the main page makes it clearer.

BTW, it says: Very simply, the authors who sponsored this giveaway *have all pitched to cover *the cost of donations and prize

And I think you meant "pitched in" (sorry, I'm a feedback-a-holic).

I'll be signing up soon.


----------



## TromboneAl

Another question. You say:

There are three easy ways to enter our giveaways: Like the Facebook pages of the books that interest you, follow the Twitter accounts of the books you love, or join the Mailing List to learn more about new books from the authors you want to learn more about!

How do you know whether someone liked the author's FB page or subscribed to his/her mailing list?

Thanks.


----------



## Guest

I'll try to answer more in depth when I'm by on the way out the door. 

A few things for now:
We plan to update the site soon. I know it's a mess. I apologize! The service exploded faster than we expected. We have been able to keep up with the giveaways but we need to update the site without interrupting anything 

We collect entries through rafflecopter. Because we had some people "cheating" We have switched to using random.org for winner selection and going through the list the make sure the winner qualifies. That said, we can't change what people do after the giveaway--though statistics are showing us we have a pretty good retention rate with our service.

Included books can be ANY price. You literally sign up, fill out a form, and we do the rest. I'll try to streamline the process and improve our FAQ section when we redo the site 😘

good sponsorships are listed to the site when they are available. Perhaps we should create a waiting list for this service?


----------



## Violet Haze

I have signed up for August. I want to grow my mailing list so am hoping this helps!


----------



## RPJames

I signed up for August ;-) 

I too want to grow my mailing list ;-)


----------



## RPJames

Hi,

I just signed up for the Platinum package ;-)


----------



## Caddy

I just signed up for Platinum.


----------



## 555aaa

Do you do audiobooks?


----------



## Guest

555aaa said:


> Do you do audiobooks?


I see no reason we can't link to your audiobook during our promotion, but I don't know know what our subscribers read, platform wise.


----------



## Guest

TromboneAl said:


> Do you have an overview statement of how this works?
> 
> IOW, you have things like what you get, what you receive, and how the tier system works, but how about something like this:
> 
> *Every month we give away a free Kindle, and thousands of people sign up for the contest. If you become a sponsor of one of these giveaways, by donating a small amount, we will help promote your book in the ways listed below.*
> 
> That's how I've inferred that it works, based on a few minutes browsing your site. Make it easy on us time-limited folks, and orient us at the top of the page.


We already had this, but we just made the page easier to find, I hope. It says "Sponsor FAQ" now on our website. Working now on site updates to streamline things a bit to make things easier while we wait for a proper site redesign.


----------



## Guest

TromboneAl said:


> Another question. You say:
> 
> There are three easy ways to enter our giveaways: Like the Facebook pages of the books that interest you, follow the Twitter accounts of the books you love, or join the Mailing List to learn more about new books from the authors you want to learn more about!
> 
> How do you know whether someone liked the author's FB page or subscribed to his/her mailing list?
> 
> Thanks.


Also, for mailing list subscriptions, we collect the data directly, then send it to you. This way we know we have their email and that it's been given to you. We use the same email they would be contacted on if they won, and I think that is what has helped keep most of our emails good. A few bad ones still slip through, though.


----------



## Guest

Here is the updated site to hold us over until it can be done by a pro 
http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/

Here is the Sponsor FAQ (did I miss anything)?
http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/sponsors/

Which Format do you prefer for the sponsorship "store"?
http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/become-a-sponsor/
or
http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/sponsor-sign-up/

Anyone who emails me answers to these questions will receive a coupon for 20% off their next cart order as a thank you for the time taken to give feedback. 

I hope at the end of the year we can pay someone to do the site right, in the meantime, I'll be keeping an eye on what problems we have and how a proper site redesign could fix those things. Thank you!


----------



## Guest

platinum for WWP is out of stock. So we can run that soon 😍

Loaded the next platinum 😘


----------



## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> platinum for WWP is out of stock. So we can run that soon &#128525;
> 
> Loaded the next platinum &#128536;


Good news. And I presume the last platinum has finished today? Eagerly waiting another mailing list file...


----------



## JenEllision

Just signed up Silver in August, and a platinum! Looking forward to seeing how it all works!


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Good news. And I presume the last platinum has finished today? Eagerly waiting another mailing list file...


Yep! I plan to send out results tonight &#128588;


----------



## Guest

JenEllision said:


> Just signed up Silver in August, and a platinum! Looking forward to seeing how it all works!


Glad to have you on board! ✌


----------



## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Yep! I plan to send out results tonight &#128588;


If you sent me a results file, I didn't get it...


----------



## sinapse

Signed up for a Silver in September. What is your email please?


----------



## Caddy

williammeikle said:


> If you sent me a results file, I didn't get it...


I didn't, either.


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> If you sent me a results file, I didn't get it...


Sorry. I meant to send last night but I crashed. (I work third shift so I'm used to being up all night, but getting over a stomach bug and I guess it just sapped my energy). I'll get it done soon. ✌


----------



## Violet Haze

I did the silver for August, but I went ahead and put in for the Platinum for Robin Hood, looking forward to that and so glad to help!


----------



## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Sorry. I meant to send last night but I crashed. (I work third shift so I'm used to being up all night, but getting over a stomach bug and I guess it just sapped my energy). I'll get it done soon. ✌


Got it. Thanks. 530 new subscribers for me this time. Very nice.


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Got it. Thanks. 530 new subscribers for me this time. Very nice.


Awesome! Glad it came through! I'm always happy with how many subscribers are unique from month to month &#128536;


----------



## Guest

Violet Haze said:


> I did the silver for August, but I went ahead and put in for the Platinum for Robin Hood, looking forward to that and so glad to help!


Glad to have you! &#128588;


----------



## Alex Rogers

Just signed up for the Platinum for Robin Hood! =)


----------



## Guest

Alex Rogers said:


> Just signed up for the Platinum for Robin Hood! =)


We look forward to having you! &#128536;


----------



## Caddy

Do you send it to my email? I still haven't gotten anything. Did I do something wrong?


----------



## Guest

Caddy said:


> Do you send it to my email? I still haven't gotten anything. Did I do something wrong?


I have you on this giveaway:
PLATINUM GIVEAWAY - Wounded Warrior Project

I have payment record for this AND I see your entry on the form for this.

However, the one that just ended was *The Pink Fund.* If you were supposed to be on that one, I don't have a payment record for you and you weren't on the form. If you can, forward me the payment record for The Pink Fund Platinum and I will make sure you are refunded or (if you prefer) we can put you on the Robin Hood Platinum.

But as far as my records show, *you are on the platinum that is coming up next*. I just don't see you on any other platinums for before or after that. If I missed you, I will make it right. But I think maybe this is just a case of confusion. The one I have you listed for will be going live soon


----------



## Caddy

OH, my sincere apologies. Nope, it's all me.  I read the WWP was filled and then misread and thought you meant it was going right away. Since I've never done this I have no clue what all goes on, but I was thinking, boy that's sure fast...and I didn't get any facebook likes. Yikes...

So, it's all me. I _am_ legitimately blonde, so I'm using that excuse.


----------



## Guest

Caddy said:


> OH, my sincere apologies. Nope, it's all me.  I read the WWP was filled and then misread and thought you meant it was going right away. Since I've never done this I have no clue what all goes on, but I was thinking, boy that's sure fast...and I didn't get any facebook likes. Yikes...
> 
> So, it's all me. I _am_ legitimately blonde, so I'm using that excuse.


No worries at all! It will be going live soon, but keep in mind it will run for a week or so once it does &#128525; you will get an email notifying you when it's live and again when it ends ✌


----------



## Caddy

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> No worries at all! It will be going live soon, but keep in mind it will run for a week or so once it does &#128525; you will get an email notifying you when it's live and again when it ends ✌


Super. Thanks.


----------



## Guest

No problem. 👏 you will love the results 🙌


----------



## William Meikle

Added myself onto the GOLD waiting list...


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Added myself onto the GOLD waiting list...


The list isn't too long so once we get through the year I'll start working down that list.


----------



## Patty Jansen

I'm trying to put my name on the waiting list, but I'm getting a site security error.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> I'm trying to put my name on the waiting list, but I'm getting a site security error.


I will look into this. I've had one other person tell me this but it's not showing on my end. I wonder if it's the new theme. &#128532;


----------



## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I will look into this. I've had one other person tell me this but it's not showing on my end. I wonder if it's the new theme. &#128532;


I had it the first time I went in, following the link from here. Closed the tab, opened a new one, pasted the link in and went in again, it worked fine.


----------



## Guest

Are you using Internet explorer? Trying to pinpoint the issue so we can better resolve it.


----------



## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Are you using Internet explorer? Trying to pinpoint the issue so we can better resolve it.


I'm on Google Chrome.


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Are you using Internet explorer? Trying to pinpoint the issue so we can better resolve it.


Chrome


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Chrome


Not sure why this is happening, but going to try something to fix it.


----------



## Patty Jansen

I did the same as William, copy & pasted the link from the first page and now it works. It's clicking the link that's doing it.


----------



## Guest

I'm not sure why that is, however, I'm in the process of updating our SSL certificate, and I'm hoping that will fix whatever is going on.


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I'm not sure why that is, however, I'm in the process of updating our SSL certificate, and I'm hoping that will fix whatever is going on.


Probably. It seemed a SSL related thing. I got a red cross through the https: at the beginning of the URL


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Probably. It seemed a SSL related thing. I got a red cross through the https: at the beginning of the URL


I'm told I'll have the SSL certificate within 24 hours. It took me a while to figure it out. Now I have to figure out how to load it to the site, once it comes through, but hopefully that will resolve any lingering issues.


----------



## Kevin Lee Swaim

Is August closed? What about September?


----------



## Guest

August Bronze: 4 spots left
Robin Hood Platinum (I think we'll make this one live August 7th or so): 6 spots left

The current Platinum is off to a great start


----------



## Patty Jansen

*impatient*

When does the current platinum close and can we get results?


----------



## Salvador Mercer

Alright, don't know what the hell I'm doing, don't know what this helicopter does, other than giveaway a free kindle and some sort of charitable donation (very nice) but I signed up for the August Bronze to 'test the waters' so to speak.  Let me know if I did something wrong.

Regards,
SM


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> *impatient*
> 
> When does the current platinum close and can we get results?


It just started a couple days ago and I run for a week to get the most results possible. I have this one ending August 1st


----------



## Guest

Salvador Mercer said:


> Alright, don't know what the hell I'm doing, don't know what this helicopter does, other than giveaway a free kindle and some sort of charitable donation (very nice) but I signed up for the August Bronze to 'test the waters' so to speak. Let me know if I did something wrong.
> 
> Regards,
> SM


We look forward to having you ✌


----------



## Salvador Mercer

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We look forward to having you ✌


Thanks, let me know if I need to do something else, noob kboarder here


----------



## Bbates024

Can anyone kind of explain the ready to go tweet. 

Is that just where I tweet my book or should I include something about the contest?

Also drop me a line if anything looks wonky!

Rise of the Fallen.


----------



## Jake Kerr

Are you going to eventually segment giveaways of by genre? The emails would be So much more efficient and relevant then.


----------



## Jake Kerr

I noticed that one of the ways to get an extra entry was to go to Amazon and like a positive review.  Is that one of the action options writers can use?


----------



## Guest

jakedfw said:


> I noticed that one of the ways to get an extra entry was to go to Amazon and like a positive review. Is that one of the action options writers can use?


Just put it under "other"


----------



## Guest

Bbates024 said:


> Can anyone kind of explain the ready to go tweet.
> 
> Is that just where I tweet my book or should I include something about the contest?
> 
> Also drop me a line if anything looks wonky!
> 
> Rise of the Fallen.


It's a tweet to promote your book  We usually alter them a bit, but it gives us something to work with  I got your PM and will update for you


----------



## Guest

jakedfw said:


> Are you going to eventually segment giveaways of by genre? The emails would be So much more efficient and relevant then.


We aren't ruling that out, but due to how our promotion works compared to other promotions, it's truly not necessary.


----------



## Bbates024

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> It's a tweet to promote your book  We usually alter them a bit, but it gives us something to work with  I got your PM and will update for you


Score. Thank you so much! You have been a fantastic help anytime I have had a question.


----------



## Guest

Salvador Mercer said:


> Thanks, let me know if I need to do something else, noob kboarder here


You should have gotten an automated confirmation with a link to the form you need to fill out. So long as you've done that, you are good to go. Please email me if you didn't get your form


----------



## Guest

Joined as a bronze member to check it out!  Filled out the Google doc. Stoked to see what happens. I'm a n00b too, so hopefully I did everything right.


----------



## Guest

BelleAC said:


> Joined as a bronze member to check it out!  Filled out the Google doc. Stoked to see what happens. I'm a n00b too, so hopefully I did everything right.


Happy to have you. Love your summer book cover, by the way. So eye-catching!


----------



## Guest

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Happy to have you. Love your summer book cover, by the way. So eye-catching!


Thank you!


----------



## R. M. Webb

I signed up for a platinum, but I'm also considering grabbing an August bronze, as well. Would it be beneficial to use the same book both times? Or better to spread the love?


----------



## fantasy-writer

I signed up for the August Silver and the Robin Hood Platinum. Looking forward to them.

Rebecca, I sent you a PM.


----------



## Guest

Ella Summers said:


> I signed up for the August Silver and the Robin Hood Platinum. Looking forward to them.
> 
> Rebecca, I sent you a PM.


We look forward to having you! I'll check my PM now &#128536;


----------



## Guest

R. M. Webb said:


> I signed up for a platinum, but I'm also considering grabbing an August bronze, as well. Would it be beneficial to use the same book both times? Or better to spread the love?


Book wise, I think it's fine either way. The sales aspect will benefit you most when you use your new followers/subscribers. As for which platforms you promote, I recommend rotating them. Perhaps for Twitter for one and Facebook for the other (since you will get mailing list automatically with the platinum) ✌


----------



## Guest

I've updated the main post to indicate September is available. We also have another Platinum lined up for those who missed the current one and the one coming up


----------



## William Meikle

Signed up for a Sep Silver while waiting on the Gold waiting list...


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Signed up for a Sep Silver while waiting on the Gold waiting list...


Thanks! Sorry gold is so slow, makes it tough with only 1 spot a monh for that &#128536;


----------



## Guest

WWP Platinum results have been sent out! Hope you got lots of twitter follows or facebook likes. Looks like we got 965 mailing list subscribers on this one


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> WWP Platinum results have been sent out! Hope you got lots of twitter follows or facebook likes. Looks like we got 965 mailing list subscribers on this one


I'm totally blown away. I'll be sending them something tomorrow.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> I'm totally blown away. I'll be sending them something tomorrow.


The platinum giveaways make me giddy <3


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> The platinum giveaways make me giddy <3


I'm in the next one, too. I presume there is a point where you get a lot of duplicate signups.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> I'm in the next one, too. I presume there is a point where you get a lot of duplicate signups.


There's some duplicate sign ups, but a good percentage stays fresh due to the way we promote--we're always bringing in new people  For example, of the 965 we got this time, about 800 were new. And we add from every giveaway. That's only about 20% repeat, and that's with doing everyone


----------



## L.B

My first book is out in a couple of weeks, the second in October. I don't have mailing list, twitter or Facebook numbers yet.

Would you suggest waiting until book three is out in December? Or is this a good thing to start lists, followers etc as well?


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> There's some duplicate sign ups, but a good percentage stays fresh due to the way we promote--we're always bringing in new people  For example, of the 965 we got this time, about 800 were new. And we add from every giveaway. That's only about 20% repeat, and that's with doing everyone


My Mailchimp says there were 814 new in the list. And now I'm alllllmost at the point where I'm going to have to start paying for Mailchimp. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing. I don't like paying for things


----------



## Caddy

Wow! A lot of emails.   I'm so new to doing things like this sign-up I'm not sure what I do next. Are these opted in or do I need to send this list an invitation to join my personal list?


----------



## Patty Jansen

Caddy said:


> Wow! A lot of emails.  I'm so new to doing things like this sign-up I'm not sure what I do next. Are these opted in or do I need to send this list an invitation to join my personal list?


They're opted in. You import them as CSV file. You send them something straight away. A bunch will unsubscribe. Don't worry about them. The ones who remain are good ones.


----------



## Caddy

Thanks, Patty. So it would be smart to make those a group on my list, and send them an email maybe giving them a link to download the book I advertised during the contest for free to thank them for joining?  And I don't have to mention unsubscribing because it's automatically on there, they just do so if they don't want to be on my list?  If so, cool.


----------



## Patty Jansen

Caddy said:


> Thanks, Patty. So it would be smart to make those a group on my list, and send them an email maybe giving them a link to download the book I advertised during the contest for free to thank them for joining? And I don't have to mention unsubscribing because it's automatically on there, they just do so if they don't want to be on my list? If so, cool.


What I do is send them a welcome with a download link for free books (that are free on Amazon as well). I put something about "managing" their subscription at the top, just to weed out the people who really don't want to be there. It's best to get rid of them ASAP, since you're paying for them to be there (or at least I will be soon).


----------



## Caddy

Patty Jansen said:


> What I do is send them a welcome with a download link for free books (that are free on Amazon as well). I put something about "managing" their subscription at the top, just to weed out the people who really don't want to be there. It's best to get rid of them ASAP, since you're paying for them to be there (or at least I will be soon).


Ah. Ok. So it wouldn't seem cheap to send them a link to a perma-free? That's good. And, yes, I agree it's a good idea to weed out right away.


----------



## Patty Jansen

Caddy said:


> Ah. Ok. So it wouldn't seem cheap to send them a link to a perma-free? That's good. And, yes, I agree it's a good idea to weed out right away.


Nah, because most of them wouldn't seek out your profile to see that's it's free already. Or why not send them a link to Amazon if it's free there?


----------



## Caddy

Patty Jansen said:


> Nah, because most of them wouldn't seek out your profile to see that's it's free already. Or why not send them a link to Amazon if it's free there?


Yeah. I could do that. Word the email about having 2 FREE books in two different genres, so grab one or both and start enjoying my worlds.


----------



## Caddy

I decided to send them the book that is still $4.99. It's the one that was in the promo so I'm hoping they will recognize it and be more likely to click. Also, I would make it free for a promo and be happy with that many downloads if it was a small promo site, so I decided to give them something they can't get anywhere else yet for free.  I'm excited to see how many stay as my subscribers. Fingers crossed! 

Thanks for this service!


----------



## JessHayek69

Signed up for September Bronze 

Rebecca I sent you question in PM also


----------



## Guest

B. Yard said:


> My first book is out in a couple of weeks, the second in October. I don't have mailing list, twitter or Facebook numbers yet.
> 
> Would you suggest waiting until book three is out in December? Or is this a good thing to start lists, followers etc as well?


I started building my social media a year before I released any books. I recommend doing so; even if you don't do so with a program like this &#128536; though of course you are welcome to join in!


----------



## Guest

We just opened for a TEST run on an *IPAD/$600* Giveaway. Spots WILL be $100 each BUT are only ***$75*** for the test run!

Learn More Here:

http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/product/first-ever-ipad-giveaway/


----------



## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We just opened for a TEST run on an *IPAD/$600* Giveaway. Spots WILL be $100 each BUT are only ***$75*** for the test run!
> 
> Learn More Here:
> 
> http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/product/first-ever-ipad-giveaway/


You have at least one sign up...


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> You have at least one sign up...


I saw that  2 now! These will probably go fast, as it's a great opportunity. I've participated in giveaways like this before and the results are usually pretty epic! BUT I don't want to charge full price until we see the results, so thanks for being one of my testers  You know I will promote the crap out of this for our sponsors!


----------



## RPJames

Yes, I was the second ;-) 

Let's hope for a great turnout ;-)


----------



## Guest

RPJames said:


> Yes, I was the second ;-)
> 
> Let's hope for a great turnout ;-)


I'm determined to make it so 

I'm actually pretty damn excited about doing this one.

Glad to have you!


----------



## L.B

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I started building my social media a year before I released any books. I recommend doing so; even if you don't do so with a program like this &#128536; though of course you are welcome to join in!


Great, thank you!


----------



## Caddy

In for the Ipad promo. So excited! Thanks for doing this one.


----------



## Marilyn Peake

Patty Jansen said:


> I'm totally blown away. I'll be sending them something tomorrow.


I know, right? That's exactly how I feel every time I get my results!



TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> The platinum giveaways make me giddy <3


Yes! Me, too.


----------



## Guest

Caddy said:


> In for the Ipad promo. So excited! Thanks for doing this one.


Me too! I even posted in a few places that we would be having one (to let readers know) and the response has been amazing! I've never seen them so excited about a giveaway before (and they get pretty excited about them lol)


----------



## A past poster

Patty Jansen said:


> They're opted in. You import them as CSV file. You send them something straight away. A bunch will unsubscribe. Don't worry about them. The ones who remain are good ones.


What is a CSV file?

When you send them something straight away, do you send an email or do you immediately send a free book?


----------



## Patty Jansen

williammeikle said:


> You have at least one sign up...


And another one 

ETA. Uhm, I got two receipts. I hope this doesn't mean I paid twice.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> And another one
> 
> ETA. Uhm, I got two receipts. I hope this doesn't mean I paid twice.


You can check your paypal--you paid once. You will even notice both "orders" have the same order number lol. For some reason, whenever I have to manually update stock (like someone pays me NOT through the website) it then starts sending out and "debiting" 2 stock items (but only for 1 payment) until I replace that "missing stock" and then it goes back to normal.

In other words, no damage to you--I promise--just a PITA to me. But check Paypal which will confirm this for your Peace of Mind <3


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> You can check your paypal--you paid once. You will even notice both "orders" have the same order number lol. For some reason, whenever I have to manually update stock (like someone pays me NOT through the website) it then starts sending out and "debiting" 2 stock items (but only for 1 payment) until I replace that "missing stock" and then it goes back to normal.
> 
> In other words, no damage to you--I promise--just a PITA to me. But check Paypal which will confirm this for your Peace of Mind <3


OK thanks. I was going to say that in the case I had paid twice (and I've been known to do that because of mouse malfunctions), you could keep the money in reserve for future promos. I love this site of yours. It's much more reliable and risk free than trying to advertise for signups on Facebook. About half of them are really good quality new readers.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> OK thanks. I was going to say that in the case I had paid twice (and I've been known to do that because of mouse malfunctions), you could keep the money in reserve for future promos. I love this site of yours. It's much more reliable and risk free than trying to advertise for signups on Facebook. About half of them are really good quality new readers.


I'm so glad! Of course, if EVER you double pay just let me know and I will send you a refund immediately! I'm still not thrilled with the functionality of our site and will continue to try to improve it. Sorry and I hope I didn't give you a near heart attack &#128540;


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I'm so glad! Of course, if EVER you double pay just let me know and I will send you a refund immediately! I'm still not thrilled with the functionality of our site and will continue to try to improve it. Sorry and I hope I didn't give you a near heart attack &#128540;


Nah, it takes a lot more than that to give me a heart attack


----------



## Bbates024

I'm going to give it a go and pick up September as well.


----------



## R. M. Webb

I signed up for the platinum giveaway last week and now I'm sooo tempted to sign up for the iPad giveaway, too...



Patty Jansen said:


> I'm totally blown away. I'll be sending them something tomorrow.


If you don't have anything free at the time, what format would you suggest sending to the new people?


----------



## Patty Jansen

R. M. Webb said:


> I signed up for the platinum giveaway last week and now I'm sooo tempted to sign up for the iPad giveaway, too...
> 
> If you don't have anything free at the time, what format would you suggest sending to the new people?


I use a download link to payhip. They can choose their own format.


----------



## Guest

I'm Excited about the turn out! There's a great selection of books here and the newsletter is going to be mighty pretty with these book covers! For those wondering how long until it goes out, it's looking good that you won't have to wait too long  already the spots are more than half gone 😘 this one is $75 but future pricing will be determined based on results (no more than $100 for future spots, though).  My goal is for this promo to be valuable to everyone involved  im dying to see the results on this!!!


----------



## Marilyn Peake

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I'm Excited about the turn out! There's a great selection of books here and the newsletter is going to be mighty pretty with these book covers! For those wondering how long until it goes out, it's looking good that you won't have to wait too long  already the spots are more than half gone ðŸ˜˜ this one is $75 but future pricing will be determined based on results (no more than $100 for future spots, though). My goal is for this promo to be valuable to everyone involved  im dying to see the results on this!!!


I'm thinking about signing up for an IPAD promo. My books aren't available through Apple, though. Do you think people signing up to win the iPad would be interested in books/authors that aren't available on the iPad?


----------



## Guest

Marilyn Peake said:


> I'm thinking about signing up for an IPAD promo. My books aren't available through Apple, though. Do you think people signing up to win the iPad would be interested in books/authors that aren't available on the iPad?


Yep. I have an iPad and use kindle Apple and prefer that to iBooks and prefer my device to a kindle


----------



## WordNinja

Most of the books on my iPad are in the Kindle app, for the simple reason that more books are available through Amazon than through iBooks. 

I had so much success with the bronze promo a couple of months ago that I decided to splurge on the iPad promo. I was surprised at how few unsubscribes I got from the people I added to my mailing list. The click rate on my newsletters has been surprisingly good.


----------



## Bbates024

Marilyn Peake said:


> I'm thinking about signing up for an IPAD promo. My books aren't available through Apple, though. Do you think people signing up to win the iPad would be interested in books/authors that aren't available on the iPad?


They can also choose to get 600 in cash instead. I'd totally do that since I already have a kindle and haven't joined the tablet revolution.


----------



## Guest

Bbates024 said:


> They can also choose to get 600 in cash instead. I'd totally do that since I already have a kindle and haven't joined the tablet revolution.


Last month, the winner told me she wanted the $$... but she wanted it in an Amazon gift card instead of paypal because she wanted to buy books with it! I LOVE that!


----------



## Guest

Andrea @ ArtWellPub said:


> Most of the books on my iPad are in the Kindle app, for the simple reason that more books are available through Amazon than through iBooks.
> 
> I had so much success with the bronze promo a couple of months ago that I decided to splurge on the iPad promo. I was surprised at how few unsubscribes I got from the people I added to my mailing list. The click rate on my newsletters has been surprisingly good.


A lot of users are reporting the same! Naturally I can see why people would be skeptical about people just signing up to win and not really caring about the books, but we have been doing our best to primarily target readers. Plus, sometimes you'll be surprised who ends up reading your books! Some of my biggest fans are people who hadn't read for years and then decided to try my books, then got sucked back into reading and read all the time now <3 Anyway, I'm SUPER happy to hear your results, and I think you'll be pleased with the results we get on this iPad giveaway (Which, by the way, I think will be live by next week at this rate!)


----------



## Violet Haze

Just got my email about the platinum promotion, can't wait to see the results!

Would LOVE to join the iPad giveaway, but no way I can afford the $75 right now on top of the $50 I just did. Ah well, hopefully next time!! 



Patty Jansen said:


> I use a download link to payhip. They can choose their own format.


Question for you...what do you give them free? The book you put up for the giveaway? I've never sent an email to people who signed up through other means than already finding me...so what do you suggest doing/saying in the message? thanks so much.


----------



## Guest

I also use http://www.instafreebie.com/ to do giveaways. I just pick how many copies to leave up for giveaway, and send the link via my mailing list


----------



## Patty Jansen

Violet Haze said:


> Question for you...what do you give them free? The book you put up for the giveaway? I've never sent an email to people who signed up through other means than already finding me...so what do you suggest doing/saying in the message? thanks so much.


People normally get three books for signing up for my mailing list. Since these people didn't sign up through the usual process, I send them a link to the page where they would have gone had they signed up through a website link.


----------



## Marilyn Peake

Thanks, everyone, who answered my question about whether or not people with iPads will read books not available through Apple. I'm going to try the IPAD giveaway, since things have been so good with the Kindle giveaways. I feel like I'm on my way to building a solid newsletter mailing list.


----------



## Violet Haze

Oh, okay, great! Thanks so much!

I've recently started a serial starter set for sign-ups, so that's what I will do then. 



Patty Jansen said:


> People normally get three books for signing up for my mailing list. Since these people didn't sign up through the usual process, I send them a link to the page where they would have gone had they signed up through a website link.


----------



## William Meikle

Meant to tell you that I got 2 receipts too - but as they were both for the same order, and Paypal only had one transaction i just assumed it was a glitch...


----------



## tommy gun

This looks awesome!

Now I just need to get some more SF done so that I have something valid to put up!

It would be nice if I could crunch out four or five full books in a month.... ah reality is no fun.


----------



## William Meikle

I was talking to my wife about this, and she does a lot of competitions - she says that iPAD giveaways can get crazy large numbers of entrants, so here's hoping


----------



## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I saw that  2 now! These will probably go fast, as it's a great opportunity. I've participated in giveaways like this before and the results are usually pretty epic! BUT I don't want to charge full price until we see the results, so thanks for being one of my testers  You know I will promote the crap out of this for our sponsors!


You were right about it going fast -- Just one left when I looked a minute ago.


----------



## Mark at Marble City

Yep, I grabbed a slot. One left.


----------



## Guest

So this could Go live as early as tomorrow ✌

One spot left! 😍

I csnt help but have crazy high hopes for this one! 😍


----------



## Guest

UPDATE

iPad giveaway is FULL. My plan is to set it up tonight so it goes live tomorrow. 

I will email all participants once it's ready to go


----------



## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> UPDATE
> 
> iPad giveaway is FULL. My plan is to set it up tonight so it goes live tomorrow.
> 
> I will email all participants once it's ready to go


w00t! as I believe the cool kids say.


----------



## Alex Rogers

Awesomeness!


----------



## Guest

It's live! Announcement goes out today in a couple couples ✌ We will also be working to promote the giveaways at various times throughout the week to ensure max exposure. 🙌


----------



## Guest

UPDATE: iPad giveaway is off to an amazing start! We already have about as many participants in this one than we do in or our normally monthly giveaway, and it hasn't even been 24 hours yet! I did an email blast this afternoon, I just did a Facebook blast right now, and we've been featured on some sights in the last hour as well. The other blasts are scheduled for August 5th, August 6-7th, and August 10th. I'll be doing other small blasts in between as well. I think this is going to be pretty epic (as expected!)


----------



## Guest

For those who regularly participate in the "normal" monthly giveaway, I have a question for you.

As some of you know, we were often losing money on the monthly giveaway (that's why we added the other options) due to Paypal fees, promotion expenses, website expenses, etc. Our site gets so much traffic now, that we have had to increase our hosting plan, and our mailing list is growing so rapidly the cost of maintaining it has tripled--and it's only getting bigger. I've been watching the trends from our users, and it seems that often the Silver spots sell out, but the bronze spots do not. So we have been considering altering the system for the monthly giveaway going forward. 

Currently we have the 20 Silver spots and the 29 bronze spots and the $10 boosts.
Under the new system, we would have 10 Gold spots for $30 (this would INCLUDE boost automatically--we would no longer offer the boost as an add on) and 20 silver spots at $20 each. 

This would mean NO one would ever have to be #50 on the raffle copter, making all the spots almost equivalent to the current Silver spots, and allowing the new Gold spots (ie, old silver spots) to still keep an "edge". 

The current "Gold Spot" would be re-titled "Editor's Pick" and would function the same.

If we do this, in order to keep a $10 option, we would create a "Bronze Promotion" that would be separate. This would be for a smaller Prize ($50 Amazon Gift Card). It would be 40 spots, no tiers, no boosts, and would go live as it fills (we aim for monthly, but as with our other as-they-fill giveaways, we do refunds if it doesn't fill in 3 months). 

Our Platinum and iPad giveaways will stay the same.

I know this sounds like a big change, and maybe even a little upsetting for some users who regularly get the $10 option. However, because many months our $10 spots are NOT being used, this would allow people to still build their personal audience cheaply while increasing the benefit of the current giveaways to those who pay more for their spots. If after the change, we are still not selling bronze spots, we may do away with it entirely. I personally always felt the $10 option was a great, cheap marketing tactic, but I will agree, the Silver and above promotions are soooo worth the extra $10, and that may be why we aren't seeing much action with the current bronze spots.

We want this to be a great value to YOU and to our subscribers, but we want to be practical as well to make sure we can continue to ALWAYS offer options for authors on a budget. It's been important to me since starting this that we ALWAYS have a cheap option for participating for those who normally cannot afford these types of promotions.

Here is your chance to give feedback if you do not like the new system idea.  Thank you for your time!

PS: Old system will remain for any months that already have bronze sign ups. I would never change the rules for the months people are already signed up for


----------



## WordNinja

I'm not sure I would have taken a chance on the promotion if I'd had to pay more than $10. I definitely wouldn't have if my book cover wouldn't have been featured. 

I had such a good experience with the $10 option that I immediately scooped up a spot in the iPad giveaway for $75 as soon as I saw it. So maybe it might help to consider the bronze spots as loss leaders?


----------



## Guest

We could possible do the bronze with the book covers, but considering its te most time consuming giveaway to put together (due to the tier system) we are leaning toward it needing it's own giveaway. Keep in mind, some months we only book 5-10 of the 29 bronze spots. That's what brought this about ✌

I appreciate your feedback 🙌 would you still find it valuable with the book covers, even if it was a separate giveaway?

Excited for you to see ipad results by the the way. The entries are blowing up like crazy!


----------



## Patty Jansen

I've been a regular user of Bronze spots. I'm a stinge and sometimes I don't feel like spending that much on promo. You will know that I've also recently invested majorly in your promos. I like the Bronze option for those Eep-I've-already-spent-too-much-on-editing-and-covers months, and I don't think the spots will be as useful or successful if you siphon them off to little promos. In other words, they will not be as effective in pulling in authors to spend more.

If cost is an issue, why not raise the price of a bronze promo to $15?

As for costs of mailing lists, I've been watching a flood of new Twitter followers come in. Many of them cite "entering in contests" as their bio. I give these peeps three mailings. If they don't open any of them, I cull them. I'm usually left with 50% really good subscribers. In other words, Mailchimp costs can blow out. Get rid of people who never open the mailings.


----------



## Guest

Thanks Patty for your feedback 🙌 yes, we can definitely cull people out as needed. 

I think the separate bronze would still get a lot of entries. I wonder if anyone would try it before writing it off as not worth it. I don't want to raise the price to $15 because some may still think that is too much. This month we sold all of our bronze but some months we don't even sell 1/4 of them, and that's when we have issues. I really don't like working 2 nights straight for it to cost me money. 😩 the monthly giveaways take up a lot d time to set up on the way I do, as I am making sure its a great experience for our readers. 

So here would be the difference bronze users would see:

They would never be #50 on a raffle. 
Instead of being spots 21-50, they could be spots 1-40
They would be on promo for a prize of $50 instead of $100

The only "disadvantage" is a slightly smaller prize offering. Some people might think higher placement in our mailing list and on the rafflecopter is worth that trade off though?


----------



## Bbates024

I can say the Ipad giveaway has been pretty awesome.

The change you are proposing wouldn't bother me at all.

While I have generated the sale I would have like I feel like the exposure is worth it. I kinda feel like, part of is that I only have one title out and it is a shorter work. Good news is when a much larger work comes out sometime around the 15-20 I will have people to send stuff to. 

So I guess we will find out.

I'm also worried that the lower size of prizes might not attract enough folks. I don't think too many people will click through 40 links to get a firestick I could be wrong though.


----------



## Guest

Bbates024 said:


> I can say the Ipad giveaway has been pretty awesome.
> 
> The change you are proposing wouldn't bother me at all.
> 
> While I have generated the sale I would have like I feel like the exposure is worth it. I kinda feel like, part of is that I only have one title out and it is a shorter work. Good news is when a much larger work comes out sometime around the 15-20 I will have people to send stuff to.
> 
> So I guess we will find out.
> 
> I'm also worried that the lower size of prizes might not attract enough folks. I don't think too many people will click through 40 links to get a firestick I could be wrong though.


We can do a $50 AMAZON gift card instead. I have done this prize before In a giveaway and we still had great participation rates on par with what bronze users see now.


----------



## Salvador Mercer

Hi,

I'm so new I'm still experimenting.  I've seen this thread all this year and only now (August) pulled the trigger on the $10 Bronze to 'give it a try' to see if it is worthwhile for ME.  What works for others may not work for me, so I got to try it myself.  I made the decision based on another Kboards author who explained his experience with it, so I tried it at $10 to see what it can or can't do for me.

Now having said that, I am not the marketing expert.  If this works and you decide to make changes then I'll try the change at least once.  If I have a bad experience I probably won't.  Also for the first time later this month I will 'earn out' on all my expenses to date and then in September I'll finally be in the black with my self-publishing business.  At that point I'm more willing to spend some mullah to try various tactics/strategies in marketing to see how best to improve my visibility and sales.

So it's your business, make your changes if you want to, post the details here and I'm pretty sure you'll get plenty of authors to try it out.  If your changes provide a descent ROI then I think you'll have a winner.

You have my feedback now 

Go August promo!


----------



## tommy gun

Newbie here with my first time hopping on with a silver, so not sure if I am really qualified to speak up.

1. Can you drop the number of bronzes in a month but still keep ten or so and use them as an intro for new users?
OR
2. I went for silver immediately if I remember correctly cause it seemed worth it from the feedback I had seen.  Bump up all your prices a bit.  If I get 100 subscribers from this it is worth it and I do intend to buy 1 a month as I get my series finished and my serials.
OR
3. Can you run the bronze as you described it separately and use that as your intro to what look like the cooler promotions?  If someone gets 40 good subscribers then it is worth the $10 for a "bronze" and when they see that others are getting 200+ on the bigger giveaways it should follow....

I personally think what you are doing is amazing and I wish I had my SF books finalized so I could start the promotions but I am not there yet.
Keep on going and I will definitely be there with the first to build my FB lists AND subscribers!


----------



## Marilyn Peake

It would be fine with me if you removed the Bronze from the regular offering. It places books so far down on the list, I almost always added the $10 boost any time I purchased a Bronze. I quickly realized how great these promotions have been for growing my mailing list, and I moved onto Silver and the big promotions like the iPad one. This is the first time I've not only increased my mailing list by a huge number, but have had some really cool things happen with subscribers. A few people have replied to my newsletter.  Someone posted on their blog about one of my books they were reading after getting it for free when I announced KU free days for it in my newsletter. Your promotions are definitely helping to bring my books out of the dust of obscurity and right now I'm willing to pay for greater visibility.


----------



## edwardgtalbot

My suggestion would be to do this incrementally. If you can make a go of it financially with ten gold spots and 20 silver, why not hold off on the separate promotion and instead do 10 $30 gold, 20 $20 silver and 10 $10 bronze? Just add ten bronze to your proposed change. Practically speaking I think that would have the smallest impact on existing author/customers while increasing your own bottom line.

You can always add the separate gift card raffle later if this doesn't work out or whatever.


----------



## Guest

I really appreciate all the feedback so far, and I'm weighing it all in. Our money is made with the bigger promos. I did the monthly promos ONLY for a year, some months at a loss, but with the other promos, I CAN afford to continue doing the Monthly as a loss, and will do so for a couple more months, at least. BUT since the bronze spots aren't really selling to begin with (and I understand why and still want to leave that option open for the few who DO prefer it) I do need to assess changes for the future. (Why keep offering something most people are not buying that only costs me money, ya know?) So, your feedback is really helpful in letting me see WHY people pick bronze and what we would need to do to keep that a viable option that is fair to everyone. My MAIN goal is to make this a better working situation for me WHILE *ALSO* making bronze more effective so that more people want to use it. Because right now, people are trying bronze, then trying silver, and often never going back to bronze. So, I want bronze to be MORE valuable, too (it's still valuable, but I'm all about making everything as valuable as possible!). And I think the right changes could make that happen.


----------



## Bbates024

I can say whole heartedly the only time I picked up a bronze was because the silver sold out before I got to it.


----------



## Guest

Bbates024 said:


> I can say whole heartedly the only time I picked up a bronze was because the silver sold out before I got to it.


It seems like that is the reason most bronze spots sell at all! I'm sure there are a few people who prefer them, especially when trying us for the first time. I DO want to keep offering this service at a cheap price for those who need it. The truth is, I could revamp the Monthly and cut the bronze altogether and it would work out for me. Trying to find a way to keep the bronze is not for my benefit, it's because it's important to be to offer a service that is suitable for authors on a budget. I really want to be able to keep offering that, even if most people don't want it, because I care about those who DO want it.


----------



## Patty Jansen

I've usually picked bronze because I'm a look-see kind of person and I hate spending money for something that I could also get with less money. I've never failed to get less than 100 new subscribers.

Then I tried to do the mailing list thing a la Mark Dawson with Facebook ads, but I soon realised that 1. it was way more expensive, 2. it was way less reliable, 3. the signups were way less quality (man, there are some weirdos in the word!), so that's why I've decided to go full out with these promos.


----------



## Marilyn Peake

Patty Jansen said:


> I've usually picked bronze because I'm a look-see kind of person and I hate spending money for something that I could also get with less money. I've never failed to get less than 100 new subscribers.
> 
> Then I tried to do the mailing list thing a la Mark Dawson with Facebook ads, but I soon realised that 1. it was way more expensive, 2. it was way less reliable, 3. the signups were way less quality (man, there are some weirdos in the word!), so that's why I've decided to go full out with these promos.


I believe I received slightly over 100 subscribers with Bronze plus Boost, but around 800 to over 1,000 subscribers with my first Platinum promotion.


----------



## Guest

Marilyn Peake said:


> I believe I received slightly over 100 subscribers with Bronze plus Boost, but around 800 to over 1,000 subscribers with my first Platinum promotion.


And this goes back to me just LOVING Platinum  In a few days we'll know how iPad went, but so far it's WAY ahead of any previous promo!


----------



## William Meikle

Given the number of new Twitter followers I'm gaining I'm guessing that this Platinum is very popular. Will be very interested to see how many new signups come out of it for me.


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Given the number of new Twitter followers I'm gaining I'm guessing that this Platinum is very popular. Will be very interested to see how many new signups come out of it for me.


I'm excited to see as well &#128588; please feel free to post your updates when the time comes ✌


----------



## Salvador Mercer

I may sound stupid, but having read the FAQ page, exactly how does a Bronze receive the 'actions' that was selected?  Is it by book so that one Bronze could have X amount of 'action' and another book right next to it may have X+Y?  If I read this correctly the 800-1k 'actions' are for the top spot.  Bronze should be around 10% of that if I'm understanding correctly.  I'm just curious how the Bronze signups (likes, signups, followers or subscribers, etc.) occur in this promotion.

Thanks.


----------



## Guest

Everything is out on a raffle copter. 
When you are near the top of a Rafflecopter, people are more likely to complete what you asked of them. They burn our toward the bottom and things taper off to just the die hards 😂

Te people getting 800-1000 sign ups are on a platinum giveaway. That is completely separate.


----------



## Salvador Mercer

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Everything is out on a raffle copter.
> When you are near the top of a Rafflecopter, people are more likely to complete what you asked of them. They burn our toward the bottom and things taper off to just the die hards &#128514;
> 
> Te people getting 800-1000 sign ups are on a platinum giveaway. That is completely separate.


Ok, I just don't really know much about the raffle copter either other than it's a giveaway program. So I'm guessing that from your response the people who enter select a single book to do that 'action'? I think I'm understanding that. Also, what is the minimum number of die hards that get to the bottom?

Ok, I just clicked on my own book and it goes to the Amazon product page. How is it that I'll get subscribers? (That was my action btw). I guess I'm still a little confused how this happens.


----------



## Guest

The book covers link the the book on Amazon. This is direction promotion. 
The rafflecopter is another thing, and if you selected mailing list subscribers, those who signed up for you specifically will be sent to you at the end of the promotion 

I'm pretty sure most people always see more than 100. You can look through the thread where people have shared their stats, if you like ✌


----------



## Salvador Mercer

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> The book covers link the the book on Amazon. This is direction promotion.
> The rafflecopter is another thing, and if you selected mailing list subscribers, those who signed up for you specifically will be sent to you at the end of the promotion
> 
> I'm pretty sure most people always see more than 100. You can look through the thread where people have shared their stats, if you like ✌


So there is a page I'm not seeing somewhere, or in an email blast that has links to specific books right? Or, since I haven't entered, upon entry the reader/entrant can select one or more books to sign up for (mailing list)?

Last time I bother you with questions on the forum, but if I'm confused maybe others might be as well, or I'm just a special kind of confused


----------



## Guest

http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/ has several pages with promotion on it. The promotion includes:
Book Covers that Link to their books on Amazon
and
The Rafflecopter Form

What is a rafflecopter form?
There is a prize. People who want the prize get entries to win the prize by completing certain tasks. Each completed task equals more entries to win. Tasks for OUR giveaway include things like twitter follows, facebook visits, mailing list subscribing, and more. At the end of the giveaway, we select one "entry" and the person who completed that entry is the winner of the prize.

We also send out a mailing list to our subscribers (which you would only see if you are subscribed to our mailing list). It looks a lot like our giveaway page, but instead of having the giveaway in the email, it just has a link to the giveaway. They go to the website page and enter there.

I hope that helps. I try not to overexplain things on FKG as most people understand what mailing lists and rafflecopters are, so currently, the FAQ should cover the things specific to what we do. Hopefully this helps you better understand how Rafflecopters work, though.

But in the end, our goal is to do the worrying for you. You sign up so that you can sit back and relax while WE grow your audience for you


----------



## Patty Jansen

> But in the end, our goal is to do the worrying for you. You sign up so that you can sit back and relax while WE grow your audience for you


Yes, and much appreciated. Because running something like this is a lot of work and takes time that I'd much rather spend writing.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Yes, and much appreciated. Because running something like this is a lot of work and takes time that I'd much rather spend writing.


Yes! Exactly <3 We hear this a lot, too. Every now and then someone wants to know how it works. I don't mind revealing how it works, but the truth is, you don't need to know how it works to benefit from us. The bottom line is still the same--sign up and then wait for awesome things to happen. A lot of people who were confused email us afterward and tell us how much easier it was than they thought it would be. I guess it sounds complicated...but it's really only complicated on OUR end. On the end of our clients, it's truly as easy as signing up, filling out a form, and waiting for email when the giveaway is over with any further information they may be owed  I think it probably just sounds too good to be true--like can it really be that easy? Yes, it is! It really is that simple (for our clients) even though it sounds complicated.


----------



## Salvador Mercer

When you explain the 'tasks' it makes sense to me now and I understand how your system works.  Thanks for taking the time to explain and I agree, I'm enjoying NOT working on this right now and part of the reason why I tried this is because after 5 months I only have like 25 subscribers so I'm looking for ways to boost/introduce readers to my work.

Thanks for taking the time


----------



## Violet Haze

So this may seem like a dumb question, but...I can enter the iPad giveaway right?  Lol


----------



## Guest

Violet Haze said:


> So this may seem like a dumb question, but...I can enter the iPad giveaway right?  Lol


Yes, anyone can enter (except for me haha) ✌


----------



## Guest

Salvador Mercer said:


> When you explain the 'tasks' it makes sense to me now and I understand how your system works. Thanks for taking the time to explain and I agree, I'm enjoying NOT working on this right now and part of the reason why I tried this is because after 5 months I only have like 25 subscribers so I'm looking for ways to boost/introduce readers to my work.
> 
> Thanks for taking the time


No problem <3


----------



## Guest

CURRENT GIVEAWAY UPDATES:
ipad ends in 3 days.
platinum ends in 2 days.
standard monthly ends in a couple hours.

So expect an email late tonight/early tomorrow morning with your results (for those who selected the mailing list option).


----------



## Marilyn Peake

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> CURRENT GIVEAWAY UPDATES:
> ipad ends in 3 days.
> platinum ends in 2 days.
> standard monthly ends in a couple hours.
> 
> So expect an email late tonight/early tomorrow morning with your results (for those who selected the mailing list option).


Wow, I'm in all of them. Waiting with giddy anticipation.


----------



## Patty Jansen

Marilyn Peake said:


> Wow, I'm in all of them. Waiting with giddy anticipation.


me, too!


----------



## Marilyn Peake

Patty Jansen said:


> me, too!


Very cool!


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## Guest

Results on the Monthly have been sent! Enjoy!

Can't wait to see how our current platinum goes, but I'm UBER excited about the iPad giveaway! The response has so far been more than double what we see by time platinum ends...and it's only a little over halfway over!


----------



## JessHayek69

Signed up for October Giveaway Sponsorship SILVER × 1


----------



## Patty Jansen

I got the list, imported it and set an email to be sent tomorrow morning, when the US is awake.

The number of new emails was substantially reduced (because I've taken part in a couple of recent promos), but I still think it's excellent value. Getting the addresses through Facebook ads would have cost more.


----------



## Violet Haze

Do you use Mailchimp? This is my first time, I put them in an excel file, saved it, and when I imported, it was nothing but syntax errors. And adding 213 emails by one by one is just annoying. Lol.



Patty Jansen said:


> I got the list, imported it and set an email to be sent tomorrow morning, when the US is awake.
> 
> The number of new emails was substantially reduced (because I've taken part in a couple of recent promos), but I still think it's excellent value. Getting the addresses through Facebook ads would have cost more.


----------



## Patty Jansen

I use Mailchimp.

Copy list of addresses
Open new Word file
Paste
Save as TXT file
Import into Mailchimp as CSV
Done

Takes less than a minute.


----------



## Violet Haze

Great, thank you!


Patty Jansen said:


> I use Mailchimp.
> 
> Copy list of addresses
> Open new Word file
> Paste
> Save as TXT file
> Import into Mailchimp as CSV
> Done
> 
> Takes less than a minute.


----------



## Caddy

Am I missing something? The platinum I was in was sent as a CSV, so I just imported it directly to Mailchimp without any copying. Is this wrong?


----------



## Marie Long

Was I supposed to receive any emails or anything? I signed up for the highest-tier giveaway for August but haven't received any notifications or anything about signups or when the promo period was going on or anything. Or is no one signing up to my newsletter? Please advise....


----------



## Guest

Marie Long said:


> Was I supposed to receive any emails or anything? I signed up for the highest-tier giveaway for August but haven't received any notifications or anything about signups or when the promo period was going on or anything. Or is no one signing up to my newsletter? Please advise....


Please email me [email protected] and when I am on my computer I can take a look and see what happened. ✌ We will get it resolved one way or another, but it could be any number of things (spam filter, you didn't fill out the form, you are on a platinum giveaway or iPad giveaway, not the monthly one, Etc). So it's a matter of figuring out where you should be, and if you weren't there, you will be refunded or credited and we will resolve why you were weren't there if you were supposed to be ✌


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> I got the list, imported it and set an email to be sent tomorrow morning, when the US is awake.
> 
> The number of new emails was substantially reduced (because I've taken part in a couple of recent promos), but I still think it's excellent value. Getting the addresses through Facebook ads would have cost more.


This is usually why I recommend rotating between mailing list and other options, unless doing the bigger giveaways, as those tend to get us lots of new subscribers  how many new did you end up with this time? If we change to put silver and bronze on separate giveaways, I can probably increase the benefit of the monthly giveaways ✌


----------



## Marie Long

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Please email me [email protected] and when I am on my computer I can take a look and see what happened. ✌ We will get it resolved one way or another, but it could be any number of things (spam filter, you didn't fill out the form, you are on a platinum giveaway or iPad giveaway, not the monthly one, Etc). So it's a matter of figuring out where you should be, and if you weren't there, you will be refunded or credited and we will resolve why you were weren't there if you were supposed to be ✌


Thanks! sent you an email.


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## JessHayek69

Are the emails in the mailing list sign-ups different every month? Or is it possible to acquire identical (redundant) emails?


----------



## Guest

JessHayek69 said:


> Are the emails in the mailing list sign-ups different every month? Or is it possible to acquire identical (redundant) emails?


There may be some crossover but there's also plenty new every month


----------



## Guest

For those wondering if the sign ups are the same from month to month:

I sent out the mailing for the iPad giveaway to our subscriber list, which is made up of people from all the previous giveaways. 120 people from our list entered the new giveaway, but we have (best guess) at least 1,000 entrants so far. That means that (again, best guess, I realize it's not a perfect science) at least 88% of the entrants are NEW. (That or the same people are entering the giveaway but not from the newsletter...but if that were the case, I don't think the FKG mailing list would have grown from 6,000-8,000 in less than two months!) 

So yet, we are bringing in new subscribers all the times, which then become available to you when you participate. BUT yes, there will be some duplicates, probably more duplicates the more times in a row you participate. To avoid this, I would recommend the following:

Participate in no more than 1-2 "high end" giveaways a month (platinum, ipad)
Participate in our Monthly giveaways either every other month, or rotate between mailing list subscribers and another option (twitter follow, facebook visit, goodreads add to-read list, amazon author page "follow", thunderclap support, etc)

And a tip I have had from the beginning, for bronze spots, go the twitter or facebook or something else "easy" because you are lower on the list and entrants are running out of steam by then. It's still a good tool and it's only $10 and gets your book tweeted to my twitter account all month long (I have 114,000 followers). This is a great month-to-month CHEAP promo of your work! Silver spots and the other "high end" giveaways are best for 1-2 a month to build that mailing list.

We're being told our subscribers overall are good quality and that when you average out the cost per subscriber it's cheaper than using the facebook method to get subscribers. 

We do NOT set limits on signing up for these promotions at this time. These are just recommendations for getting the best results <3


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## Salvador Mercer

Well I thought I was going to see something at the end of August and was surprised to find a huge list of names in my inbox.  Did I receive the same amount of email addresses as other bronzes or does that vary by book?

If this works with just a fraction of that list being somewhat active to my newsletters then it will be a huge success.

Thanks!
SM


----------



## Guest

Salvador Mercer said:


> Well I thought I was going to see something at the end of August and was surprised to find a huge list of names in my inbox. Did I receive the same amount of email addresses as other bronzes or does that vary by book?
> 
> If this works with just a fraction of that list being somewhat active to my newsletters then it will be a huge success.
> 
> Thanks!
> SM


with the *monthly* giveaways you get emails from people who indicated they wanted to join YOUR list specifically. Everyone gets however many sign up for them. I think this month it was something like 130ish-200ish on average. I believe one or two people got over 300?


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## Salvador Mercer

Ah ok, very nice.  I would have been on the bottom end of that scale and I am still impressed.  Very good ROI imho 

Thanks!  I'm thinking of putting my big book in there next.  Need to read your email tomorrow and see what's available.


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## Bbates024

I use mail chimp as well, save yourself the time of putting it in a text doc, I copied mine directly from the email, clicked on the copy from excel and just pasted it in. Worked like a charm, 0 errors, and ready to go in less then 15 seconds.


----------



## Guest

Bbates024 said:


> I use mail chimp as well, save yourself the time of putting it in a text doc, I copied mine directly from the email, clicked on the copy from excel and just pasted it in. Worked like a charm, 0 errors, and ready to go in less then 15 seconds.


This is what I recommend as well. Easy peasy!


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## Guest

I found it super easy to import as well!

And wow! What an incredible way to get 173 emails! Totally worth it and I will definitely be doing it again.


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## Julz

This is my second month in a row and I got over 130 new subscribers!! Definitely cool


----------



## Guest

Julz said:


> This is my second month in a row and I got over 130 new subscribers!! Definitely cool


That's fantastic!


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## reneepawlish

Question: when doing a second platinum promo, should I use a different book than the first time? Does it matter? FYI, for the first platinum, I used the first in my mystery series, that is permafree.  Thoughts?

Also, I feel good about my results. I had 950+ emails at the start. I am now at 865. I have a five email sequence for new subs, the open rates have been 57% down to 31% (for email #4, 5th hasn't gone out yet). Click rates 23% down to 8.5%. There are about 300 who haven't opened any so I'll be looking to get rid of those after the 5th email goes out (some seem to be not opening the earlier emails but they do open the later ones - spam filters maybe?). I've also had some engagement with some of these readers. I'd say it's been a good value for me. So THANK YOU!


----------



## Guest

So glad to hear of such great results!!! Some people are making new FANS through this and I LOVE it! I'm getting thank yous from readers too, who are thanking me for introducing them to new authors!

Switching up books from promo to promo is a great way to keep things fresh  but we don't require it


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## William Meikle

Looks like I've had over 400 Twitter follows from the iPAD Platinium so far.


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Looks like I've had over 400 Twitter follows from the iPAD Platinium so far.


Awesome! I can't wait to see what the subscriber list is like on that one!


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## Marilyn Peake

reneepawlish said:


> There are about 300 who haven't opened any so I'll be looking to get rid of those after the 5th email goes out (some seem to be not opening the earlier emails but they do open the later ones - spam filters maybe?). I've also had some engagement with some of these readers. I'd say it's been a good value for me. So THANK YOU!


I'm seeing similar patterns. I lost some subscribers with each newsletter I've sent out, but I've still retained over 1,300 subscribers overall. (I had zero subscribers other than my husband and me before participating in the Kindle Giveaway promotions.) I've also had 500 new downloads of the first book in my zombie series since I started participating in the Giveaway promotions and setting it to permafree. And I've gone from 300 Twitter followers to 2,058! My number of followers had slowed down, but started up again after the iPad Giveaway, in which I'm participating. I've also had a few people reply to my newsletter and thank me for letting them know about my free books - that felt awesome! 

I'm in the process of trying to brand my newsletter better. I'm having a banner created by a book cover artist to include Sci Fi/Fantasy artwork along with words that identify me as a Science Fiction and Fantasy author. Originally, I used banners from my books at the top of my newsletter. After I included my YA novel, *Shade*, in one Kindle Giveaway and then announced KU free book days for it in my newsletter, I had over 2,000 downloads of the book. However, when I then sent my newsletter out with a banner and book cover picture from my *Mutation Z: The Ebola Zombies* book, along with a cover reveal of the zombie cover for the next book in the series, I lost subscribers. One person even replied to tell me that if all my books are about zombies, they're not interested. I let them know that I write many different types of books and gave them a link to my website. I then included *Mutation Z: The Ebola Zombies* in a Kindle Giveaway and gained more newsletter subscribers. I'm using that book again in the iPad Giveaway and I'm seeing a steady increase in my number of Twitter followers. I'd create two separate newsletter mailing lists for *Shade* and my *Mutation Z* series except I write so many different types of stories in various genres, I'd actually have to have a lot of separate lists.


----------



## MikeRyan

Bbates024 said:


> I use mail chimp as well, save yourself the time of putting it in a text doc, I copied mine directly from the email, clicked on the copy from excel and just pasted it in. Worked like a charm, 0 errors, and ready to go in less then 15 seconds.


Thanks for the tip...worked perfectly. Got over 140 subscribers. Gotta say I'm pretty happy with the response. I'll probably splurge for one of the Platinum giveaways in the next month.


----------



## tommy gun

This has been an excellent tool for myself.
I went silver and have 140 additions to my mailing list.  Return is good for today in openings.
I WILL be using this again and I am thinking that maybe I should do different lists.  Real Estate guides (for people who want to be realtors), charity teddy bear books and military SF with some zombies are pretty wide for coverage.......

Still have to finish book 1 of the Mil SF CM series (but book 2 and the novella are done... go figure).....


----------



## Guest

I appreciate you all sharing your data with me!

I don't have stats on free books, because my amazon affiliate links only track paid. I can see for free books how many people clicked from the newsletter to the page though  For the paid books, I was just looking today at how many books by other authors I'm selling.

Here are my most recent results:
First WEEK of August: 76 books by other authors sold
Month of July: 107 books by other authors sold

I wonder if I'll see more for the month of August as I did in July, considering how many I've sold just this week.


----------



## Marilyn Peake

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I appreciate you all sharing your data with me!
> 
> I don't have stats on free books, because my amazon affiliate links only track paid. I can see for free books how many people clicked from the newsletter to the page though  For the paid books, I was just looking today at how many books by other authors I'm selling.
> 
> Here are my most recent results:
> First WEEK of August: 76 books by other authors sold
> Month of July: 107 books by other authors sold
> 
> I wonder if I'll see more for the month of August as I did in July, considering how many I've sold just this week.


That's so cool that you can see how many books by other authors sold and how many free books were clicked on in the newsletter! And that's a goodly amount of books sold, considering that's a bonus on top of the sign-ups.


----------



## Guest

Marilyn Peake said:


> That's so cool that you can see how many books by other authors sold and how many free books were clicked on in the newsletter! And that's a goodly amount of books sold, considering that's a bonus on top of the sign-ups.


Yep I think so too! Our point isn't to sell books directly but to give our customers a base to sell to infinitely. But we still try to sell because why not?

Platinum is over by the way! But it's 4:30am and I have to get up in 4 hours and drive across the state. So giveaway results will be distributed when I return to town (Tuesday night, Wednesday night at the latest)


----------



## Guest

I managed to get out the platinum results after all  but the iPad ends tonight and results won't go out until tomorrow night or Wednesday night depending on when I get back into town ✌


----------



## R. M. Webb

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I managed to get out the platinum results after all  but the iPad ends tonight and results won't go out until tomorrow night or Wednesday night depending on when I get back into town ✌


When I saw the post I quoted below, I got excited to get my results tomorrow. A couple hours later, when I got the list of emails, I was like "you go, Rebecca Hamilton!"

Thank you!



TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Platinum is over by the way! But it's 4:30am and I have to get up in 4 hours and drive across the state. So giveaway results will be distributed when I return to town (Tuesday night, Wednesday night at the latest)


----------



## Violet Haze

I got my list, thank you, but I sent out a campaign welcoming them, and now I'm getting emails from Mailchimp saying it generated an abuse rate and I'm in danger of being in non-compliance. Is this from people unsubscribing? I would hate to lose my account because of this!


----------



## Guest

Violet Haze said:


> I got my list, thank you, but I sent out a campaign welcoming them, and now I'm getting emails from Mailchimp saying it generated an abuse rate and I'm in danger of being in non-compliance. Is this from people unsubscribing? I would hate to lose my account because of this!


I don't have mail chimp I use mad mimi. But my understanding is they just need an email from you explaining where him the subs came from. IE: the signed up via a giveaway and im importing them now. Yes, some people will unsub, but overall the retention rate should be good 

No one as far as I know has lost their account because of these promos ✌


----------



## Violet Haze

Okay! I just didn't expect such an email and I was like what?! I did answer them so we'll see.

I've already got people replying to my email and 'chatting' with me, so that's always nice 



TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I don't have mail chimp I use mad mimi. But my understanding is they just need an email from you explaining where him the subs came from. IE: the signed up via a giveaway and im importing them now. Yes, some people will unsub, but overall the retention rate should be good
> 
> No one as far as I know has lost their account because of these promos ✌


----------



## Guest

Violet Haze said:


> Okay! I just didn't expect such an email and I was like what?! I did answer them so we'll see.
> 
> I've already got people replying to my email and 'chatting' with me, so that's always nice


No problem! I had mail chimp before I had mad mimi and I imported my subs from a Google form ML I had at the time and got the same message. I explained the situation and it was fixed pretty much immediately. But I really just don't like mail chimp. Clunky interface and stuff. But once you get through this they shouldn't bother you again ✌ Email me if you have any trouble and I'll help you trouble shoot if necessary


----------



## fantasy-writer

R. M. Webb said:


> When I saw the post I quoted below, I got excited to get my results tomorrow. A couple hours later, when I got the list of emails, I was like "you go, Rebecca Hamilton!"


I know! When I saw how many e-mail addresses there were, I was in shock.


----------



## Violet Haze

I will do that, thank you, but I haven't heard of Mad Mimi. I will take a look at it. I simply joined mailchimp when I first started and I'm a creature of habit almost to the point of pain 



TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> No problem! I had mail chimp before I had mad mimi and I imported my subs from a Google form ML I had at the time and got the same message. I explained the situation and it was fixed pretty much immediately. But I really just don't like mail chimp. Clunky interface and stuff. But once you get through this they shouldn't bother you again ✌ Email me if you have any trouble and I'll help you trouble shoot if necessary


----------



## Guest

Thanks everyone!

Violet, I'm glad we were able to work things out, though shame on mail chimp for their ridiculousness in that situation!

If anyone has questions or concerns, I'm always available by email and I think I do a pretty good job of making ones right when there are any oversights. I appreciate you all!!


----------



## Violet Haze

Me too, and thanks again. They sent me an email stating giveaways should "Have a check box stating they agree to the newsletter" to avoid things like that...but so far, they've refused to lift the limits they've placed on me. So I've changed all the sign up forms to direct people to email me instead so I KNOW they want my mailings, and I'm changing my books with the same info as well. I will just send them emails myself, LOL.



TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Thanks everyone!
> 
> Violet, I'm glad we were able to work things out, though shame on mail chimp for their ridiculousness in that situation!
> 
> If anyone has questions or concerns, I'm always available by email and I think I do a pretty good job of making ones right when there are any oversights. I appreciate you all!!


----------



## Guest

Violet Haze said:


> Me too, and thanks again. They sent me an email stating giveaways should "Have a check box stating they agree to the newsletter" to avoid things like that...but so far, they've refused to lift the limits they've placed on me. So I've changed all the sign up forms to direct people to email me instead so I KNOW they want my mailings, and I'm changing my books with the same info as well. I will just send them emails myself, LOL.


It's so weird they singled out your account though. Especially since what they are asking for is essentially how it works--so you know, you can also give them my email to confirm these people agreed to join. I keep that data on my computer and can provide of opt in. If they want the old style opt in, well, that's another thing entirely, and they should know that reduces sign ups and not everyone wants to do that! That's what the unsubscribe button is for! &#128540; your new plan should go much smoother and if you ever need help, I'm an email away ✌


----------



## Patty Jansen

I'm going to tell you the weirdest story ever.

The other day when I was going through my list in an effort the clean it up a bit before springing for a paid Mailchimp account, I found familiar, very distinctive, name on the list: that of a cousin of mine. We used to correspond a lot, but I hadn't heard from her since she went a bit wild in her late teens. I should add that my author name is slightly different from the name she knew me by.

I'm now emailing her in another window on this computer.


----------



## Salvador Mercer

Violet Haze said:


> Me too, and thanks again. They sent me an email stating giveaways should "Have a check box stating they agree to the newsletter" to avoid things like that...but so far, they've refused to lift the limits they've placed on me. So I've changed all the sign up forms to direct people to email me instead so I KNOW they want my mailings, and I'm changing my books with the same info as well. I will just send them emails myself, LOL.


Violet,

Do you mind if I ask what 'limits' they placed on you?

Thanks,
SM


----------



## Bbates024

Salvador Mercer said:


> Violet,
> 
> Do you mind if I ask what 'limits' they placed on you?
> 
> Thanks,
> SM


I'd like to hear about this too. I haven't sent an email out yet from my sign ups I was going to wait until I had the iPad names and te launch of my second book later this month.


----------



## Violet Haze

They took away my ability to import names at all, and now I have to send a "reconfirmation" email to ALL of my subscribers, including the ones who have been there for nearly 2 years now. If they don't respond, they'll be taken off. When only 50% of my subscribers open my emails half the time (they always end up opening at least 1 in 5, which is why I don't take them off)... I would lose a LOT of people. They said they refuse to wave the requirement of me having to send that reconfirmation email either.



Salvador Mercer said:


> Violet,
> 
> Do you mind if I ask what 'limits' they placed on you?
> 
> Thanks,
> SM


----------



## Violet Haze

I will definitely! And I did tell them they specifically ASKED to join my list, but they didn't care honestly. It's all right though, I think I'd rather avoid the headache entirely of dealing w/ them. I'm happy with my new plans 



TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> It's so weird they singled out your account though. Especially since what they are asking for is essentially how it works--so you know, you can also give them my email to confirm these people agreed to join. I keep that data on my computer and can provide of opt in. If they want the old style opt in, well, that's another thing entirely, and they should know that reduces sign ups and not everyone wants to do that! That's what the unsubscribe button is for! &#128540; your new plan should go much smoother and if you ever need help, I'm an email away ✌


----------



## Guest

Violet Haze said:


> I will definitely! And I did tell them they specifically ASKED to join my list, but they didn't care honestly. It's all right though, I think I'd rather avoid the headache entirely of dealing w/ them. I'm happy with my new plans


That's just so nuts. We've literally had over 100
Authors participate in this and not have this issue. I can't fathom why they singled you out. However, I'm available to support you in fixing this or crafting another plan either way. I will also start including a free "best methods" recommendation list for usin these emails to avoid people markig it as spam (though didn't you say you got flagged for less than 1%?) seriously that is just so random and crappy. I hope all we have done to fix this is suitable for you and please let me know if there is anything else we can do.


----------



## Violet Haze

I think what you're doing for authors is great. The amount of subscribers -- over 1,200 in the matter of days -- was fantastic!! 

I posted on my FB page: Spam isn't a nicely formatted email with a banner, a personal message, and free books! Haha. It was .8% yep. 9 people out of the roughly 350 who had opened it. They said "more than 1 person per 1,000 is too much" which is just absurd IMO.

Mailchimp just decided to pick on me, I guess  lol but now they've lost me and what would've been my paid service in the quite near future.



TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> That's just so nuts. We've literally had over 100
> Authors participate in this and not have this issue. I can't fathom why they singled you out. However, I'm available to support you in fixing this or crafting another plan either way. I will also start including a free "best methods" recommendation list for usin these emails to avoid people markig it as spam (though didn't you say you got flagged for less than 1%?) seriously that is just so random and crappy. I hope all we have done to fix this is suitable for you and please let me know if there is anything else we can do.


----------



## fantasy-writer

Violet Haze said:


> I think what you're doing for authors is great. The amount of subscribers -- over 1,200 in the matter of days -- was fantastic!!
> 
> I posted on my FB page: Spam isn't a nicely formatted email with a banner, a personal message, and free books! Haha. It was .8% yep. 9 people out of the roughly 350 who had opened it. They said "more than 1 person per 1,000 is too much" which is just absurd IMO.
> 
> Mailchimp just decided to pick on me, I guess  lol but now they've lost me and what would've been my paid service in the quite near future.


Wow, this is crazy. I'll have to look into other services in case mailchimp decides to do the same to me.


----------



## fantasy-writer

Another question. For those who have done this before, how many unsubscribes do you typically get after sending the welcome mail?


----------



## Patty Jansen

Ella Summers said:


> Another question. For those who have done this before, how many unsubscribes do you typically get after sending the welcome mail?


That's been creeping up a lot. About 10% sometimes. Sometimes less.

ETA: I specifically point to the unsubscribe list at the bottom of the email, because I rather they do that than report spam.


----------



## Paul K

Patty Jansen said:


> That's been creeping up a lot. About 10% sometimes. Sometimes less.
> 
> ETA: I specifically point to the unsubscribe list at the bottom of the email, because I rather they do that than report spam.


I do the same. The first paragraph for the last platinum read:

"You have recently entered the Free Kindle Giveaway. A handful of authors sponsored this event (myself included), which supported the Pink Fund. As part of the giveaway, you are currently subscribed to my newsletter. I thought I'd take this moment to introduce myself, and let you know about my books. If my stories do not interest you, feel free to unsubscribe by hitting the button at the bottom. If they do, you'll most likely get a free book out of it. Huzzah! Keep reading to find out how."


----------



## fantasy-writer

Patty Jansen said:


> That's been creeping up a lot. About 10% sometimes. Sometimes less.
> 
> ETA: I specifically point to the unsubscribe list at the bottom of the email, because I rather they do that than report spam.


I mentioned the unsubscribe link for the same reason. It looks like some people have reported it as "abuse" anyway. Sigh. After what Violet wrote, I'm afraid I might have trouble too. Presumably, these people knew they were getting on authors' lists, right? So how is this abuse?


----------



## William Meikle

Paul K said:


> I do the same. The first paragraph for the last platinum read:
> 
> "You have recently entered the Free Kindle Giveaway. A handful of authors sponsored this event (myself included), which supported the Pink Fund. As part of the giveaway, you are currently subscribed to my newsletter. I thought I'd take this moment to introduce myself, and let you know about my books. If my stories do not interest you, feel free to unsubscribe by hitting the button at the bottom. If they do, you'll most likely get a free book out of it. Huzzah! Keep reading to find out how."


Thanks, Paul

I think I'd better do something similar when I get the iPad giveaway list.


----------



## Patty Jansen

Ella Summers said:


> I mentioned the unsubscribe link for the same reason. It looks like some people have reported it as "abuse" anyway. Sigh. After what Violet wrote, I'm afraid I might have trouble too. Presumably, these people knew they were getting on authors' lists, right? So how is this abuse?


Another reason I don't sit with my nose on stats. I rarely look at anything other than the open rate. I try to make it easy for them to unsubscribe and don't worry about people reporting abuse, because they will no matter what you do, and I have no idea what level will trigger a crackdown, and worrying about it is just a waste of time. I'll figure out what to do if that happens (most likely pick up my list and go elsewhere).


----------



## Violet Haze

Yep. I honestly didn't even know such a thing could happen. I had no idea, and was just going about my day...



Patty Jansen said:


> Another reason I don't sit with my nose on stats. I rarely look at anything other than the open rate. I try to make it easy for them to unsubscribe and don't worry about people reporting abuse, because they will no matter what you do, and I have no idea what level will trigger a crackdown, and worrying about it is just a waste of time. I'll figure out what to do if that happens (most likely pick up my list and go elsewhere).


----------



## RPJames

Hi TheForeverGirlSeries,

If this is a duplicate email, then I apologize in advance. I sent you an email yesterday, but haven't heard back from you, so I hope you see this message. 

Am I signed up for the platinum giveaway?  The reason I ask, I had some credit card issues, and I wanted to be certain that my payment went through and everything is fine. 

Thank you very much!


----------



## edwardgtalbot

Regarding Mailchimp, I have had a restricted account as well the last few months (means I have to enter the emails I get from the giveaways manually). The reason is that I started my account in 2011 and then basically went dormant for almost three years from mid-2012 to April of this year. I had 600 subscribers and I decided to send out an email to see how many were still interested. Bad idea. I got a huge bounce rate and Mailchimp restricted my account. I then sent a reconfirm email that only retained two subscribers.

Since then, I've gotten about 40 subscribers organically, plus the ones from the giveaways. Honestly, the restriction isn't a huge deal other than when I have to add a list of subscribers manually. I don't know if I get to the point of a paid account whether they would consider lifting the restriction. If not, I might decide to switch providers at that point, letting them know the reason.


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## fantasy-writer

Violet Haze said:


> Yep. I honestly didn't even know such a thing could happen. I had no idea, and was just going about my day...


I wasn't even thinking about "abuse" until I read what happened to you and got paranoid. And then I went snooping in stats where I don't belong.

I hope you get everything sorted out.


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## Guest

There's a lot of other ball players out there besides mail chimp and I have never liked them. Ugly interface, and it sounds like their rules are getting more and more ridiculous since it sounds like this is happening to people even with their organic subscribers

For those who emailed me, I have been on  "vacation " with my husband for the first time in about 3+ years and just got home last night about 2am. I work third shift normally, and answer emails when I'm at work. I will be replying to emails tonight. ✌


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## aimeeeasterling

In case anyone's curious, I did the platinum giveaway this month and put unsubscribe information at the top of my first email (and then filled the rest of the email with information on how to get two free books). I started with 1,247 subscribers from the giveaway (thank you!) and ended up with 1,166 subscribers after 6 spam complaints and 75 unsubscribes.

Aweber says that 43% of my  new subscribers opened that introductory email and that 168 (13.6%) of them clicked to get their free books. However, when I look at the landing page for the free books, I had 199 unique visits, meaning that Aweber is underrepresenting their data by about 18%. That's no big surprise since some people (like me) still use text-based emails (much safer for virus prevention, plus I'm old school), which means Aweber can't tell whether we open that email or not. Moral: Figure you're getting more opens and clicks than your email service reports.

Of the 199 people who downloaded my free books, two emailed with technical difficulties, one emailed to say she'd left a review (and I promptly sent her a free copy of the next book in the series), five or six emailed to thank me, and I suspect at least 4 went on to preorder book 3 immediately since I saw that many more preorders than I'd seen the day before. I figure I got at least $16 immediately from sell-through just in the first two days, which offsets the cost of the giveaway quite a bit.

In the meantime, I should mention that the book I'd listed for the giveaway saw a small but significant boost of sales during the giveaway period, averaging around 6 extra sales per day. (It was priced at 99 cents at the time, though, so an easy buy.) So add in maybe an extra $10 offsetting the cost of the giveaway right up front, leaving only $24 to be gained by future emailings to the new list in order to break even.

In terms of spam issues, I obviously saw a much higher complaint rate than 1 in 1,000. However, I think Aweber averages that out over all of my recent emailings, many of which had seen no spam complaints at all. If you average out all of my emailings since I've started the service, I must still be below their spam threshold. Moral: Don't start a new subscription service just to import your giveaway list if you're worried about getting into trouble.

I should also mention that I chose Aweber over Mailchimp largely because the former has a more personalized response to issues like this. For example, when I first imported a list to Aweber (for a non-writing business), I had about 10,000 email addresses from all of our previous purchasers. Even though the first email I sent out was asking existing subscribers if they'd opt into the new email list, a lot of the messages were marked as spam. Rather than being mad at me, Aweber simply explained that the list obviously wasn't high enough quality and requested that I not email the older customers asking them to opt in. (I was doing it in waves.) So we met in the middle and everyone was happy. Which is a long way of saying --- if you have a big list that might be problematic, Aweber is probably a better bet than Mailchimp.


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## Bbates024

I'm going to send out my first ever MailChimp after we get the iPad emails. I guess I will see how it goes. I never knew services even counted people reporting things as spam. If I get an email from something I don't like I just unsubscribe.

I'll update with results after and see if I get the same response as Violet.


----------



## Violet Haze

I agree with you. Mailchimp does it on a 'per campaign' basis apparently, so overall doesn't matter...and I'd never been reported before that in two years. Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread, lol. I would just make sure you say they can unsub in the first line to avoid it as much as possible if using Mailchimp.

On a side note, people are apparently still opening the email I sent, even though they are technically not on my list anymore, because they are responding to the email which goes to my personal account. It's lovely to see the response!!


----------



## Patty Jansen

For some reason the Pink fund platinum was very high in unsubscribes.

I'm kinda holding my breath for the ipad giveaway and am thinking of running the list through some process to avoid the same thing happening. Anyone got any ideas?


----------



## Guest

Since it sounds like mail chimp is doing this even with organic subscribers, it certainly makes me glad I am not with them! I've heard great things about Aweber and PHPlist. I use madmimi, but some find that too pricey. One of our clients just emails from Her account--no tracking data but no mail chimp drama either.


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## Guest

Hey Patty!

after the unsubs filtered out, how many did you retain? I don't track per giveaway, just like to see the mailing list keep going up and the interaction per emails going up  but I'm curious how many retained subscribers you ended up with ✌


----------



## Northern pen

Benchmark is a good mailchimp alternative as well.


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## Guest

Also, in September we will be adding some new methods that will help us further target bookish readers ✌ I will be curious then to see how this affects the stats


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## Guest

Also, perhaps I should create a form where people can report those who report as spam? We can "ban" people who are doing that. I uderstand some may unsubscribe if they newsletter ends up not being a good fit for them, but we take spam seriously--reporting something as spam that is not is unacceptable, and we will make sure those who do that are not qualified to win anything with us. Would people like a way to report this to us? Yes we take the bad (unsubs, spam reports) with the good (increased sales, new life long fans) but FKG will always be in your corner to handle any issues with your providers as well as to weed out people who are abusing the report spam feature.


----------



## aimeeeasterling

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Also, perhaps I should create a form where people can report those who report as spam? We can "ban" people who are doing that. I uderstand some may unsubscribe if they newsletter ends up not being a good fit for them, but we take spam seriously--reporting something as spam that is not is unacceptable, and we will make sure those who do that are not qualified to win anything with us. Would people like a way to report this to us? Yes we take the bad (unsubs, spam reports) with the good (increased sales, new life long fans) but FKG will always be in your corner to handle any issues with your providers as well as to weed out people who are abusing the report spam feature.


I'm pretty sure Aweber doesn't tell me who reports my emails as spam. They automatically delete them from the list and figure I don't need to know anything more about them. I think their reasoning is that they don't want to give list owners the chance to ask them why they marked the email as spam, a bit like it's bad form for authors to comment on reviews.


----------



## Guest

Ah, madmimi tells me that info! ✌ We dot contact those that do. We just don't give prizes to those who do 

Yes contacting then is like commentif on a neg review. But knowing who marked it is like knowing who wrote the review. I honk its okay for author to privately keep note of that and not give those people free books. 😜


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## WordNinja

I ended up subscribed to a bunch of email lists after the Pink Fund platinum campaign, but I didn't intentionally subscribe to any of them. I don't know if it was a glitch, or if I didn't read carefully enough, or if I fat-fingered the links on my iPad...but from the reader's perspective, it's really annoying to suddenly find yourself subscribed to lists that you didn't want to be on. That's no excuse for reporting it as spam, when it's pretty clear where it came from, but I understand why they do it, especially after the sixth or seventh unsolicited email that day.


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## Guest

It's in the terms of service  we will try to make that clearer to readers going forward, though, since some are not seeing this easily. 

On another note, I just went into madmimi and explored our suppressed email list. Over the lifetime of FKG, we have a total of 92 "marked as spam" reports. We have 8,270 still subscribed ✌

I can provide screen shots when on my computer if anyone would like to see this. We will make the terms of our giveaway clearer as well to help stop people from entering without reading them. 🙌


----------



## Guest

Also, I think we pinpointed which part of our audience is getting report spam happy without reading the TOS and we will not be marketing future giveaways to that audience.


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## Violet Haze

Mailchimp showed me what emails marked my newsletter as spam, and also said "do not engage them." LOL. Also, there were some duplicates, or people using two emails with just different endings (yahoo & gmail, for example), but you can tell it was the same person.



TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Also, perhaps I should create a form where people can report those who report as spam? We can "ban" people who are doing that. I uderstand some may unsubscribe if they newsletter ends up not being a good fit for them, but we take spam seriously--reporting something as spam that is not is unacceptable, and we will make sure those who do that are not qualified to win anything with us. Would people like a way to report this to us? Yes we take the bad (unsubs, spam reports) with the good (increased sales, new life long fans) but FKG will always be in your corner to handle any issues with your providers as well as to weed out people who are abusing the report spam feature.


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## Guest

Violet Haze said:


> Mailchimp showed me what emails marked my newsletter as spam, and also said "do not engage them." LOL. Also, there were some duplicates, or people using two emails with just different endings (yahoo & gmail, for example), but you can tell it was the same person.


Yep, that happens. Would you like a way to report these emails to us? We will not be contacting them, but they would be blocked from future giveaways. We won't block unsubs, but defintely people abusing the report and spam for what is not spam.


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## Patty Jansen

Andrea @ ArtWellPub said:


> I ended up subscribed to a bunch of email lists after the Pink Fund platinum campaign, but I didn't intentionally subscribe to any of them. I don't know if it was a glitch, or if I didn't read carefully enough, or if I fat-fingered the links on my iPad...but from the reader's perspective, it's really annoying to suddenly find yourself subscribed to lists that you didn't want to be on. That's no excuse for reporting it as spam, when it's pretty clear where it came from, but I understand why they do it, especially after the sixth or seventh unsolicited email that day.


I think pretty much this. I think I've always done well because I've always been a Johnny-come-lately at the monthly giveaways, ended up at the bottom of the email and attracted only the really keen competitioners.

I think reporting spam-reporters is counterproductive, even if the provider tells us who they are. There is something in the process of the big giveaways that needs to make it absolutely clear to the entrants that this is what's going to happen and that there is an extra step that tells them so, with a "DO YOU GIVE YOUR CONSENT? Y/N"

I, too, received a warning from Mailchimp. No restrictions, just a warning. Not about spam, but about the unusually high unsubscribes for the Pink fund, which were just mindblowing.

I've been thinking of running the ipad list through a pre-process using a different account, but am unsure how to marry up the two. In the Pink fund, there was over 50% who were already on my list or had already unsubscribed, and I really, really don't want to send these people anything again. I also have to say that the ones who open and download the free books are wonderful and totally worth it! I just want a better way of separating the chaff.

So if I can, I'd like to export my mailchimp list, compare it with the new list, delete the people who are already on my list or have already unsubscribed, and send the remaining people an email that they can get free books if they go through my normal subscription process, and tell them that they're not subscribed unless they take that action. I'm aware that this will decimate the number of new people, but I cannot afford another deluge like the one I had this week.


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## Guest

Great idea, Patty! And I love the Y/N thing to make things 1000% clear even to those who are reading the TOS. We will add that to the rafflecopter form directly for all future premium giveaways.


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## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Great idea, Patty! And I love the Y/N thing to make things 1000% clear even to those who are reading the TOS. We will add that to the rafflecopter form directly for all future premium giveaways.


You could make it sound positive:

By agreeing to this, your email address will be shared with the twenty authors who have have sponsored this giveaway. They will be sending you an email shortly with special deals on their books.


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## Marilyn Peake

Patty Jansen said:


> For some reason the Pink fund platinum was very high in unsubscribes.
> 
> I'm kinda holding my breath for the ipad giveaway and am thinking of running the list through some process to avoid the same thing happening. Anyone got any ideas?


I decided to take a different approach. Despite all the unsubscribes, I've still ended up with 1,400 subscribers after participating in several giveaways. I decided to just let the dedicated subscribers sort themselves out, rather than spending my time trying to figure this out myself. This discussion has made me realize some things about my own behavior as a newsletter subscriber. I only ever subscribe to the newsletters of authors from whom I'm really interested in hearing about their books. However, I don't always open their newsletter emails - for example, if I'm swamped with emails and don't have time. Also, I usually don't download free books and I don't always click on links inside newsletters. I do, however, very frequently zip over to Amazon through my Kindle and directly purchase the books an author has promoted in their newsletter. Sometimes while I'm there, I download additional books from those authors. I'd be really bummed out if authors unsubscribed me from their newsletter mailing lists because their stats suggested I wasn't interested in their books.


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## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> You could make it sound positive:
> 
> By agreeing to this, your email address will be shared with the twenty authors who have have sponsored this giveaway. They will be sending you an email shortly with special deals on their books.


Yes, I was thinking something along those lines. "Please confirm by typing "yes" below that you understand your email will be added to the mailing lists of the 20 authors sponsoring this giveaway. They would like to contact you with special deals and freebies, though you can unsubscribe at any time."

I think it's important to note they can unsubscribe. If after we do this, people still report as spam, they will be blocked from future giveaways. The whole point of these giveaways is for readers to get to meet more authors, so we certainly will NOT target readers who don't want that! 

Our goal is always to make this service valuable our sponsors AND beneficial to our readers <3


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## Patty Jansen

Marilyn Peake said:


> I decided to take a different approach. Despite all the unsubscribes, I've still ended up with 1,400 subscribers after participating in several giveaways. I decided to just let the dedicated subscribers sort themselves out, rather than spending my time trying to figure this out myself. This discussion has made me realize some things about my own behavior as a newsletter subscriber. I only ever subscribe to the newsletters of authors from whom I'm really interested in hearing about their books. However, I don't always open their newsletter emails - for example, if I'm swamped with emails and don't have time. Also, I usually don't download free books and I don't always click on links inside newsletters. I do, however, very frequently zip over to Amazon through my Kindle and directly purchase the books an author has promoted in their newsletter. Sometimes while I'm there, I download additional books from those authors. I'd be really bummed out if authors unsubscribed me from their newsletter mailing lists because their stats suggested I wasn't interested in their books.


When your provider starts making unhappy noises, is there an alternative? I'd prefer to let them sort themselves out, but I don't want my account closed. This would apply to people imported from lists only.


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## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Yes, I was thinking something along those lines. "Please confirm by typing "yes" below that you understand your email will be added to the mailing lists of the 20 authors sponsoring this giveaway. They would like to contact you with special deals and freebies, though you can unsubscribe at any time."
> 
> I think it's important to note they can unsubscribe. If after we do this, people still report as spam, they will be blocked from future giveaways. The whole point of these giveaways is for readers to get to meet more authors, so we certainly will NOT target readers who don't want that!
> 
> Our goal is always to make this service valuable our sponsors AND beneficial to our readers <3


Mailchimp was giving me warnings for having *too many unsubscribes*, not spam reports.


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## Marilyn Peake

Patty Jansen said:


> When your provider starts making unhappy noises, is there an alternative? I'd prefer to let them sort themselves out, but I don't want my account closed. This would apply to people imported from lists only.


Ahhh, that's a very good point. I use MadMimi and haven't had a problem. MadMimi hasn't said a peep. I really like them. They've also personally responded very quickly, sometimes within minutes, whenever I've had a question.


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## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Mailchimp was giving me warnings for having *too many unsubscribes*, not spam reports.


Wow! That's just....something. Have you considered switching? Having unsubscribes is normal... ALL companies get them! The bigger the list, the more they get!


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## Guest

Marilyn Peake said:


> I decided to take a different approach. Despite all the unsubscribes, I've still ended up with 1,400 subscribers after participating in several giveaways. I decided to just let the dedicated subscribers sort themselves out, rather than spending my time trying to figure this out myself. This discussion has made me realize some things about my own behavior as a newsletter subscriber. I only ever subscribe to the newsletters of authors from whom I'm really interested in hearing about their books. However, I don't always open their newsletter emails - for example, if I'm swamped with emails and don't have time. Also, I usually don't download free books and I don't always click on links inside newsletters. I do, however, very frequently zip over to Amazon through my Kindle and directly purchase the books an author has promoted in their newsletter. Sometimes while I'm there, I download additional books from those authors. I'd be really bummed out if authors unsubscribed me from their newsletter mailing lists because their stats suggested I wasn't interested in their books.


I take the same approach as you for the same reason. I have some brands that I am subbed to that I open maybe ONCE every 3-6 months. But when I open, I do a bulk purchase. I would hate to be unsubbed from them  Also, I tend to just look at it this way:
Are my subscribers going up?
Are my sales/downloads/reviews/etc from having more subscribers going up?

That said, it sounds like people are having trouble with *mail chimp* specifically. I am noting that so I can warn the clients I PA for not to use them. There's just so many better options out there, I think a lot of people use Mail Chimp because it's the most widely known, not because it's the best option. The more I hear about them (and not just in regards to unsubs/spam reports/restrictions) the less inclined I am to ever do business with them.


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## Guest

Marilyn Peake said:


> Ahhh, that's a very good point. I use MadMimi and haven't had a problem. MadMimi hasn't said a peep. I really like them. They've also personally responded very quickly, sometimes within minutes, whenever I've had a question.


Same here. I use madmimi and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! Love the interface, the support, the drama-freeness! That said, they are pricier, BUT you can put them on pause. My friend uses them but since she only sends out 4 newsletters a year, she just puts it on pause 2 months, live one month, pause 2 months, so the price works out that way. For those who regularly use their list, I would suggest Aweber or PHPlist if they want a cheaper alternative. My friend uses PHPlist and she says the interface is clunky, BUT it's dirt cheap. And for those using Mail Chimp anyway, they are probably already accustomed to clunky interfaces.


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## Patty Jansen

OK, it sounds like mailchimp and I may be parting company soon, even if I've just sprung for a paid account. 

I'll get the ipad list. I'll import it. I'll export the whole kit-and-kaboodle into a csv file before I'll send them a mailing (just in case they limit my ability to export). If mailchimp sputters again, I'll send their support team (which I'm entitled to as paying customer) a VERY unhappy email, and I'll move elsewhere. I like the look of Madmimi. Mailerlite also looks good to me.


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## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> OK, it sounds like mailchimp and I may be parting company soon, even if I've just sprung for a paid account.
> 
> I'll get the ipad list. I'll import it. I'll export the whole kit-and-kaboodle into a csv file before I'll send them a mailing (just in case they limit my ability to export). If mailchimp sputters again, I'll send their support team (which I'm entitled to as paying customer) a VERY unhappy email, and I'll move elsewhere. I like the look of Madmimi. Mailerlite also looks good to me.


If it was ONLY spam reports Mail Chimp was whining about, I would understand. Or if they were only getting grumpy about non-organic lists, I would understand (but still move elsewhere). But from what I am hearing, they are doing this to organic lists, too, AND penalizing mail list owners for people not being intersted anymore and unsubscribing? Well, to me, that's kind of ridiculous and no way to treat a customer.


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## Bbates024

Ok I broke down and sent out my first email ever just to see how it shakes out. I sent it about 3 hours ago.

I received something like 138 emails from the August giveaway. So far I have 39 opens, and 8 clicks on the links in my email. I had two emails that Hard Bounced so either they don't exist anymore or something else happened.

I'm actually excited 39 people took the time to open my email. I'll hope for higher numbers later on but for my first one it was sweet.

No unsubscribers yet, and as far as I can tell no spam reports.

All in all, I think it went better than I thought. Also, I plan on sending only one email a month unless I have a release that falls outside of the window. I am going to try and plan my letter around releases though so I don't send to many. I know one thing I hate is people that send me weekly or daily emails. I unsubscribe from all of those.


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## Guest

My approach is similar. Outside of the giveaways I send out, I only use my personal end for new releases and special offers. This way I'm not a nuisance to those who don't like frequent emails.


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## edwardgtalbot

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> My approach is similar. Outside of the giveaways I send out, I only use my personal end for new releases and special offers. This way I'm not a nuisance to those who don't like frequent emails.


I shoot for two emails a month. The key is not to have it all be promotion. But really the bigger key is to start to segregate your list to identify those who want to be more engaged. Those are your most valuable list subscribers. Over time (I haven't even begun this yet), you build a "street team" or whatever you want to call it of more engaged folks who want to hear from you more regularly and are more likely to buy books, leave reviews, be beta readers, etc.


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## Bbates024

edwardgtalbot said:


> I shoot for two emails a month. The key is not to have it all be promotion. But really the bigger key is to start to segregate your list to identify those who want to be more engaged. Those are your most valuable list subscribers. Over time (I haven't even begun this yet), you build a "street team" or whatever you want to call it of more engaged folks who want to hear from you more regularly and are more likely to buy books, leave reviews, be beta readers, etc.


I agree I plan on removing people that don't open any of my emails after the third or fourth time. By then I figure they really just are not interested at all.


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## fantasy-writer

It's been about 24 hours since I sent my welcome mail, and so far I've gotten 5 abuse reports. Mailchimp hasn't complained (yet), but we'll see. ~75 unsubscribes. This was out of 1200+ people. I referenced the unsubscribe link at the top of the mail.

But I think some of the people are checking out my series.   I told the list about the countdown deal I'm having on my books. I got enough sales to put one of those books on page one of the Amazon fantasy/SF countdown deal page.

P.S. I don't really like the Mailchimp interface. I'm relatively tech-savvy, but I find that interface confusing and cluttered.


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## William Meikle

I got over 1000 new subscribers from the iPad platinum, so as I suspected there were a lot of already subscribed people from the previous giveaways. Still very happy with the new 1000 though, so I'll stay on the waiting list for Gold, and I'm in for a Silver in September. I'll definitely do anther platinum when funds permit...


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## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Great idea, Patty! And I love the Y/N thing to make things 1000% clear even to those who are reading the TOS. We will add that to the rafflecopter form directly for all future premium giveaways.


Over the past 3 giveaways I've got a list of 50 folks who have signed up for each, then unsubscribed immediately. I've now got a 'banned' list for them that'll stop them from from ever getting signed up to my list again.


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## Patty Jansen

williammeikle said:


> Over the past 3 giveaways I've got a list of 50 folks who have signed up for each, then unsubscribed immediately. I've now got a 'banned' list for them that'll stop them from from ever getting signed up to my list again.


Mailchimp won't re-import those people into your main list. They have an unsubscribed parallel list and if those people want to be on your list again, only they can subscribe by filling in the form.


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## Caddy

Just sent mine for the I-pad giveaway. I use Mailchimp. If I have any problems with Mailchimp, I'll report here so others will know it's happening frequently.  Fingers crossed.


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## Bbates024

So I sent mine before I received the iPad giveaway emails, I'll be using those later this month for a new release. But on the email I did send 139 subscribers from the August Monthly Giveaway I have had 58 unique opens 15 clicks on the links in the email, and 3 unsubscribers. I'm very excited about the results. For me, that bronze spot was worth it's weight in gold. I have Silver lined up for September and my new release and then I'll probably give it a month or two and come back for another one.


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## William Meikle

For anyone reading who is considering signing up for a giveaway promo here...

In the past three months I've participated in a bronze and 3 platinums. My list has grown from 400 to 3300 for an outlay of $185. 

Dollar for dollar it's been seven times more efficient than any Facebook ad in getting signups for me.


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## WordNinja

Here are my iPad giveaway results after 12 hours. 

1777 recipients
677 opens (38.6%)
256 clicks (14.6%)
23 bounced
86 unsubscribed
5 abuse reports

I use MailChimp, and they haven't complained yet. I positioned this as an Amazon gift card giveaway (in conjunction with a new release announcement), so that helped with my opens and clicks. Maybe the fact that this can only be described as a wildly successful campaign from the perspective of opens and clicks means that MailChimp won't be so worried about the high number of unsubscribes and the few abuse reports (0.3% is not a terrible thing). 

Overall, I think this was $75 well spent. We'll see for my next release whether it results in sales. So far, I've only gotten 2 clicks on the sale link, but it's a gay romance anthology and I wasn't expecting much. 

Now I've got to decide what to do about my mail provider - whether to stick with MailChimp or switch to something else. I'll need a paid service soon, thanks to this promotion.


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## Guest

I appreciate you all sharing your results! We are always refining our approach to make our service a better experience for sponsors and readers. So we have some changes planned going forward that we hope will help with the mail chimp issue. However, i personally just would not use Mail chinp at this point. We are not seeing issue with any other mailing list provider; additionally, I'm seeing mail chimp issues even from authors who don't use our service. So while we will be altering and improving our system, I worry mail chimp may have issues regardless what people do. And it seems some accounts are targeted while others aren't, despite the same results. That seems a bit unfair to those authors. We are doing our best on our end thoigh and absolutely thrilled people are loving their results overall!


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## edwardgtalbot

After seeing all the discussion in this thread, I just sent an email to mailchimp about the process of reinstatement from having a restricted account. Since I have a free account, the only way to contact them was to do so as if I were considering signing up for an account. I said up front that if I couldn't get an answer on this that there is not way I'd sign up for a paid account when the time comes and therefore it really is a sales issue not a support issue. I described what led to my restriction (which was probably justified) but I also said that word is going around in the author community that Aweber and madmimi get better open rates and have fewer problems with restrictions, so the process is something they need to address. For everyone like me who writes in, there are dozens or hundreds who just go somewhere else. I told them that I like mailchimp a lot and they can either address this issue and have me be an advocate for them or lose both my business and my advocacy by the time I get to having a paid account.

I'll post here if I get a response.


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## Patty Jansen

I got almost 1100 new subscribers with the iPad giveaway. I've got the mailing set to send on Tuesday but I may bring it forward because I'm going to be away next week, so I can't deal with potential mailchimp issues. I'm a paying customer there so if they flag me again for too many unsubscribes, I'll blast them in whatever hairy chimpanzee ear faces me (ear-blasting by the snake is not nice). At this point, I have no trouble picking up my list and going elsewhere. I don't like the look of Aweber at all, but madmimi and mailerlite look fine--besides being cheaper than the chimp for my number of subscribers.

I'll send this weekend. Let's see what happens. Exporting my subscribers to file now...

I want to second William in how good value this is. I do, and will probably continue to, advertise on facebook, but this is a very efficient way of getting more people. Rather than spending $50-100 per ad and running ads at places like Freebooksy etc. you can spend that and keep the audience! What more do you want?


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## Guest

Thank you, Patty, for sharing your feedback! And THAT is exactly our goal! We want you to be able to build YOUR mailing list, NOT just borrow ours for a day! It's so awesome when authors understand exactly what the point of this is


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## A.W.Hartoin

I had fabulous results from the iPad giveaway with over 1700 new subscribers. My mailing list would be nowhere without you. Thank you!


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## Caddy

I got 1,274 new subscribers from the I-pad giveaway. So that was about 300 more than from the platinum. However, although the open rate was about the same in 24 hours, the click rate was 50% less (same free book for each) and I got 5 abuse reports instead of 2, and 78 unsubscribes instead of 43. I used pretty much the same email for each.

I will be curious to see what happens over the next day or so, but so far the platinum seems to be a far better buy for me. The platinum was $20 and the I-pad cost me $75, which was a special. For an extra $55 I only got 300 more names and much lower click through.

I'm not saying it was a bad deal, it wasn't, but for my money the platinum was much better.

M y mistake. The platinum cost $50 and so they are pretty even for the money...just hoping to see click through improvement over the weekend, but either way I'm very happy with the number of subscribers.


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## Guest

Platinum has always been 50, not 20 ✌


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## Caddy

Oh my gosh. You're right! I just checked my records.  Well, then for the extra $25 I got about 50% more sign-ups, which makes it the same numbers for the money...I'm just hoping the clicks improve over the week-end.  Regardless, I feel your promotions have delivered and I thank you. I edited my last post to reflect the correct things.


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## edwardgtalbot

So I actually got a quick answer from mailchimp. They have an automated abuse prevention system they call Omnivore. Between when I emailed them and when they responded, supposedly omnivore determined that importing no longer needed to be disabled for me and sent me an email. Seems like a big coincidence, but in any case I got a quick response and they said that their system will reinstate you after a certain amount of activity that is within guidelines. I have sent between 400 and 500 emails since my import rights were disabled, with only 3 bounces and single digits of unsubscribes.

I highly recommended that at a minimum they document that fact that a disabled account can be reinstated this way. They were responsive, but I'm not going to bother leaving now but it is obviously a concern for the future if they have this automated process that penalizes a relatively small number of bounced email.

Separate note - I sent my intro email late last night to 84 new subscribers I got in this month's bronze. As of now, open rate is 39% and click rate is 7.3%. I would expect the open rate will drift towards 50% within the next 1-2 days, which is fine. The click rate is a bit lower than the 15% I got from the previous month, even considering it's only been 20 hours. But for $10, it's still a great value even the second month in a row!

I should note that the click rate is for the free book I am offering them, the same one I usually use to attract list subscribers.


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## Nathalie Aynie

I'm in. *excited*


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## Patty Jansen

Sending my iPad list tonight....

Standby for mailchimp shenanigans. Actually I half-suspect that mailchimp are not as bad to deal with as they seem when you write to them and explain what you're doing.

When is the next big promo? 

Even when half of the entrants are "repeat offenders* and already on my list, this is very good value in comparison with Facebook ads.


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## fantasy-writer

For those of you getting so many clicks, are you offering something for free?


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## Guest

Currently, the Platinum is better for US -- if our clients are getting about the same value per dollar, but we're spending $600 on a prize instead of $100, it's better for us to do Platinum  

We hope with time and adjustment the iPad giveaways will perform better  But until then, we will keep them priced at $75


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## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Sending my iPad list tonight....
> 
> Standby for mailchimp shenanigans. Actually I half-suspect that mailchimp are not as bad to deal with as they seem when you write to them and explain what you're doing.
> 
> When is the next big promo?
> 
> Even when half of the entrants are "repeat offenders* and already on my list, this is very good value in comparison with Facebook ads.


One spot left on the ALS Platinum, then that will run!

We loaded a new iPad, to give it another go. If it doesn't perform better than the first one, we may not keep it and just stick with Monthly and Platinum giveaways <3

Our regular Monthly will be September 1st. A few bronze left for that <3


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## Guest

Also, regarding the iPad giveaway results. We were able to pinpoint where the majority of the "problems" came from with that one, one particular group that we marketed to that we will not be marketing to in the future. This should help the next ipad giveaway be more successful!


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## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> One spot left on the ALS Platinum, then that will run!
> 
> We loaded a new iPad, to give it another go. If it doesn't perform better than the first one, we may not keep it and just stick with Monthly and Platinum giveaways <3
> 
> Our regular Monthly will be September 1st. A few bronze left for that <3


I think I'm already in the ALS and the September and October monthlies.


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## edwardgtalbot

Ella Summers said:


> For those of you getting so many clicks, are you offering something for free?


Yes, I give away my first book in a series as an enticement (Reader Magnet) for signing up for my mailing list just generally. So my intro email offers it to all the subscribers I get via the giveaway as well.


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## WordNinja

Mailchimp didn't give me any grief for my iPad giveaway mailing, despite 119 unsubscribes and 6 abuse reports. I've had 909 opens and 361 clicks. The high click rate is attributable to the Rafflecopter for a $10 Amazon gift card. I don't have any free stories to give away yet.


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## fantasy-writer

Ah, just like I thought.  I don't have anything to offer for free right now. My books are all in Select, which puts me on iffy grounds when it comes to giving one of them away.

In my welcome mail, I told the list about the countdown deal on a bunch of my books, and I did have a big spike in sales. So I'm happy with the results.


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## Patty Jansen

And I'm in for iPad mark II


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## Guest

Platinum ALS is good to go. If I can get that scheduled out tonight for tomorrow, I will, but if not, it will be very soon. Right now I'm in the process of organizing notes to make future giveaways more effective (at least, I hope that's what these efforts will do!)


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## WordNinja

I signed up for a Bronze spot for September. I got used getting hundreds of visitors to my Facebook page during the iPad giveaway. It's totally worth the $10 to get some extra Facebook love!


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## Patty Jansen

Another day, another Mailchimp warning about "too many unsubscribes". They're also "kindly" informed me that my account has upgraded to $50 per month.

I'm going away for a few days next week, but after this, I'm SO outta there!


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## Guest

I get tons of unsubscribes every month (due to having such a huge list, I'm sure) and have never gotten a warning. I can understand on "report abuse" reports, but sounds like Mail Chimp gets grumpy over a .1% complaint rate. I don't blame you for wanting to leave, Patty. And $50 a month? How many subscribers do you have? I can have up to 10,000 for $42. If I didn't use my mailing list to make money, I would switch to PHPlist. I really like how MadMimi works, though, so I've stayed with them.


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## Patty Jansen

Creating madmimi account as we speak. I'll poke around with the 100-subscriber free one for a week or so before importing the main list. There are about 2900 people on that now.


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## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Creating madmimi account as we speak. I'll poke around with the 100-subscriber free one for a week or so before importing the main list. There are about 2900 people on that now.


How does the pricing compare at a paid rate? I never paid for Mail Chimp (the interface scared me away, the horror stories kept me away lol). Mad Mimi is beautiful and easy to use. I'm curious to see what someone who is USED to Mail Chimp thinks after trying it, and how the pricing compares. (BTW, remember you can put your service on "hold" with them when you don't need it. It's really great <3 )


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## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> How does the pricing compare at a paid rate? I never paid for Mail Chimp (the interface scared me away, the horror stories kept me away lol). Mad Mimi is beautiful and easy to use. I'm curious to see what someone who is USED to Mail Chimp thinks after trying it, and how the pricing compares. (BTW, remember you can put your service on "hold" with them when you don't need it. It's really great <3 )


Hmm, well, yeah, actually, mailchimp does a lot of things that madmimi doesn't. The formatting is very limited, which I'm OK with, but it doesn't have anywhere near the capability for automation. I'm getting decent sales now by using a series of automated emails to people. As far as I can see, madmimi doesn't have anywhere near the number of operators (as in: mathematical and programming operators, like "is" or "is not" or "was sent after" and "is a member of" etc.). In mailchimp you can add unlimited operators to a mailing.

I also suspect that the warnings from mailchimp are created by an autobot, and if you email the people directly, they're probably a lot more understanding if you explain.

I also don't see the option for templates.


----------



## Guest

That's great information! I don't do anything on automation, but for those who do, that sounds wonderful. And yes, Madmimi doesn't have a template--you build your own as you go, and it is limited, as you say, though I like the way it looks so I guess it never bothered me.


----------



## WordNinja

I received a notification from MailChimp after 8 abuse reports. The magic number is 0.5%, and 8 was 0.46%. So far they haven't taken any action, and i'm not too worried. They haven't given me any trouble over the unsubscribes. 

After looking at the other services, I'm sticking with MailChimp. I'm very happy with them, and for now, I can't afford a paid service.


----------



## MikeRyan

Just wanted to reply with some numbers for others if they're interested. My first email was sent yesterday to 148 people. So far, I've had 82 opens (56%), 2 hard bounces (Bad emails), 4 unsubscribes, and 0 abuse reports. I also offered a free book and had 11 people email me about that. After 24 hours, I'm pretty pleased with the results.


----------



## Guest

So glad you are enjoying the results 🙌🙌🙌


----------



## Patty Jansen

I've very happy, despite the mailchimp shenanigans. Since those reports are generated by bots, I suspect that when they let you contact a real person (on "warnings" that link is not live for me), they will listen to your explanation. 

I mean, they can see that my open rate is a lot higher than their "industry standard" so TBH I'm not sure what ridiculous standards they're holding members to.

Anyway, I'm not sure how often you'd recommend taking part in the big promos. I signed up for the September iPad. Should I do the platinum as well? Or wait a month?


----------



## Guest

I would do no more than 2 of our "big" giveaways a month and I think 1 big giveaway a month would probably get the best results ✌ If doing 2, alternate the non mailing list actions and which book you feature to get the most out of it.


----------



## A.W.Hartoin

I seem to remember an email about a new option that would work for new book launches, but now I can't find it. Has anyone done a sponsorship for a launch?


----------



## Caddy

For the I-pad I am now at 49.4% open and 10% click. The open was good, but the clicks were one of the lowest of any campaign I've run. I also got a warning from Mailchimp.  I like the features they offer, so I don't want to switch. I'm happy with the amount of opens...wish the clicks were higher, but they are still acceptable. I am going to wait awhile and see what happens when I send new releases to this list I have built before doing more promos. I'm nervous about getting a lot of unsubscribes in the future and getting another warning from these names I've already gotten. If that doesn't happen, I will try another promo in the future...if people actually buy.  Thank you for the promos. I appreciate the service.


----------



## edwardgtalbot

Now that a few days have gone by, the final results of the email to my second group of subs is 48.8% open and 13.4% click. Really not that far off my first month as far as percentages go. I'll send another email to this list on 8/28 when I'm doing a 99 cent promo and then a week later anyone who hasn't opened either of the first two emails goes bye bye. I don't purge people this quickly with my double opt-in subscribers, but given that there is (eventually) a cost associated with sending emails and having people on my list, I'm going to conclude someone who didn't open either email isn't much of a hot lead.


----------



## Bbates024

I'll be sending out my big email tomorrow, also finally filled out my Silver Spot for September, had to wait and see if edits would be done for my new book in time. They were, pheewwwwww, and it's now live on amazon!


----------



## Guest

A.W.Hartoin said:


> I seem to remember an email about a new option that would work for new book launches, but now I can't find it. Has anyone done a sponsorship for a launch?


My New Releases are handled through HungryAuthor.com


----------



## Guest

Caddy said:


> For the I-pad I am now at 49.4% open and 10% click. The open was good, but the clicks were one of the lowest of any campaign I've run. I also got a warning from Mailchimp. I like the features they offer, so I don't want to switch. I'm happy with the amount of opens...wish the clicks were higher, but they are still acceptable. I am going to wait awhile and see what happens when I send new releases to this list I have built before doing more promos. I'm nervous about getting a lot of unsubscribes in the future and getting another warning from these names I've already gotten. If that doesn't happen, I will try another promo in the future...if people actually buy.  Thank you for the promos. I appreciate the service.


Great open rate! I never look at percentages, to be honest. I look at the end result.
If 10 out of 100 people buy, that's a 10% buy rate, but only 10 sales.
It 50 out of 1000 people buy, that a 5% buy rate, but it's 50 sales, which is 5x as many.

For me, I'm okay with a lower PERCENT if it's a higher SALES rate. My sales have gone up from 10 per release to 60+ per release, and I'm good with that, even though my unsubs are higher and my percents are lower  Of course, you're free to feel differently, and YMMV as well <3


----------



## Guest

edwardgtalbot said:


> Now that a few days have gone by, the final results of the email to my second group of subs is 48.8% open and 13.4% click. Really not that far off my first month as far as percentages go. I'll send another email to this list on 8/28 when I'm doing a 99 cent promo and then a week later anyone who hasn't opened either of the first two emails goes bye bye. I don't purge people this quickly with my double opt-in subscribers, but given that there is (eventually) a cost associated with sending emails and having people on my list, I'm going to conclude someone who didn't open either email isn't much of a hot lead.


Great plan! I think there was some discussion on this earlier in the thread. I belong to a few mailing lists that I actually only open once a year, but I bulk buy when I do open (Sevenly).


----------



## Guest

Bbates024 said:


> I'll be sending out my big email tomorrow, also finally filled out my Silver Spot for September, had to wait and see if edits would be done for my new book in time. They were, pheewwwwww, and it's now live on amazon!


Awesome! can't wait to hear your results!


----------



## Bbates024

I know we beat this topic a lot but I got warning today from Mailchimp today, I sent out an email to 1780 folks I had about hundred unsubscribe which I thought was great fro a first email it helps me weed out people that are not interested in my type of books. Here is a quote from their email " MailChimp account generated an abuse rate of 0.45%" Less than one percent. Seems a little silly to me. Anyways I just clicked a box that said ok to the warning and nothing happened. If they do it again, or maybe before they can I'll just jump over to Mad Mimi they are cheaper once you get into the paid lists anyway.

I can't say enough wonderful things about this promotional service. The emails I have received are an amazing resource and I see huge, return on getting my name out there. I have a book in Kindle Scout and as soon as I sent my email I went right back into hot and trending and have stayed there all day. The email I sent today had 455 opens, and 45 clicks, just in the first 5hours, so I will see more coming in over the next couple days.

Thank you so much for putting this together, it has by far been the best advertisement money I have spent yet.


----------



## Guest

I'm SO glad to hear that! I can't wait to see how the September Giveaway goes for you with the set up we created! It could be a great tool to get more eyes on your work. On our end, we're always refining our approach to improve things, and will continue to do so.


----------



## Salvador Mercer

I'm thinking of using a twitter follow my next promotion since I have so few right now.  I'll be using my list this upcoming weekend


----------



## tommy gun

My flash of insights seem to happen always just at the eleventh hour.
Are there any opening still for september?
Might as well promote the series......


----------



## tommy gun

Cancel my last!

I see my grand plan must kick off in October!


----------



## Guest

tomgermann said:


> Cancel my last!
> 
> I see my grand plan must kick off in October!


Sorry about that! The last two months, our monthly giveaways have been selling out much faster, we're doing all we can to keep up.


----------



## Guest

The recent Platinum has ended! Enjoy your results!


----------



## Patty Jansen

Are we meant to have received these? 'cause I haven't...


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Are we meant to have received these? 'cause I haven't...


It sent to you at 3:31 am. check spam folder maybe? I'm looking at the sent email right now and your are there!


----------



## Patty Jansen

I did check my spam folder last night and again this morning and nope, it's not there. Still not there. No email


----------



## Guest

I'll resend now. Look out for it!


----------



## Patty Jansen

Nope. Nope. Nope. Not receiving anything.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Nope. Nope. Nope. Not receiving anything.


Do you have more than one email address? 

The one I have for you (starring some letters out so it doesn't get yanked)

*a**[email protected]**r*co**i*a dot com


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Do you have more than one email address?
> 
> The one I have for you (starring some letters out so it doesn't get yanked)
> 
> *a**[email protected]**r*co**i*a dot com


I just sent you a PM


----------



## Guest

Got it! Let me know if it comes through on the second email.


----------



## tommy gun

Just booked October.
Going to book November and December shortly just have to figure out books!


----------



## Crystal_

Looks like I have about 900 new subscribers with the Platinum giveaway. What are ya'll sending as introductory emails?

I'd like to do a little hey, remember me, here's a great deal email, but I'm not sure what the best way to go about it is.


----------



## Guest

Crystal_ said:


> Looks like I have about 900 new subscribers with the Platinum giveaway. What are ya'll sending as introductory emails?
> 
> I'd like to do a little hey, remember me, here's a great deal email, but I'm not sure what the best way to go about it is.


Hopefully someone else can answer for you also, but sometimes it's nice to send them either a freebie, a special offer ($0.99 sale), or a book that's free for review.


----------



## Salvador Mercer

So what's next and what's available?


----------



## Philip Gibson

I signed up and paid for the October Bronze giveaway, but haven't heard anything back yet. Could you look into it please?

Thanks.

Philip


----------



## momilp

I just signed up for the iPad giveaway, how close are we to launch it on September?


----------



## Bbates024

momilp said:


> I just signed up for the iPad giveaway, how close are we to launch it on September?


They always go out on the first of the month. Normally you get an email when it goes live.


----------



## Bbates024

Crystal_ said:


> Looks like I have about 900 new subscribers with the Platinum giveaway. What are ya'll sending as introductory emails?
> 
> I'd like to do a little hey, remember me, here's a great deal email, but I'm not sure what the best way to go about it is.


I like to keep my first email fairly simple, I'm not sure if other people are like me but I hate receiving walls of text. If they come that big I normally just trash them. My first email thanked people for signing up, and then I included information about one title, probably literally less than a paragraphs worth of content. Later in the month I had a new release and a book on kindle scout so I sent an email with all three covers and maybe two sentences each underneath them. I like to keep it simple, it seems to help with the click rate. A title about what you are sending normal helps to, at leats for me. Sending something that says Bradford Bates Author Newsletter, doesn't get opened as much as something that says this book is free, or now on kindle scout.

I've been playing around with but by no means am I an email expert. Someone here can probably answer it better than me. Once I had a few emails out I divided them into segments of opened previously and unopened. My rate on opened previously is about 60% 5% so next month I'll send one more out to the unopened folks and then start removing them from the list.


----------



## Mark at Marble City

Does anyone know if a "sorry to lose you" mail automatically goes out from MailChimp when you unsubscribe / cleanse someone from your list?


----------



## GhostGirlWriter

I signed up for the September and October giveaways and haven't heard anything yet. The order is listed as processing. do I need to do anything? Thanks!


----------



## JRTomlin

How long does it usually take to fill up for the Platinum one? I signed up for that this time and was just wondering. 

Does it run for a month? I couldn't seem to locate a full explanation of how it works. Thanks.


----------



## Guest

Salvador Mercer said:


> So what's next and what's available?


Ipad and platinum and October bronze. 
On the first of the month is September monthly. I'll be setting that up tonight.


----------



## Guest

momilp said:


> I just signed up for the iPad giveaway, how close are we to launch it on September?


I'm hoping for mid-late September. Hopefully mid.


----------



## Guest

GhostGirlWriter said:


> I signed up for the September and October giveaways and haven't heard anything yet. The order is listed as processing. do I need to do anything? Thanks!


It's always listed as processing. Did you read our FAQ page? You should have gotten an auto-generated email from us with a link to fill out a form. If you have done that, you are good to go. If you haven't gotten the link, you need to check the email you created an account with (sometimes this is different from your PayPal email) and then check your spam and "others" folder or run a search for [email protected] If you still can't find the email, we will resend it if you contact us. But please check your email first. 99% of the time, the email is there.


----------



## Guest

JRTomlin said:


> How long does it usually take to fill up for the Platinum one? I signed up for that this time and was just wondering.
> 
> Does it run for a month? I couldn't seem to locate a full explanation of how it works. Thanks.


Our giveaways run for a week. Sometimes the playinum fills up fast. Other times, it takes a month or two. I've had some full up in days, though. Should be soon now ✌


----------



## RubyMadden

Just signed up for the next platinum (as emerald w.) and looking forward to it!


----------



## Guest

RubyMadden said:


> Just signed up for the next platinum (as emerald w.) and looking forward to it!


We look forward to having you!

For those who were wondering, we have remaining:
8 iPad spots
12 Platinum spots

Usually these fill up after the monthly ends. Feel free to refer the service to friends, then it may fill up faster


----------



## GhostGirlWriter

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> It's always listed as processing. Did you read our FAQ page? You should have gotten an auto-generated email from us with a link to fill out a form. If you have done that, you are good to go. If you haven't gotten the link, you need to check the email you created an account with (sometimes this is different from your PayPal email) and then check your spam and "others" folder or run a search for [email protected] If you still can't find the email, we will resend it if you contact us. But please check your email first. 99% of the time, the email is there.


Thanks. I did do that.


----------



## JRTomlin

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Our giveaways run for a week. Sometimes the playinum fills up fast. Other times, it takes a month or two. I've had some full up in days, though. Should be soon now ✌


Thanks for the clarification.


----------



## Guest

GhostGirlWriter said:


> Thanks. I did do that.


You mean did fill out the form? Or did check for the email? If you didn't fill out the form and don't have the email, be sure to email me so I can get the form to you.


----------



## Guest

*GENRE-SPECIFIC GIVEAWAYS.*

Who here would participate in a genre specific giveaway?
What genre do you write?
Would you prefer a big giveaway (like our monthly giveaway, with 50 authors) or something small (like our platinum giveaway, with 20 authors)?


----------



## Janeal Falor

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> *GENRE-SPECIFIC GIVEAWAYS.*
> 
> Who here would participate in a genre specific giveaway?
> What genre do you write?
> Would you prefer a big giveaway (like our monthly giveaway, with 50 authors) or something small (like our platinum giveaway, with 20 authors)?


I would! I write in YA Fantasy, so either YA or Fantasy would work for me. And I'm not sure which type of giveaway I'd prefer. Probably something smaller.


----------



## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> *GENRE-SPECIFIC GIVEAWAYS.*
> 
> Who here would participate in a genre specific giveaway?
> What genre do you write?
> Would you prefer a big giveaway (like our monthly giveaway, with 50 authors) or something small (like our platinum giveaway, with 20 authors)?


A platinum horror one would be nice...


----------



## Lisa Blackwood

Interesting idea. I was just checking this thread out to see what it was all about. (And decided I should try think at some point.  )
I'd be cool with a genre promo, too. Fantasy would work best for me. 

Bookmarked for later reading.


----------



## A.W.Hartoin

I'd love a small giveaway for Mystery.


----------



## fantasy-writer

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> *GENRE-SPECIFIC GIVEAWAYS.*
> 
> Who here would participate in a genre specific giveaway?
> What genre do you write?
> Would you prefer a big giveaway (like our monthly giveaway, with 50 authors) or something small (like our platinum giveaway, with 20 authors)?


Yes for fantasy! Or urban fantasy. I think I'd prefer the small ones.


----------



## reneepawlish

Ditto on mystery.
Update on numbers. My platinum giveaway netted ~950 subs. I ended up getting rid of 300 or so that never opened any of the 5 emails I sent with their free books. Some unsubbed as well. I now have a little over 554. I sent out my normal newsletter with news about a free book on Amazon and a new box set, had about a 44% open rate and 5.6% click rate. I will be curious to see what happens when I release the next book in the series in mid-September. I think the list will need some pruning, but still feel like it's a great value. Genre-specific could make it even more so 
Thanks!


----------



## momilp

I'd be interested in a smaller giveaway for paranormal romance, thanks. I also have a question regarding the iPad giveaway I signed for: In the form I filled out, I don't remember seeing anything regarding my newsletter link. Have I missed it or are you going to contact me later for it?


----------



## tommy gun

Science Fiction and given the number of posts that would be a group of 1?


----------



## JRTomlin

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> *GENRE-SPECIFIC GIVEAWAYS.*
> 
> Who here would participate in a genre specific giveaway?
> What genre do you write?
> Would you prefer a big giveaway (like our monthly giveaway, with 50 authors) or something small (like our platinum giveaway, with 20 authors)?


I would.

I write historical fiction and finding enough of us to do a giveaway wouldn't be likely (ETA: I could be mistaken since that category is VERY competitive for Bookbub promos) but at least one of mine would also fit in mystery which would be more likely. 

For genre (except maybe romance), you'd be more likely to find enough to do something small I should think.


----------



## Salvador Mercer

I am very interested.  Main genre now is Fantasy, then Science Fiction then Thrillers (Techno-Thriller).

Thanks,
SM


----------



## Kendall York

Would you consider New Adult Romance Shorts? I don't even know if that's a genre because I'm so new at this.


----------



## Mark at Marble City

I'd be interested in genre-specific giveaways for horror, thriller, mystery & suspense and (cough) literary fiction.


----------



## Bbates024

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> *GENRE-SPECIFIC GIVEAWAYS.*
> 
> Who here would participate in a genre specific giveaway?
> What genre do you write?
> Would you prefer a big giveaway (like our monthly giveaway, with 50 authors) or something small (like our platinum giveaway, with 20 authors)?


I'd be interested in that, I'd be in the Urban(ish) category.

Smaller might be better for something like this, I guess that depends on if you can get 50 people in one segment to join though.


----------



## Guest

Just signed up for October after having such success with my August one. I only had two unsubs out of 190. At this rate I will have a list of 500 before the holidays! I thought it would take me at least a year or more to do that.


----------



## WordNinja

momilp said:


> I also have a question regarding the iPad giveaway I signed for: In the form I filled out, I don't remember seeing anything regarding my newsletter link. Have I missed it or are you going to contact me later for it?


It looks like maybe this question got overlooked. After the giveaway ends, she'll send you a list of email addresses, and you add them to your newsletter list.


----------



## Bbates024

Have to say the September layout looks great!


----------



## Guest

My current mailing list only has like 15 actual subscribers, so I'm thinking of doing a sponsorship to help boost those numbers.  But I wasn't sure which would be the best thing for me to optimize this opportunity.  As it is now, Aisuru is my only available title so I really don't have anything free to give away.  I'm working on revising my second release, Deviations, but it's actual coming is still a few months out. 

So what do you guys thing?  Would it be better to...

a - go ahead and do a sponsorship now and build up the mailing list so it's in place for future promotions (one planned later this year) and the next release, knowing I have nothing free to offer
b - do it now and offer discounts on the paperback/hardback (one thing I can easily do)
b - do it now, but give subscribers Aisuru for free, then aim to get those that stick around to buy Deviations when it comes out
c - wait until it is close to the Deviation's release date then do a sponsorship with either offering Aisuru free or some sort of exclusive deal on Deviations?
d - something else I'm not thinking of? 

(I considered what I've seen mentioned earlier in the thread of writing a freebie story, but I really am not much of a short fiction writer and I don't know what I could write that would be a suitable lead up for Aisuru...)


----------



## WordNinja

I did a Rafflecopter giveaway for a $10 Amazon gift card, and got an overwhelmingly positive response. You don't have to give everyone something in return for signing up for your mailing list. You just have to give them a reason not to unsubscribe (or worse, report you as spam). 

I netted over 1600 mailing list subscribers with the iPad giveaway. How many of them will stay around for the long term has yet to be seen. But even the bronze level sponsorship got me about 130. That's a small investment for a big payoff. 

For September, I signed up at the bronze level to bring traffic to my Facebook page. I'm going to post a Rafflecopter giveaway (another Amazon gift card) to celebrate the book birthday of my debut today, which will hopefully get me some more mailing list subscribers, and Facebook and Twitter followers. Don't underestimate the power of the bronze sponsorships. They can be a useful tool to increase your visibility.


----------



## Guest

Andrea @ ArtWellPub said:


> It looks like maybe this question got overlooked. After the giveaway ends, she'll send you a list of email addresses, and you add them to your newsletter list.


Thanks for catching that! The last week and a half has been sick kids in my house. Now it's my turn.


----------



## Guest

Bbates024 said:


> Have to say the September layout looks great!


Thank you! We put a lot of thought into our presentation <3


----------



## Guest

I definitely prefer when other people answer questions (thank you) as I know unbiased opinions are always the most helpful. I'll still give it a go with answering, though.

1) Building your audience BEFORE releasing a book is amazing. I had over 300 subscribers (this was before Is tarted using these promos) when I released my first book. I did not email them anything between when they signed up and when I released. Just because you have a mailing list, doesn't mean you have to use it...at least not until you are ready to do so. 

2) If you don't want to build your mailing list, try a number of other options: facebook, twitter, amazon follows, etc. 

3) Giveaways and freebies are always great, when you do email. I always try to make it so it benefits me in some way to. Okay, so some of these people may NEVER buy my book. But will they always enter my giveaways? Maybe. And if my giveaways require sharing my book in some way...well, maybe they will never buy my book, but maybe their friends will. Or maybe they will read a free copy and review it. Not all non-purchasers are bad subscribers  And some are just waiting for the right offer, the right book, the right paycheck


----------



## Antara Mann

When (which dates) will be the giveaways on October and November? I still don't have the book covers and the books published but I want to participate in October.


----------



## WordNinja

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Not all non-purchasers are bad subscribers


Also, the fact that someone isn't opening the emails is not proof that they're not making purchases. If I see a subject line in an email that says my favorite author has a new book out, I may not open the email but I definitely buy the book. The subject line is all the information I need. This is especially true when I'm reading email on my mobile device and making purchases on a computer.


----------



## Guest

Antara Man said:


> When (which dates) will be the giveaways on October and November? I still don't ahve the book coves and the books published but I want to participate in October.


Our Main giveaways go out on the 1st-7th. We also have some bigger giveaways that happen closer to the middle of the month.


----------



## tommy gun

Hey FGS!

If you are going to do the genre specific giveaway aim for December.  If I can get this work done in time I will be in no matter what because it sounds like a good go.....


----------



## Guest

I think our first genre giveaway will be for Paranormal/Fantasy
The next after that I think I will do for Romance
Perhaps then we can do a Sci-Fi
then Thriller/Horror?

Maybe I can start a sign up form now to see where we are in terms of what genres people are writing in (and who want to do a genre-specific giveaway).


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I think our first genre giveaway will be for Paranormal/Fantasy
> The next after that I think I will do for Romance
> Perhaps then we can do a Sci-Fi
> then Thriller/Horror?
> 
> Maybe I can start a sign up form now to see where we are in terms of what genres people are writing in (and who want to do a genre-specific giveaway).


I'd be in for a science fiction or fantasy one. Would epic fantasy still fall under paranormal.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> I'd be in for a science fiction or fantasy one. Would epic fantasy still fall under paranormal.


 Epic Fantasy would fall under Paranormal/Fantasy (either paranormal or fantasy)

If you would like to participate, it will be the equivalent of our Platinum Giveaways. Please use the short, 2-question form below so that we can see which genre would be best to start with and contact you if your genre is selected.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DMhCYxVzii3Il5aayf2oNZRCMvzqrPi49KB77AaGBoc/viewform

This should make it easier for us to see which genre(s) we should start with.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

I've signed up for the iPad giveaway and a Silver in Nov. I'm looking forward to the results. I would be really interested in a Mystery/Suspense giveway--a smaller one.


----------



## Guest

Dipping my toe in with an October Bronze


----------



## Guest

Glad to see some newcomers giving this a try 

Also looking forward to doing some genre-specific giveaways soon. We'll start with the next platinum (not the one coming up, as that's already booking, but the next one we load to the site).


----------



## Patty Jansen

Are the monthly results coming soon?


----------



## tommy gun

My only Question or statement FGS would be something along the lines of:
"why give it a try?"

Proven results.  It works to get you subscriptions or whatever you are looking for.  Just figure out how to keep them all active and convert them to fans........

just saying


----------



## Steve Vernon

I'd be interested in a platinum horror giveaway.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Are the monthly results coming soon?


Ends at midnight, so you should have those results by the end of the day tomorrow  And looks like this was one of our best monthly promos, from what I can tell.


----------



## Guest

tomgermann said:


> My only Question or statement FGS would be something along the lines of:
> "why give it a try?"
> 
> Proven results. It works to get you subscriptions or whatever you are looking for. Just figure out how to keep them all active and convert them to fans........
> 
> just saying


Exactly! Ultimately, once those bookish subscribers are yours, it's up to you to figure out how to keep them. Exposure is the hard enough to get, so we have to work extra hard once we have that direct line to make the most of it


----------



## Guest

Steve Vernon said:


> I'd be interested in a platinum horror giveaway.


Wonderful! My understanding is horror can be a hard market to reach, so I think a horror giveaway would be extremely valuable to its participants. Here is a form you can fill out to put in a request for horror. Once we have enough noted interest in one genre, we'll contact those authors with the opportunity to grab a spot.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DMhCYxVzii3Il5aayf2oNZRCMvzqrPi49KB77AaGBoc/viewform


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Ends at midnight, so you should have those results by the end of the day tomorrow  And looks like this was one of our best monthly promos, from what I can tell.


Nope didn't get it. I found the Platinum results from a few weeks back, in a distant "bulk mail" corner on the server. For some reason, the server is now not deleting emails when I've read them so my mailbox fills up quickly. I've just emptied it. Can you re-send?


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Nope didn't get it. I found the Platinum results from a few weeks back, in a distant "bulk mail" corner on the server. For some reason, the server is now not deleting emails when I've read them so my mailbox fills up quickly. I've just emptied it. Can you re-send?


It ends at midnight tonight. So it will send by the end of the day tomorrow. I would be worried if you DID have it as I haven't sent it yet LOL There's an hour and twenty minutes left for people to enter yet.


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> It ends at midnight tonight. So it will send by the end of the day tomorrow. I would be worried if you DID have it as I haven't sent it yet LOL There's an hour and twenty minutes left for people to enter yet.


OK, I'm kinda freaking out here because I have the promo to organise and it looks like my email has totally crapped out. Haven't received a single email today.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> OK, I'm kinda freaking out here because I have the promo to organise and it looks like my email has totally crapped out. Haven't received a single email today.


I'll post here when I send the results, and if you don't get it then, let me know and we'll find another way to send it. Who is your email provider? I use gmail. Never have any problems with it.


----------



## Patty Jansen

OK, phew. i just received your monthly email. I self-host my email, and our ISP is not the same company as the one who provides our connection, not even in the same country. There are many factors that can fall over.


----------



## Cxxxxxxx

Giving this a try for the first time with an October Bronze after hearing so many good things. I've had no luck building my mailing list any other way, so I really hope this works. 

I'd be interested in a fantasy-specific one as well, though probably not in December. Definitely sometime early next year though!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Kate.

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Wonderful! My understanding is horror can be a hard market to reach, so I think a horror giveaway would be extremely valuable to its participants. Here is a form you can fill out to put in a request for horror. Once we have enough noted interest in one genre, we'll contact those authors with the opportunity to grab a spot.
> 
> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DMhCYxVzii3Il5aayf2oNZRCMvzqrPi49KB77AaGBoc/viewform


I'm up for a horror-themed giveaway, too!

It might be too late to set it up, but is there any chance one could be arranged for mid or late next month, around Halloween? It would let you take advantage of the increased interest in spooky stuff (my Tumblr is already full of "Halloween's coming!" posts, haha), and if it ended on the 26th or 27th, authors could send a Halloween-themed welcome email, or something. =)


----------



## Nathalie Aynie

I don't get what I should do.  
I received an email with a list of email addresses, but no instructions. What do I do?
Sorry if I'm being dense.


----------



## Steve Vernon

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Wonderful! My understanding is horror can be a hard market to reach, so I think a horror giveaway would be extremely valuable to its participants. Here is a form you can fill out to put in a request for horror. Once we have enough noted interest in one genre, we'll contact those authors with the opportunity to grab a spot.
> 
> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DMhCYxVzii3Il5aayf2oNZRCMvzqrPi49KB77AaGBoc/viewform


Done!


----------



## Guest

Nathalie Aynie said:


> I don't get what I should do.
> I received an email with a list of email addresses, but no instructions. What do I do?
> Sorry if I'm being dense.


I send out everyone's individual list, then I send out a follow up email (to the group) that has information such as instructions on how to load their subscribers. I JUST sent out that second email. If you need assistance, email me back and I'll walk you through it. If you have MailChimp, though, the email I sent at 7:32am will have the instructions toward the top of the email


----------



## Guest

Darcy said:


> I'm up for a horror-themed giveaway, too!
> 
> It might be too late to set it up, but is there any chance one could be arranged for mid or late next month, around Halloween? It would let you take advantage of the increased interest in spooky stuff (my Tumblr is already full of "Halloween's coming!" posts, haha), and if it ended on the 26th or 27th, authors could send a Halloween-themed welcome email, or something. =)


As soon as we hit a good number of interested participants, we can book. So as long as we have enough people interested by October 1st, I think we could arrange one for Halloween


----------



## Nathalie Aynie

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I send out everyone's individual list, then I send out a follow up email (to the group) that has information such as instructions on how to load their subscribers. I JUST sent out that second email. If you need assistance, email me back and I'll walk you through it. If you have MailChimp, though, the email I sent at 7:32am will have the instructions toward the top of the email


I was too impatient, sorry!  Got the second e-mail, will get back to you if I have any problem. Thanks!


----------



## Guest

Nathalie Aynie said:


> I was too impatient, sorry!  Got the second e-mail, will get back to you if I have any problem. Thanks!


Not at all  I used to send the explanation email first, but then I got emails with "I didn't get my list yet" (because I hadn't sent it haha). Maybe one of these days I'll figure that part out 

Also, for those who didn't sign up for email subscribers, you won't get a list of emails. If you are unsure what you signed up for, email me and I'll copy your entry over to you. No worries. If you signed up for subscribers but didn't get them, I'll resend


----------



## Kate.

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> As soon as we hit a good number of interested participants, we can book. So as long as we have enough people interested by October 1st, I think we could arrange one for Halloween


Great - fingers crossed, then!


----------



## Guest

Darcy said:


> Great - fingers crossed, then!


Feel free to share the link with Horror authors, because what I'm doing now is waiting until we have enough who would be interested, then I'll email those people with a link to sign up when we are ready to start booking it. But I'm not going to make listing for it on the website without knowing we have a lot of interest, as I don't want to leave anyone waiting too long after paying for it to go live


----------



## Patty Jansen

Got it!


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Got it!


Awesome  So glad it went through!


----------



## Philip Gibson

I paid for October, silver, completed and submitted the form with my book title, email address, website link, etc. and selected mailing list sign up.

Is there anything else I need to do now? Or do I simply wait for you to send be a list of email addresses. The website link I entered goes to my Mailchimp signup form. Is that where people will sign up, or do they sign up through some other link?

I'm a bit confused as to what happens next.

Philip


----------



## Guest

Philip Gibson said:


> I paid for October, silver, completed and submitted the form with my book title, email address, website link, etc. and selected mailing list sign up.
> 
> Is there anything else I need to do now? Or do I simply wait for you to send be a list of email addresses. The website link I entered goes to my Mailchimp signup form. Is that where people will sign up, or do they sign up through some other link?
> 
> I'm a bit confused as to what happens next.
> 
> Philip


That's okay, a lot of people get confused, as it's hard to believe it's REALLY THAT EASY! But...it is  You have done all you need to do, and WE do the rest! For the mailing list subscribers, we do collect directly and send to you, to ensure you get the most subscribers (the less sites they have to redirect to when entering the giveaway, the more options they are likely to enter with).

If you feel anything is missing from our FAQ page, please let us know!

FAQ page is here: http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/sponsors/


----------



## tommy gun

Okay FGS I know you are as busy as heck.

For genre specific giveaways.  You COULD run multiple at the same time.  Any thoughts on that?

Yes I know that would be huge work. Also if it is run like that would that limit the number of applicants?  Would people "burn out?"

sorry I like the idea but maybe running it every X often (say 5 week cycle)?
and specifically booking a halloween one for next year......


----------



## KGorman

I bought a September bronze sponsorship and got waaaaaaay more people than I expected! So happy! I just plugged them into my Aweber. They say it'll take one business day to process, and I had to give them specific details for the import so that they know I'm not doing anything scammy.

Fingers crossed!


----------



## Philip Gibson

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> That's okay, a lot of people get confused, as it's hard to believe it's REALLY THAT EASY! But...it is  You have done all you need to do, and WE do the rest! For the mailing list subscribers, we do collect directly and send to you, to ensure you get the most subscribers (the less sites they have to redirect to when entering the giveaway, the more options they are likely to enter with).
> 
> If you feel anything is missing from our FAQ page, please let us know!
> 
> FAQ page is here: http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/sponsors/


Great answer. Thanks! You seem to be handling all this very professionally. Well done!

Philip


----------



## HN Wake

Wow Wow!  FGS Thank you!

I just got my email list this morning and it's way bigger than I had expected.  I sent out a thank you via mailchimp almost immediately.  (With a very clear 'you can unsubscribe at any time' note near the top to prevent abuse reports.)  Only a few hours later and I already have over 30% open rate and 10% click thru rate to a free novella (downloadable directly via that email from the mail chimp server.)  Only 2 unsubs.  0 abuse reports.

I--of course--went back and signed up for my next sponsorship with you all.

Really great service.  

UPDATED: 41% open rate, 13% click through rate to free novella.


----------



## Guest

I'm so glad to hear such great results from this month's giveaway


----------



## A past poster

Disclaimer question:

Since the people who sign up are receiving free books, do you put something like the following at the end of the book regarding reviews such as "If you would like to review (book name), please say at the end of the review that you received the book as a gift"?  There is a potential for reviews to be discredited if they aren't verified purchases. Just want to avoid trouble.


----------



## Guest

I've never heard of Amazon removing reviews purely for being a not verified purchase, unless you mean by review readers?


----------



## A past poster

Anma Natsu said:


> I've never heard of Amazon removing reviews purely for being a not verified purchase, unless you mean by review readers?


If you have a number of reviews that aren't verified purchases, they could be questioned and removed. Weight is given to verified purchases.


----------



## Philip Gibson

FGS, thanks for explaining this stuff. However, being new and not knowing what your audience sees (I have subscribed but have not yet seen what they see) I'm curious as to how "hot" these leads/email subscribers are.

You describe your audience as "bookish", which is great. But to what level? Seems to me there would be these levels:

1. Audience interested in books generally.
2. Audience interested in certain genres.
3. Audience interested in MY books.

I referenced my book/s in the form I completed although I can't recall the wording I put in the 'Tweet field'. Hope it is what is required and that if it isn't, you can amend it.

Can I assume that the subscribers I receive will be readers interested in (3) my books rather than (1) books generally or (2) interested in the genre my books fall into?

Sorry if these are naive questions, but I have yet to get my head around how exactly your system works.

Thanks.

Philip


----------



## Guest

Our audience is interested in books in general. Because our audience is so large, we seem to have a nice group of fans from every genre for fiction. We don't see a lot in terms of non-fiction. 

When they enter a giveaway, they can specifically choose which authors they sign up for (genre is also always indicated). Do people sometimes sign up just to win? Yep. Do authors generally see more sales via their mailing lists once they use what they get from us? Also yes. Will some people sign up thinking they will like your work, see it, and change their mind? It's possible. It's up to the author to have something amazing and irresistible to offer--whether they use email leads or organic emails. My most recent promotion went out using these types of leads and I solve 100 books in one day and then another 50 the following day (my new releases used to sell 10 copies prior to starting this list and a few months ago were netting 60 sales for a new release; this was not even a new release--it's a book I've had out for four years--our list has exploded in the last couple months). I also made top 100 free with another book using this list plus one promotion I bought (I have clients who have been featured free with us who made top 200 with JUST our service--completely different genre.)

When you hire, lets say, book bub. Are all their million subscribers interested in YOUR books? Probably not. Same deal here. Only the ones who are interested....you get to KEEP THEM. Forever  I had one girl email me this today:

"so...I downloaded  you free book yesterday "to be polite" - to write a killer review for a fellow author. And then I started reading... I don't know where you're going to go with the "paranormal" edge, but...

"...if we scraped the funds together, he could scrape the evidence of Pa's abuse from my womb"
and  "'If you leave I'll kill her.' It wasn't until Pa knocked me up that I decided I could live with that." 

OMG My 1st thought was "If I were a judge for RPLA & give your piece to review, you'd have gotten a perfect score from me from those two lines alone."  

thanks for the freebie - I'll enjoy this even though paranormal/romance/fantasy is not at all my usual cup of tea. You've got me hooked."

Point being that, sometimes you can snag a new fan who doesn't normally like your genre at all. A lot of this as to do with us as authors. No promotional service is so great that it can make people love an unlovable book. All any promotion service can do is get the people to notice your book. Whether they buy is on the author at that point. Some general tips: Have at least a decent book cover and don't skimp on quality editing. Those two things will make any promotion you do 100x more effective.

I hope this helps you understand things a little better--both in terms of how we operate, an also in terms of how promotional services work in general. Good luck!


----------



## fantasy-writer

Ok, I submitted my box set for the last spot in the iPad giveaway. I think it was the last spot, anyway. It said one spot available before I added it to my cart.

I'd have done it sooner, but the set only released today. I'm hoping this giveaway will get it some KU love.


----------



## Salvador Mercer

Me too, I picked up the last spot for the Platinum as far as I could tell.

Ah, paranormal girl, raffle lady...

Did I complete the damn forms correctly?  I was stuck on the 'rafflecopter' link and ended up doing a rafflecopter for myself thinking I needed it for this promotion then afterwards realized I didn't.  However, I like the idea of mailing a last chance with new ways to enter (facebook page visit/like and twitter follow) to go along with the email list as this is my first experience with rafflecopter and I feel like a total noob.

Keep us posted


----------



## Guest

Ella Summers said:


> Ok, I submitted my box set for the last spot in the iPad giveaway. I think it was the last spot, anyway. It said one spot available before I added it to my cart.
> 
> I'd have done it sooner, but the set only released today. I'm hoping this giveaway will get it some KU love.


Both giveaways filled at the same time, so we're running platinum now, and iPad next week


----------



## Guest

Salvador Mercer said:


> Me too, I picked up the last spot for the Platinum as far as I could tell.
> 
> Ah, paranormal girl, raffle lady...
> 
> Did I complete the damn forms correctly? I was stuck on the 'rafflecopter' link and ended up doing a rafflecopter for myself thinking I needed it for this promotion then afterwards realized I didn't. However, I like the idea of mailing a last chance with new ways to enter (facebook page visit/like and twitter follow) to go along with the email list as this is my first experience with rafflecopter and I feel like a total noob.
> 
> Keep us posted


Yep, you're good to go


----------



## Donna White Glaser

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Both giveaways filled at the same time, so we're running platinum now, and iPad next week


And the Top 10 Free too! Busy week for you!!


----------



## Salvador Mercer

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Yep, you're good to go


Awesome, thanks, looking forward to it!


----------



## JRTomlin

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Both giveaways filled at the same time, so we're running platinum now, and iPad next week


I signed up for the platinum and haven't heard anything about it starting. Could you update me please and let me know exactly what I should do (if anything). I haven't taken part in the past so I'm a total noob.


----------



## Guest

JRTomlin said:


> I signed up for the platinum and haven't heard anything about it starting. Could you update me please and let me know exactly what I should do (if anything). I haven't taken part in the past so I'm a total noob.


An email was sent out 16 hours ago. Maybe it went to your spam folder?


----------



## JRTomlin

Thanks. Can you tell me what email addy it would have been from? 

Eta: Never mind. Found it. Thanks again.


----------



## Guest

JRTomlin said:


> Thanks. Can you tell me what email addy it would have been from?
> 
> Eta: Never mind. Found it. Thanks again.


Glad you found it okay! Sorry I didn't see your messages here sooner, but I keep odd hours


----------



## Patty Jansen

I don't think I was in this one?

I can't remember.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> I don't think I was in this one?
> 
> I can't remember.


Nope, not this one, but I see you're on the genre one and the next ipad one (filled, running next week or sooner), and October's


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Nope, not this one, but I see you're on the genre one and the next ipad one (filled, running next week or sooner), and October's


I just booked the genre one this afternoon.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> I just booked the genre one this afternoon.


We have a great line up that so far


----------



## momilp

Did you already send the email for the iPad giveaway?


----------



## Guest

momilp said:


> Did you already send the email for the iPad giveaway?


Not yet  iPad just filled, so probably one night this week I'll be setting it up


----------



## Eva Chase

A couple questions:

1. What's the timing for the giveaway starting and authors receiving the mailing list sign ups? e.g., If I signed up for an October Bronze spot, when in October would I expect to be adding people to my mailing list? (Trying to figure out if there's any chance of giving my list a boost before my Oct 13 release date.  )

2. I see the Paranormal and Fantasy genre giveaway is available for sign-ups. Would this be appropriate for paranormal romance or would I be better off waiting for a romance-specific genre giveaway?

Thanks!


----------



## Guest

The monthly giveaways (such as October bronze spot is part of) goes like on the 1st and ends in one week. You would get the sign ups in time for Oct 13 for sure 

The platinum giveaways don't have set dates. Paranormal romance would be great in the current paranormal and fantasy. We will have a lot of PNR in that mix. As we grow, we can do these giveaways even more refined but for not we are using the general categories.


----------



## Antara Mann

KGorman said:


> I bought a September bronze sponsorship and got waaaaaaay more people than I expected! So happy! I just plugged them into my Aweber. They say it'll take one business day to process, and I had to give them specific details for the import so that they know I'm not doing anything scammy.
> 
> Fingers crossed!


Sorry but didn't those subscribers opt-in for your newsletter? How come that you 'plugged' them? I am missing something here.
I was left with the impression (at least on the details form after I had purchased a Silver spot for November) that we provide the Mailchimp sign-up address. I have very high hopes for November, so fingers crossed! By the way, when will end the platinum fantasy giveaway? In one week?


----------



## Guest

Current Platinum is DONE! Results are sent!

Upcoming Platinum:
General-Genre
Paranormal and Fantasy Genre

Those will run once the spots are sold!

The iPad giveaway will be set up in the next day or two  Planning on tomorrow


----------



## RubyMadden

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Current Platinum is DONE! Results are sent!
> 
> Upcoming Platinum:
> General-Genre
> Paranormal and Fantasy Genre
> 
> Those will run once the spots are sold!
> 
> The iPad giveaway will be set up in the next day or two  Planning on tomorrow


As expected, really good results.


974 subscribers
49 were already subscribed 
65 unsubscribes
20 are bounce-backs

I sent out a welcome newsletter today with links to FREE eBooks and will see how many unsubscribe. I expect about a dozen to twenty.

got lots of traction at my FB page and thanks from those who liked that the giveaway is for a non-profit sponsor. That was cool. Thanks again, Rebecca.


----------



## Guest

RubyMadden said:


> As expected, really good results.
> 
> 
> 974 subscribers
> 49 were already subscribed
> 20 are bounce-backs
> 
> I sent out a welcome newsletter today with links to FREE eBooks and will see how many unsubscribe. I expect about a dozen to twenty.
> 
> got lots of traction at my FB page and thanks from those who liked that the giveaway is for a non-profit sponsor. That was cool. Thanks again, Rebecca.


So glad! Thank goodness I have a business mailing address because the sponsors all start sending me stuff  Keychains, address stickers, etc, of course with a request for more $$


----------



## JRTomlin

Does anyone have a link with suggestions for a good welcome newsletter? This is the first time I've done this kind of mass collection and would like to make the welcome not look spammy when they hear from an unknown email address.


----------



## Guest

JRTomlin said:


> Does anyone have a link with suggestions for a good welcome newsletter? This is the first time I've done this kind of mass collection and would like to make the welcome not look spammy when they hear from an unknown email address.


- Remind them how they ended up on your mailing list
- Use lots of visuals and not too many words
- Make links easy to find by putting links in the text AND linking images
- Link DIRECTLY to sales pages (not a website landing page). The least amount of clicks between wanting to buy and buying is the better the odds of completing the sale.
- Offer something special: a free book (first in series are usually good for that), a special offer, a small giveaway (preferably one that promotes your work, such as tweeting about your book), an opportunity to join your ARC list (if you have one) etc.
- Keep the focus small. Don't try to promote "all the things" -- Pick one book, or one series, or one type of "promotion" or some kind of "theme"

Hope that helps!


----------



## Guest

iPad giveaway is live!


----------



## HN Wake

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> - Remind them how they ended up on your mailing list
> - Use lots of visuals and not too many words
> - Make links easy to find by putting links in the text AND linking images
> - Link DIRECTLY to sales pages (not a website landing page). The least amount of clicks between wanting to buy and buying is the better the odds of completing the sale.
> - Offer something special: a free book (first in series are usually good for that), a special offer, a small giveaway (preferably one that promotes your work, such as tweeting about your book), an opportunity to join your ARC list (if you have one) etc.
> - Keep the focus small. Don't try to promote "all the things" -- Pick one book, or one series, or one type of "promotion" or some kind of "theme"


This! My 'thank you' note did all the above and I got superb click through rates. I think the graphic I whipped up on Canva.com really helped. Clean and professional. I also said, "You can unsubscribe at any time" in my 2nd line. I only got 2 unsubs and 1 abuse report. Overall: 58% open and 20% click through to free downloadable via mail chimp. Way outperformed my friends and family list!


----------



## Antara Mann

Once again: for the silver spot giveaway, the mailing link is direct to the opt-in page, no need to subscribe people, right?
Sorry but one comment confused me.


----------



## JRTomlin

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> - Remind them how they ended up on your mailing list
> - Use lots of visuals and not too many words
> - Make links easy to find by putting links in the text AND linking images
> - Link DIRECTLY to sales pages (not a website landing page). The least amount of clicks between wanting to buy and buying is the better the odds of completing the sale.
> - Offer something special: a free book (first in series are usually good for that), a special offer, a small giveaway (preferably one that promotes your work, such as tweeting about your book), an opportunity to join your ARC list (if you have one) etc.
> - Keep the focus small. Don't try to promote "all the things" -- Pick one book, or one series, or one type of "promotion" or some kind of "theme"
> 
> Hope that helps!


Thanks. I decided that it would be a good idea to trim the list down to people who might at least be interested in historical fiction, so I asked for a response in order to send a free Kindle copy of the first of my Black Douglas Trilogy. I am getting responses and think I will drop people who don't even bother to ask for a free copy. 

I made it short and simple with a reminder how they got there, the cover of the free book, and thanks for joining the mailing list with a 'call to action' to reply asking for the free novel. My feeling about mailing lists is that having a big one doesn't matter if most of the people don't care about the genre you write. I looks like enough people are responding that I should have a reasonable RoI so I'm happy.

ETA: For next time I may set it up to have the free download through MailChimp but first I'd have to figure out how to do that. I find MailChimp a bit baffling at times, ok, no more than a bit.


----------



## Guest

Antara Man said:


> Once again: for the silver spot giveaway, the mailing link is direct to the opt-in page, no need to subscribe people, right?
> Sorry but one comment confused me.


No. We collect the emails directly, then send to you to add in. Otherwise, people would complete about 5 before saying "screw this giveaway it's too complicated". However, they are ASKING TO BE SUBSCRIBED only to the ones they want to subscribe to. We alert them the authors name and genre.


----------



## Guest

JRTomlin said:


> Thanks. I decided that it would be a good idea to trim the list down to people who might at least be interested in historical fiction, so I asked for a response in order to send a free Kindle copy of the first of my Black Douglas Trilogy. I am getting responses and think I will drop people who don't even bother to ask for a free copy.
> 
> I made it short and simple with a reminder how they got there, the cover of the free book, and thanks for joining the mailing list with a 'call to action' to reply asking for the free novel. My feeling about mailing lists is that having a big one doesn't matter if most of the people don't care about the genre you write. I looks like enough people are responding that I should have a reasonable RoI so I'm happy.
> 
> ETA: For next time I may set it up to have the free download through MailChimp but first I'd have to figure out how to do that. I find MailChimp a bit baffling at times, ok, no more than a bit.


I would keep in mind that not everyone responds to every email. Also, some people don't get their emails right away. I sometimes get replies to my mailing list emails a whole month later. Some people won't click anything for weeks, then they buy multiple books in one go. It's really hard to tell who will be long term. Maybe you can create 2 lists and save both. Those who participate get added to your "gold list" and the others remain on a secondary list, perhaps a list that you only email once about new releases.


----------



## Guest

HN Wake said:


> This! My 'thank you' note did all the above and I got superb click through rates. I think the graphic I whipped up on Canva.com really helped. Clean and professional. I also said, "You can unsubscribe at any time" in my 2nd line. I only got 2 unsubs and 1 abuse report. Overall: 58% open and 20% click through to free downloadable via mail chimp. Way outperformed my friends and family list!


so glad you are getting great results. We've altered a little bit how we market these giveaways, and I sense from that we are getting better quality subscribers, but you know, there's always those few who are a waste of space


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Just checking in. How's the iPad giveaway doing. Also, how long does it run? I've gotten 160ish likes and tons of comments on my site.


----------



## Antara Mann

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> No. We collect the emails directly, then send to you to add in. Otherwise, people would complete about 5 before saying "screw this giveaway it's too complicated". However, they are ASKING TO BE SUBSCRIBED only to the ones they want to subscribe to. We alert them the authors name and genre.


Thanks for the clarification. I got confused because right after I paid on the docs for there's a Rafflecopter Link where we include the link to our twitter, FB or email page, so I thought people will subscribe directly.
How much time after folks give their email address, will you send me the document with those emails?


----------



## Guest

Antara Man said:


> Thanks for the clarification. I got confused because right after I paid on the docs for there's a Rafflecopter Link where we include the link to our twitter, FB or email page, so I thought people will subscribe directly.
> How much time after folks give their email address, will you send me the document with those emails?


When the giveaway ends  The spot for that link is more for FB or Twitter, as that's done directly.


----------



## Guest

Donna White Glaser said:


> Just checking in. How's the iPad giveaway doing. Also, how long does it run? I've gotten 160ish likes and tons of comments on my site.


So far, REALLY well!  It has about a week left, but we'll extend if necessary to make the most of it


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Sweet!


----------



## IreneP

I'm signed up for the October giveaway and I'm just wondering when it starts and how long it runs?


----------



## Guest

IreneP said:


> I'm signed up for the October giveaway and I'm just wondering when it starts and how long it runs?


Usually it starts on the first of the month and runs for a week


----------



## IreneP

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Usually it starts on the first of the month and runs for a week


Thanks - good to know for future!


----------



## Antara Mann

Hi, 
thanks for following and answering every (stupid) questions of us, indies. I see you have a Platinum giveaway for fantasy and paranormal now for sign-ups. This is a new one since the last one finished or...?
Can you tell me about it a bit further, please?
I also wonder if anyone have moved from Mailchimp to get response or Aweber? I hate it that to gmail my campaigns go to the promotion folder thus being not visible.  For Mailchimp I have over 50% of open-ups and over 20% of click-through-rate but I can't stop thinking of what would be with the other email providers.


----------



## Guest

I have Mad Mimi. 

The paranormal and fantasy platinum is our first. When that fills, we will do another genre. We also have a general genre one.


----------



## Patty Jansen

Is the iPad giveaway done yet?


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Is the iPad giveaway done yet?


I had extended it to make the most of it 
If you ever aren't sure if a giveaway ended, visit the site!
Here's the page of the ipad giveaway, so you can see there's about 30 hours left: http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/ipad-giveaway/

I don't mind answering, but this way no one has to wait on me if I'm delayed in responding


----------



## Guest

ipad giveaway results have been sent


----------



## Patty Jansen

I got it. But are you sure this is the right file? There are only 4 email addresses on this list that are new to me.


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> I got it. But are you sure this is the right file? There are only 4 email addresses on this list that are new to me.


did your list have over 1700 emails in total? I find it hard to believe only 4 would be new to you since nearly 400 were new to US and we have loaded EVERY list into our system. That would mean those 400 people joined your mailing list at some point but have NEVER participated on one of OUR giveaways before. I've resent the list so you can take another look.


----------



## Patty Jansen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> did your list have over 1700 emails in total? I find it hard to believe only 4 would be new to you since nearly 400 were new to US and we have loaded EVERY list into our system. That would mean those 400 people joined your mailing list at some point but have NEVER participated on one of OUR giveaways before. I've resent the list so you can take another look.


Yup. Only 4.


----------



## mom2amor

Hi - I just paid for a platinum sponsorship.  Where it asks for the title, can I put a box set in or does it have to be just a single book?


----------



## Guest

Patty Jansen said:


> Yup. Only 4.


We are still working with patty to resolve this as there is really no way she only got 4 subscribers from the 1700 we sent her. 4 HUNDRED maybe. But not 4.


----------



## Guest

mom2amor said:


> Hi - I just paid for a platinum sponsorship. Where it asks for the title, can I put a box set in or does it have to be just a single book?


W accept boxed set entries 

Our most recent iPad giveaway got over 1700 subscribers. Of those, 383 were new to us. To give context to that, part of our TOS is anyone who enters is added to our mailing list. So everyone who has every entered our giveaways over the last 2 years have been added to our list. That means just from this giveaway we had 383 subscribers that have NEVER entered one of our giveaways before  those who haven't participated in every single giveaway should see 400 or more subscribers each. Would love to hear results from more people on this one! Thanks


----------



## RPJames

Hi all,

I participated in The Ipad giveaway

How many of our past giveaway you have participated in (a rough estimate is fine!)

3 so far. 

How many NEW subscribers you got from this giveaway?

1789 new subscribers for this giveaway. It went very well!


----------



## AMWilson

So I just participated in the iPad Giveaway.  This was my second time participating.  I also did the ALS charity giveaway in..August?  At first, it was great.  I had about 100 new page likes the first day.  And then, Facebook got me with an unlike sweep and I lost 100 likes overnight.  So that was sad.  However, for the rest of the giveaway my page gained back those hundred, plus 109 more, so a total of roughly 309 Facebook likes, well over 300 twitter followers, and then the mega 1,789 subscribers.  Holy that was huge! The Platinum ALS giveaway had just under 900, and when I combined the two, I had an overlap of around 600.  I'm so excited to run a promo later this month and use my new email list.  When I tested it out after adding the ALS subscribers, I still had a great open/click rate and very few unsubscribed.  I'm hoping for similar results this time.  Very happy!


----------



## Guest

AMWilson said:


> So I just participated in the iPad Giveaway. This was my second time participating. I also did the ALS charity giveaway in..August? At first, it was great. I had about 100 new page likes the first day. And then, Facebook got me with an unlike sweep and I lost 100 likes overnight. So that was sad. However, for the rest of the giveaway my page gained back those hundred, plus 109 more, so a total of roughly 309 Facebook likes, well over 300 twitter followers, and then the mega 1,789 subscribers. Holy that was huge! The Platinum ALS giveaway had just under 900, and when I combined the two, I had an overlap of around 600. I'm so excited to run a promo later this month and use my new email list. When I tested it out after adding the ALS subscribers, I still had a great open/click rate and very few unsubscribed. I'm hoping for similar results this time. Very happy!


Glad it went so well! And to hear that you got over 1100 new subscribers with two "big" giveaways so close together!  I hope you have similar results on the click, through, too! We've been refining the marketing and it seems to be helping with getting more bookish people (as opposed to just people entering for the giveaway)


----------



## fantasy-writer

I did the Platinum giveaway in August. Results: 1200+ subscribers.

This time, I did the iPad giveaway. Results: 1700+ subscribers; ~700 were repeats, so about 1000 new subscribers.

I haven't mailed the new people yet. When I mailed the August list, I announced a sale on a few of my books, and my sales spiked that day.


----------



## mom2amor

Hi - just wondering if you send an email to us when the next platinum giveaway goes out?  I understand it's whenever it reaches 20 people, am I right?


----------



## Piers Platt

Checking in with my results from the iPad giveaway (note: this was my first time trying this):

Along with the other sponsors, I received 1783 emails. 100% of those were new compared to my existing subscriber list.
I sent out my lead magnet (free book) to the full list last night, and got 644 opens (37%) and 105 clicks on my download links (6%). That's comparable to the open/click rates for my Facebook ads-sourced mailing list, but not nearly as high as my "organic" mailing list
I also got 130 unsubs and 2 abuse reports; the 7% unsub rate triggered a Mailchimp automated email saying "we're watching this campaign, be careful." I'm not concerned...yet.
I'm not considering all 1600 people who are left "subscribers" yet. The ones that opened/clicked my welcome email, maybe...but the others, no. I'll probably segment them and send them a reminder email in a week or two, and then clean out anyone that doesn't open either of those two emails. (Though others that have done this - what did you do??)

Net: I'm happy with the results. I'd guess I'll end up with 700-800 new subscribers who are "lukewarm" fans and comparable to my Facebook ads subscribers. However, they were acquired much more cheaply...FB I'm paying close to $1 per subscriber, but this method is a tenth of that. I'll be interested in another sponsorship, especially if its more genre targeted.


----------



## Piers Platt

Separately, I see Paranormal and Fantasy available as a sponsorship opportunity...any plans to do Sci Fi?  

...and how do you ensure that the people signing up for the genre-specific contest are actually genre fans, and not just contest / freebie hunters signing up because they want more opportunities to win a free ipad/kindle?  It might be worth testing a more targeted (and perhaps less valuable) prize...a Kindle Voyage pre-loaded with 100 classic sci fi books, e.g.  Or a guaranteed free book from each of the sponsors in addition to the ipad/Kindle, all of whom are offering sci fi books...?


----------



## Guest

Ella Summers said:


> I did the Platinum giveaway in August. Results: 1200+ subscribers.
> 
> This time, I did the iPad giveaway. Results: 1700+ subscribers; ~700 were repeats, so about 1000 new subscribers.
> 
> I haven't mailed the new people yet. When I mailed the August list, I announced a sale on a few of my books, and my sales spiked that day.


Thank you for sharing your results <3


----------



## Guest

mom2amor said:


> Hi - just wondering if you send an email to us when the next platinum giveaway goes out? I understand it's whenever it reaches 20 people, am I right?


Yes, I email when it goes live!  As soon as it fills <3


----------



## Guest

Piers Platt said:


> Checking in with my results from the iPad giveaway (note: this was my first time trying this):
> 
> Along with the other sponsors, I received 1783 emails. 100% of those were new compared to my existing subscriber list.
> I sent out my lead magnet (free book) to the full list last night, and got 644 opens (37%) and 105 clicks on my download links (6%). That's comparable to the open/click rates for my Facebook ads-sourced mailing list, but not nearly as high as my "organic" mailing list
> I also got 130 unsubs and 2 abuse reports; the 7% unsub rate triggered a Mailchimp automated email saying "we're watching this campaign, be careful." I'm not concerned...yet.
> I'm not considering all 1600 people who are left "subscribers" yet. The ones that opened/clicked my welcome email, maybe...but the others, no. I'll probably segment them and send them a reminder email in a week or two, and then clean out anyone that doesn't open either of those two emails. (Though others that have done this - what did you do??)
> 
> Net: I'm happy with the results. I'd guess I'll end up with 700-800 new subscribers who are "lukewarm" fans and comparable to my Facebook ads subscribers. However, they were acquired much more cheaply...FB I'm paying close to $1 per subscriber, but this method is a tenth of that. I'll be interested in another sponsorship, especially if its more genre targeted.


Thank you for sharing! This is exactly what we aim for: a more affordable alternative to the FB method


----------



## Guest

Piers Platt said:


> Separately, I see Paranormal and Fantasy available as a sponsorship opportunity...any plans to do Sci Fi?
> 
> ...and how do you ensure that the people signing up for the genre-specific contest are actually genre fans, and not just contest / freebie hunters signing up because they want more opportunities to win a free ipad/kindle? It might be worth testing a more targeted (and perhaps less valuable) prize...a Kindle Voyage pre-loaded with 100 classic sci fi books, e.g. Or a guaranteed free book from each of the sponsors in addition to the ipad/Kindle, all of whom are offering sci fi books...?


We have a place people can indicate they are interested in a genre-specific giveaway. 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DMhCYxVzii3Il5aayf2oNZRCMvzqrPi49KB77AaGBoc/viewform

We will do one genre-specific at a time. We'll continue to do "open genre" at the same time.

As for whether the they will be actual genre fans, we will have to see how things go. I do have some ideas for targeting the giveaway, but I'm sure some freebie hunters will still find their way to it.


----------



## Eva Chase

Figured I'd report I just got my results from a Bronze sponsorship for the October Kindle giveaway! 182 subscribers, which I'm quite happy with. I haven't sent an email to the list yet, because I'm going to be sending one when my book releases next Tuesday anyway, but I'll report back on opens/clicks/etc. then!


----------



## Guest

Eva Chase said:


> Figured I'd report I just got my results from a Bronze sponsorship for the October Kindle giveaway! 182 subscribers, which I'm quite happy with. I haven't sent an email to the list yet, because I'm going to be sending one when my book releases next Tuesday anyway, but I'll report back on opens/clicks/etc. then!


This is smart. I ALSO always wait until I'm going to email anyway (this way they aren't getting 50 welcome emails on the same day, and also so I can send out an offer along with any freebies I might be offering--might was well make some money, too, I figure!) Hope it goes well when you email about your release! Good luck!


----------



## Guest

I also did Bronze for October, my first.  I had 175 subscribers, 1 of whom was already on my list.  I imported them today and sent a welcome email since I have no freebies to offer and won't have another book out until next year.

I sent it out about an hour ago.  So far, 19 opens, 1 click, 3 unsubscribes, and one I have manually removed because I got an auto response from them that was pure spam for an black market electronics sales site @[email protected]


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Eva Chase said:


> Figured I'd report I just got my results from a Bronze sponsorship for the October Kindle giveaway! 182 subscribers, which I'm quite happy with. I haven't sent an email to the list yet, because I'm going to be sending one when my book releases next Tuesday anyway, but I'll report back on opens/clicks/etc. then!


That's my plan too. I'm going to have a small giveaway in the next week or two, so I'm waiting to send then. Plus my Kindle Scout book s is discounted now and I can offer that.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

This is the first time I've done a giveaway with FKG. Previous to it, I had a mailing list of 320 grown organically. Since it was the iPad giveaway I got the same 1783 list as everybody else. Six of the names weren't importable due to being invalid or "role-based." Did anybody else get that? What should I do with them?


----------



## HN Wake

Reporting back on an October giveaway (Bronze) that was the second in as many months. The first month's click through rates were slightly ahead of this one:

150 emails
35% (ish--math is not my strong suit) repeats from last month which I scrubbed
95 successful deliveries
42 opens (44%) (_last month=59%_)
16 clicks to free novella via mail chimp (16%) (_last month=21%_)
1 unsub
1 abuse report

Perhaps diminishing returns, but it's still a superb value. I've signed up for the Platinum. Thanks Rebecca.


----------



## tommy gun

This is an EXCELLENT promotional tool!

I used one of the less expensive Bronze for $10 and have just recieved 183 sign ups to my mail list.  Results do vary a little bit but not that much.

There will be some unsubscribes.  But if you are considering it then I suggest try one of the less expensive options that exist and GROW that mailing list!

Thanks for another awesome run!


----------



## Guest

Anma Natsu said:


> I also did Bronze for October, my first. I had 175 subscribers, 1 of whom was already on my list. I imported them today and sent a welcome email since I have no freebies to offer and won't have another book out until next year.
> 
> I sent it out about an hour ago. So far, 19 opens, 1 click, 3 unsubscribes, and one I have manually removed because I got an auto response from them that was pure spam for an black market electronics sales site @[email protected]


Approximately 24 hours later, I'm pretty happy with the results 

* 175 subscribers, minus the one already on the list and the one I later removed for the spam (this bring my mailing list up to 187 subscribers! So a nice boost!)
* 78 opens so far (44.8% open rate)
* 2 clicks - considering I had nothing to give away, just a link off to read more about Aisuru, that's not bad at all
* 5 unsubscribes
* 0 abuse reports

I looked at the emails I'd gotten when I entered and took my cues from what I liked of those to do my first email. So I started with a reminder of how they subscribed and that hey, it's a giveaway and I totally understand they may not really be interested and were just trying to get all the entries they want so here's how to quickly unsubscribe. Then I introducing myself, talked a little about what kind of writing I do, and what being a subscriber gets you. The rest was the the cover and blurb for Aisuru and a teaser of the cover for Deviations (since it hasn't been revealed I basically used a PSD template I found that lets you do a book being unwrapped so just a little bit is showing) and it's blurb.


----------



## KGorman

Here's my report. I purchased a Bronze sponsorship in September and another one for October. Just imported the 180 subscribers that signed up from October--119 were new e-mails, but 61 had already signed up from last month.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the 119. I'll be releasing a book, hopefully, in the next month or two. Will see how the open rate is.

Cheers!


----------



## Guest

It is SO nice to hear everyone happy with their results overall! We're always working to target these giveaways as best as we can--of course, there will always be some un-ideal subscribers, but we hope the overall remains worth the cost.   We will keep working to improve for you. Thanks!


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Is it possible to have people add their first name to the email address too? Or are you avoiding making them take an extra step?


----------



## Ampersand_56

Reporting my results with the iPad Giveaway. 
I had 1783 names, 101 of which were already in my suppression (spam) list from other pen names in my MadMimi account. (This was my fourth giveaway.) 701 names were in lists for other pen names (probably from past giveaways) and the remaining 1089 are brand new. (I realize these numbers don't add up perfectly and I'm not sure how MadMimi combines the suppression emails into the totals.)

I'm thrilled with the results of the giveaway and plan to do more


----------



## C L Walker

Quick report on my results from the iPad giveaway:

Of the 1783 names I got 89 were already on my list from the September bronze giveaway. 6 of the names weren't importable, and looking at them it's obvious why (a combination of generic admin emails and typos).
I sent an initial email shortly after receiving the list, pointing them at my permafree and promising them another free title the following day. This cleared out a bunch of people who weren't interested at all, and so far I've had 115 unsubscribe and 25 bounce.
I sent another email the following day pointing the remaining people to the free novella I give to people who sign up for my list organically. This produced a fresh round of unsubscribes from people who were only interested in getting the freebie, totaling another 46 gone. There have been quite a few in the last couple of days who've downloaded the novella and immediately unsubscribed. This doesn't bother me at all, and I hope they enjoy it.

It's been 5 days since the second email and according to Mailchimp there are 1502 people remaining on the list. My open rate across the two was 40% and my click rate was 18%. I got 9 abuse reports, 8 in the first email and 1 in the second.

I'm releasing a new novel at the end of the month (the 4th book in the series the freebies are from) and it'll be interesting to see what reaction I get. I've also had a handful of emails from the new people (which is always nice), including one from someone apologizing for leaving me a 2 star review of the novella. They liked my writing but the plot wasn't for them. This also doesn't bother me in the least, and I hope they give the rest a try anyway.

I'm very happy with the results so far and have every intention of doing it again in the near future.


----------



## Philip Gibson

I got 181 subscribers from this month's giveaway. Quite happy with that for the low price. I sent subscribers a free copy of the first book in my Apollo series. 139 people (50%)opened the email, 32 people (18%) clicked on a link. Zero bounces. 6 unsubscribed. No abuse reports.

I have two takeaways from this:

1. I provided 4 format options to download the free book (Mobi, ePub, PDF and Word.) Most people chose Mobi and PDF. Only 2 chose the Word file. Hopefully, this is telling me that (as the OP states) these subscribers are "bookish" people who own ereader devices.

2. I should be able to use this and future lists to compile the expanded Facebook and Twitter lookalike lists( they need to have more than 100 initial users) that Mark Dawson uses as his favorite kind of lists to advertise his books to. Hopefully again, these expanded lists will be bookish people who have at least some inclination towards books like mine.

Well, one can at least hope.

Philip


----------



## Guest

Donna White Glaser said:


> Is it possible to have people add their first name to the email address too? Or are you avoiding making them take an extra step?


The more steps they take, the less entries they complete. We want everyone to get as many entries as possible <3

Most "big" mailing lists don't ask for names these days, anyway, which is something authors may want to consider in general.


----------



## Guest

Donna White Glaser said:


> Is it possible to have people add their first name to the email address too? Or are you avoiding making them take an extra step?





Donna White Glaser said:


> Is it possible to have people add their first name to the email address too? Or are you avoiding making them take an extra step?


The more steps they take, the less entries they complete. We want everyone to get as many entries as possible <3

Most "big" mailing lists don't ask for names these days, anyway, which is something authors may want to consider in general.


----------



## Guest

Philip, CL, Molle! Thank you for sharing your results


----------



## tommy gun

I had a Bronze for October.
186 sign ups.
Loaded to Mailchimp and it only allowed 146.  There were very few duplicates but some other sort of glitch (sorry not tech enough to have caught it).

I modified my last welcome newsletter and included the cover of an upcoming investing book.
I sent that out this afternoon early.

60 opened, 8 unsubscribed and 1 click through to my site  2 abuse reports which is strange but okay.

I am quite content with this result.  Like I said before.  This is GREAT value.

Now I have to recharge somehow and finish my mil sf stuff for christmas and organize that push!


----------



## Eva Chase

Now I can report results! Sent my first message to the new subscribers about 24 hours ago--a separate launch email from the one I sent to my organic subscribers. This one just welcomed them, let them know my book was out, on sale, and where to find the bonus content on my website, and gave them an easy unsubscribe link as recommended in this thread.

Of the 182, 60 opened, 10 clicked through to the Amazon listing for my book (not sure if any bought it), 4 of those ten also checked out the bonus content, and only 2 people unsubscribed. No bounces or abuse reports. I did have to delete one other subscriber myself as I got the same automated spam message Anma mentioned. Very happy with those numbers!


----------



## Guest

Eva Chase said:


> Now I can report results! Sent my first message to the new subscribers about 24 hours ago--a separate launch email from the one I sent to my organic subscribers. This one just welcomed them, let them know my book was out, on sale, and where to find the bonus content on my website, and gave them an easy unsubscribe link as recommended in this thread.
> 
> Of the 182, 60 opened, 10 clicked through to the Amazon listing for my book (not sure if any bought it), 4 of those ten also checked out the bonus content, and only 2 people unsubscribed. No bounces or abuse reports. I did have to delete one other subscriber myself as I got the same automated spam message Anma mentioned. Very happy with those numbers!


So glad it went well! You have a great product to offer, so I bet you get some long time fans out of it!


----------



## tommy gun

I was unique with the non fiction
31 hours later:
75 unique opens,  11 unsubscribe, 1 click through (that is actually more than I had planned for) to my site.

I had included a question in the email if the preference was ebook or traditional book and was engaged immediately with someone who loves both.

A win for this series I think.

I need to book November now and get the sf ready for december..... still lagging there!
This one was worth it.

When I roll out the sf I need to go more in depth though.
Absolutely worth it.


----------



## Guest

So love the results people are getting  

I've been thinking a lot about those who are having issues with mail chimp when they load new lists. I don't use mail chimp (and from the customer service emails I've seen, I never will). I'm happy with Mad Mimi. However, I know some people DO love Mail Chimp. 

The issue seems to be with mail chimp ONLY when people load BIG giveaway results. Not the 200-300 result lists but the 1000-1700 results lists. So what I am going to suggest *for Mail Chimp users* (this won't be necessary with Mad Mimi) is to take your results and break it down into 4-5 "groups" and load those groups 1 at a time. Don't load your second group until after you run a mailing that had the first group in it.

Yes, this is a pain, but it should resolve the Mail Chimp issue. Alternately, consider Mad Mimi. Soooo much less drama with them


----------



## Philip Gibson

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> So love the results people are getting
> 
> I've been thinking a lot about those who are having issues with mail chimp when they load new lists. I don't use mail chimp (and from the customer service emails I've seen, I never will). I'm happy with Mad Mimi. However, I know some people DO love Mail Chimp.
> 
> The issue seems to be with mail chimp ONLY when people load BIG giveaway results. Not the 200-300 result lists but the 1000-1700 results lists. So what I am going to suggest *for Mail Chimp users* (this won't be necessary with Mad Mimi) is to take your results and break it down into 4-5 "groups" and load those groups 1 at a time. Don't load your second group until after you run a mailing that had the first group in it.
> 
> Yes, this is a pain, but it should resolve the Mail Chimp issue. Alternately, consider Mad Mimi. Soooo much less drama with them


I'm very happy with the list of 181 subscribers I got from the October campaign. 65 subscribers opened the email I sent them and only 3 unsubscribed. There were, however, 4 abuse reports. At what percentage of abuse reports does it become a problem with Mailchimp?

Happy to put down another $25 for the next campaign. How do I do that?

Philip


----------



## Guest

Philip Gibson said:


> I'm very happy with the list of 181 subscribers I got from the October campaign. 65 subscribers opened the email I sent them and only 3 unsubscribed. There were, however, 4 abuse reports. At what percentage of abuse reports does it become a problem with Mailchimp?
> 
> Happy to put down another $25 for the next campaign. How do I do that?
> 
> Philip


There doesn't seem to be a percent or any rhyme or reason. &#128532; Mail Chimp is fairly random, and they don't just look at abuse reports. They look at unsubscribes too (from what I'm told) and that really makes no sense to me. I'm with mad Mimi and have no issues, so it's not the lists that are the problem. We have even offered to provide mail chimp with any information they need to verify the legitimacy of our sign ups, and they don't want that either. So loading the lists in sections seems to be the Best solution. Again, not necessary with Mad Mimi.

All of our current promos are listed at www.freekindlegiveaway.com on our sponsor sign up page


----------



## fantasy-writer

About a month ago, I switched to Mad Mimi based on Rebecca's suggestion here. Mailchimp was giving me grief about unsubscribes.

I really like Mad Mimi! It's very easy to use. I know Mailchimp has a lot of fancy tools, but the interface is not very user friendly. The Mad Mimi interface is very clean and easy to use, just like my Mac.   And I've already gotten compliments on my new pretty newsletter.

I would absolutely recommend Mad Mimi.


----------



## Salvador Mercer

Just an FYI, when I ran my own free giveaway with both my lists, I had less than a 10% unsubscribe rate and only 2 abuse reports out of just over 1k participants.  I think it is noteworthy to send that first email out remembering where your list came from   Adding a bit more sugar, along with my other news, seemed to give me no issues at all and I use mailchimp.


----------



## Guest

I suspect a large part of the unsubscribe and abuse rate variations may be coming from the initial email sent to those subscribers. I entered 2 or 3 of the giveaways myself before being a sponsor and the opening emails I got were quite varied. For me personally, it wasn't a big deal since I remembered where they call came from, though most I did unsubscribe from where it wasn't a genre of interest.

My thoughts though if I had been just a regular entrant and not someone who knew it well from this thread and who was evaluating it for sponsoring (and what I had in mind in sending my initial email):


I had the most positive view of the emails that give a reminder right from the front that "you subscribed when you entered the Kindle Giveaway in X month" and noted it was easy to unsubscribe at the bottom; these I was most inclined to look at, click off on the books, and see if I was interested in getting more emails
Conversely, I dislike ones that said "you agreed to receive promotional emails and goodies" - because my first thought was "um, no, I signed up fro your newsletter"; maybe a semantics difference but the wording was more off putting when phrased that way and it made me less inclined to give it a chance
Some had no reminder at all, and appeared to just be a regular newsletter - I remembered, but I could see more people forgetting (especially the ones trickling in a month later) and being annoyed
At least two the entire newsletter was one big image with text and covers - I would REALLY discourage anyone from doing this; most email systems are not going to auto show your images so it just looks blank. I just unsubscribed without even reading the images

Hope that helps some?


----------



## fantasy-writer

It's possible to report a mail as abuse without actually opening it. I wonder how many people do that rather than clicking on the mail and unsubscribing.


----------



## HN Wake

Just wondering if we have enough sign ups for the next Platinum Giveaway?  I'm ready to go!


----------



## Guest

HN Wake said:


> Just wondering if we have enough sign ups for the next Platinum Giveaway? I'm ready to go!


The fantasy and paranormal one is SO CLOSE!!!

Also, thank you to everyone for sharing experiences! I will consider making up a right up for authors on how best to use their mailing lists. This is good whether using mail chimp or mad Mimi I think  I know some people do the above and still get issues with mail chimp. As I said, seems random and unfair


----------



## Donna White Glaser

So I sent my first email to the 1783 entrants to the Oct iPad Giveaway and had to agree to some kind of compliance agreement because of concerns they had. I got this message from MailChimp:

This note is from the MailChimp Compliance Team. Before you can send, we found some issues with the data recently imported into your account.

MailChimp's artificial intelligence system, Omnivore, automatically scanned your recent import. Omnivore flagged the list for having a large number of addresses that may cause complaints, high bounce rates, or blacklistings. Our research shows that this can lead to increased abuse and complaint rates. This is known as a 'stale' list. Stale lists are often older lists, and may not have been sent to in some time, collected through supported methods, and/or improperly managed for bounces and unsubscribe requests.

Sending to a stale list will generate undeliverable mail, known as bounces. Stale lists also typically contain spam trap addresses. Sending to spam traps hurts the reputation of the servers used to deliver your content, and can cause further blocks against sending.

Internet Service Providers and email services set limits on the number of emails that report abuse, send to spam traps, and generate high bounce rates. When those limits are exceeded, the sender of the emails can be blocked from further sending.

To resolve this issue, we strongly recommend re-confirming the list through double opt-in methods to ensure that all subscribers on the list expect to receive the content you send.

Keep in mind, you may still send to the list without making changes. If you choose to do this, MailChimp will slowly send to the list over a period of hours to monitor the bounce and complaint rates. If the rates remain low, we'll complete sending to the remainder of the recipients. All existing addresses previously sent to through the account, and any addresses collected through our double opt-in process will be sent first.

Please be aware that the new list will be automatically deleted if bounce or complaint rates exceed thresholds. Only the newly imported addresses will be deleted. Any email addresses in the list that you have previously sent to through the account, and any addresses collected through our double opt-in process, will not be removed; you can continue to send to them as usual.

Noting this, we recommend you backup the list data before sending. How can I view or export my list?: http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/can-i-extract-export-or-download-my-list-from-mailchimp

If you would like to reconfirm the list, and you believe that you have permission to contact these individuals on a one to one basis, then you may want to send a reconfirmation email outside of our service so they can opt-in via a double opt-in process. How to Reconfirm a List: http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/reconfirm-your-list

There are a variety of laws that apply to email marketing so be sure to reference those laws before sending any emails. What is required on my campaign to meet your Terms of Use and follow anti-spam laws?: http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/what-is-required-to-meet-your-terms-of-use-and-the-can-spam-act

Helpful Links
-------------------------------
* More about Omnivore: http://mailchimp.com/omnivore
* About spam traps: http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/about-spamtraps/
* About reconfirming a list: http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/reconfirm-your-list/

All the best,

The MailChimp Team


----------



## Guest

Donna, we discussed all this directly above your comment and have some tips for avoiding Mail Chimp's red tape.

PS: Platinum for Fantasy/Paranormal is FULL. Hoping to set that up today or tomorrow. I'll email everyone involved once it's live!


----------



## Guest

One more observation - if you have your own domain for your email and haven't set up your MailChimp (or other emailer) with DKIM authentication so it truly appears to come from you, GMail at least is far more inclined to throw it in the spam folder. I set mine up with the DKIM and noticed GMail handles it much more nicely on my test account than it was before


----------



## Guest

Anma Natsu said:


> One more observation - if you have your own domain for your email and haven't set up your MailChimp (or other emailer) with DKIM authentication so it truly appears to come from you, GMail at least is far more inclined to throw it in the spam folder. I set mine up with the DKIM and noticed GMail handles it much more nicely on my test account than it was before


Great tip! 

The Fantasy/Paranormal Giveaway is live!


----------



## Eva Chase

Hey! With the start of the Fantasy/Paranormal giveaway, my pages read have hit their highest point so far (and the day's not over yet). Have to think that's what gave the book that boost, so hurray for side benefits!


----------



## Donna White Glaser

OK, here's my results.  I sponsored an iPod giveaway, but just sent the list I'd received (1783) my first email to them. I waited til I could put together my own small giveaway of a signed book and a raven heart-shaped necklace (really pretty.)  I send it on the 22nd, so that's given the list 4 days to open it.  In total, 666 (yikes) opened the email or 37%. That's incredibly high numbers, albeit far less than my organically grown list. 25 emails bounced, 106 people unsubscribed (far less than I'd assumed) and there were 5 abuse reports (about what I expected given earlier reports.)  So, other than the fact that I had to spring for a paid account now, I'm super happy.


----------



## Guest

Very glad to here the fantastic results so far!

For those who are subscribed, as you know I do put in a note which books are free, $0.99, or free on kindle unlimited, etc, in hopes to entice more clicking


----------



## Guest

If more people can post their KU results from this promo, I would be curious, because several authors saw a big spike in reads that day and a few have already told me they still had an increase today, too 

I structured things a little differently with this one to (hopefully) optimize the results, so I'm really curious!


----------



## Guest

- Platinum Fantasy and Paranormal LIVE
- Platinum for All Genres LIVE
- November going up SOON 

ALSO! We're expanding! Over the last week, we've begun targeting more readers to try to increase the number of sales per email! We're seeing action with free books being downloaded, KU books being borrowed/pages read, and even some sales, and we're thinking it's time we try to grow that aspect of this service.

We're also shopping around fora website re-design


----------



## BWFoster78

I think this promotion sounds like something I want to try as I am planning a new release in January and wish to build my list a bit in anticipation. I'm running at a bit of a sleep deficit, however (sick little daughter last night  ), so I'm not sure I'm fully grokking the concept.

I think I understand these three concepts:

- I pay $50 for a platinum sponsorship (ideally for my case to be done in December or the Fantasy platinum now).
- In return, I should get an average of 800 to 1000 email addresses that I can add to my email list. (I also understand that, since I'm using mailchimp, I may have some issues with these emails.  I can look into that subject further on my own.)
- I also get a second action, which I'd probably designate as a FB visit.

What I don't think I fully understand:

- You actually feature on of my books along with 19 others. Which book should that be: the one that won't be published until January or one that is already out? (Note that my January release is the start of a new series. I plan to continue the existing series with the release after that.)
- Do I need to run a sale on the book that is being featured to get better sign up results? (Note that all my books are in KU.)

Thanks and very sorry for my lack of comprehension today!

Brian


----------



## HN Wake

I'm currently in the Platinum All Genre Giveaway with book #1 (not on sale) and received 50+ Facebook likes yesterday.  (And quite a few of those new followers went through and liked old posts of mine.)  What a super fun side benefit for a total newbie.


----------



## Guest

BWFoster78 said:


> What I don't think I fully understand:
> 
> - You actually feature on of my books along with 19 others. Which book should that be: the one that won't be published until January or one that is already out? (Note that my January release is the start of a new series. I plan to continue the existing series with the release after that.)
> - Do I need to run a sale on the book that is being featured to get better sign up results? (Note that all my books are in KU.)
> 
> Thanks and very sorry for my lack of comprehension today!
> 
> Brian


You can feature any book you like! Enter into the form the book you want promoted for the feature, even if you are building the list for a different title/series. Yes, Free, Kindle Unlimited, and $0.99 books do best, but with Platinum, it's a bit harder for us to give an exact date when the giveaway will go live, so it's best to promote books that are already that price or to just do a full price title. The monthly giveaways always run on the 1st so that's better for those doing planned promotion. We hope to expand this service eventually, but right now, this is the set up


----------



## BWFoster78

> - Platinum Fantasy and Paranormal LIVE


Has this closed? I didn't see it listed on the "Products" page.


----------



## Guest

BWFoster78 said:


> Has this closed? I didn't see it listed on the "Products" page.


Live means it's already running. So we will go through all the other genres and come back to it again.


----------



## Guest

I have some unclaimed coupon codes:

halloween5 - gives $5 off cart order
50off - 50% off any item
feedbackthanks - 20% off cart order
secretworlds - 50% off cart order


----------



## Matthew Eliot

I signed up for a bronze package that should be running now, and I'm looking forward to discovering the results.

A side note: I received an email from the kind people at FreeKindleGiveaway, saying:



> please keep in mind that we will be gathering your emails DIRECTLY through the Rafflecopter form--this means they enter their email on our Rafflecopter form, not on your mailing list form. We have found this is the best way to get you as many sign ups as possible! We will email you the list of subscribers to add to your mailing list at the end of the campaign.


I'm sure this is fine, although I thought the sign-ups would be directly via our own forms. To those who used this service before: how did it work out for you?

Thank you all.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

It works just fine. I got a txt file of email addresses and it's super simple to just import the list to Mail Chimp. I made a new list just for FKG results so I could monitor the unsubscribe and abuse report rates. It's standard to get them. 
And think about it. If there are 20 of us sponsoring a promo and the participants had to fill out individual sign up forms, how many do you think would bother with all that? The less people have to do, the more likely they are to participate and the less screw ups there will be.


----------



## Matthew Eliot

Donna White Glaser said:


> It works just fine. I got a txt file of email addresses and it's super simple to just import the list to Mail Chimp. I made a new list just for FKG results so I could monitor the unsubscribe and abuse report rates. It's standard to get them.
> And think about it. If there are 20 of us sponsoring a promo and the participants had to fill out individual sign up forms, how many do you think would bother with all that? The less people have to do, the more likely they are to participate and the less screw ups there will be.


Thank you, Donna.


----------



## Guest

Yep, Donna nailed it. That is exactly why we do that! Highest participation for everyone is key. Each author has their own "form" within the post on these and it even includes genre info so they can select just authors in the genres that interest them


----------



## Matthew Eliot

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Yep, Donna nailed it. That is exactly why we do that! Highest participation for everyone is key. Each author has their own "form" within the post on these and it even includes genre info so they can select just authors in the genres that interest them


And thank you, too!

P.S.: I took advantage of the amazing promo codes, and signed up for a Platinum package.


----------



## Antara Mann

Today the silver spot starts. I am wondering though, I was a bit late with filling my final details. I emailed [email protected] a few days ago (Rebecca said to fill the form the latest on 28th at 8 pm since it takes 3 days for the promotion to be set up; however I filed the form on 29th 2.40 AM EST. I still wonder, will now my promo run smoothly?


----------



## SamuelStokes

How has this gone for those who have tried it? I am looking for effective ways to grow my mailing list.


----------



## Guest

Antara Man said:


> Today the silver spot starts. I am wondering though, I was a bit late with filling my final details. I emailed [email protected] a few days ago (Rebecca said to fill the form the latest on 28th at 8 pm since it takes 3 days for the promotion to be set up; however I filed the form on 29th 2.40 AM EST. I still wonder, will now my promo run smoothly?


Yep it's set up to go and will be just fine


----------



## Guest

SamuelStokes said:


> How has this gone for those who have tried it? I am looking for effective ways to grow my mailing list.


A lot have commented on the thread with their experiences, if you choose to read through. We've been doing this for quite some time now and have a high return rate of repeat customers &#128536;


----------



## Guest

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I have some unclaimed coupon codes:
> 
> halloween5 - gives $5 off cart order
> 50off - 50% off any item
> feedbackthanks - 20% off cart order
> secretworlds - 50% off cart order


This is my first time seeing this thread and decided to try it out with these great coupons  One of the most difficult things for new authors, I think, is growing that mailing list, and I've spent more on ads to generate free downloads of a book than this! I'm excited to see what happens


----------



## 77071

Do you have readers / promo in my genre?


----------



## Guest

HSh said:


> Do you have readers / promo in my genre?


Sure do. Actually, my ARC readers (who also are subscribed to this newsletter) LOVE M/M romance. Charity Parkerson has done really well with us, if you want to check in with her.


----------



## 77071

Thank you so much!  

I booked a space.  I hope I did it right!


----------



## Guest

HSh said:


> Thank you so much!
> 
> I booked a space. I hope I did it right!


Looking good! Make sure you fill out the form that's automatically emailed to you, too, and you should be good to go!


----------



## 77071

Thanks!!


----------



## Antara Mann

thanks for the coupon. I just paying for the non-genre platinum giveaway. I am curous, since I write in fantasy, is it as good as the genre specific for fantasy? I also wonder, can I see the FB page or twitter posts with my book? I purchased a silver spot.
And for this platinum giveaway, the subscribers, unlike the silver and bronze spots, have to sign-ups on my op-in page or blog, right?
Thsi was how I understood it reading.


----------



## Guest

All of our giveaways are heavily promoted. The difference between non-specific and specific is just WHO we market to. We're still in the beta stages to see if it helps get more genre specific sign ups, so we can't say for sure yet how much more targeted the results will be, but we're hopeful!

Our facebook page is here:
https://www.facebook.com/ereadergiveaway/

Boosted posts go out over the course of the week, so if yours isn't up yet, it's just not come up yet in the schedule.

For the twitter posts, follow me on @inkmuse OR next time put your handle in the tweet so you will see it when it goes out. It's part of a big rotation that goes out all month long.

The platinum giveaway is still signing up via our raffle-form and being passed on to you. The difference is that you don't have to "Select" that. It's automatic. You get that PLUS a second option (such as facebook or twitter, which is the only thing on the form you have to fill out).


----------



## Antara Mann

thanks for the clarification! Needless to say, I bough the platinum giveaway. Just haven't filled the form yet.


----------



## Guest

I've been seeing people lately who are having mailchimp give them this warning with their ORGANIC lists. MailChimp is just getting ridiculous, IMO. My suggestion is to "leak in" the new subscribers a hundred at a time. Add a hundred, send a newsletter, add a hundred, send a newsletter to them. The ones that "pass the mark" can be added to your main list. sounds like a PITA to do that, but MC is being a PITA. I've been with MadMimi from day one and so have a lot of authors I know. We've NEVER had an issue there. Meanwhile, people with MC seem to be having issues no matter what they do.


----------



## BWFoster78

Do you think that the non genre specific platinum will go out in November or in December?  And how long after it goes live would I receive the list? If I bought a silver for December, when would I get those names?

Basically, I'd love to get some email addresses sometime in early December, and I'm trying to figure out the best sponsorship to buy.

Thanks.

Brian


----------



## Guest

BWFoster78 said:


> Do you think that the non genre specific platinum will go out in November or in December? And how long after it goes live would I receive the list? If I bought a silver for December, when would I get those names?
> 
> Basically, I'd love to get some email addresses sometime in early December, and I'm trying to figure out the best sponsorship to buy.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Brian


Platinum goes out within a week of filling. Sadly, it's impossible for us to know when those will be, but since it's half full right now, it's reasonable to think it might go out in November, more likely in December.

December will go out Dec 1st and you can usually expect those results by the 7th-14th, depending on if we decide to extend the ending date.


----------



## Guest

BVLawson said:


> I think your suggestion of sending out a few at a time might be a good one. I'm particularly puzzled as to why Mailchimp would be so hard-assed about this, since the mailing resulted in a 50.3% open rate, a 15.2% click rate, and no spam/abuse reports. Yes, 12 unsubscribed out of 148, but that's new a huge number at all.
> 
> I always seem to pick the wrong provider - years ago, I went with Typepad for my blog and should have used Wordpress; I went with Lunarpages for my author website hosting and have regretted that since; and now, Mailchimp. Yes, there are competitors I can switch to, but it's a pain in the rear to change over everything from one provide to another, and I just don't have the time right now. Live and learn, I suppose.


FWIW, MadMimi is easy. Export old mailing list, load to madmimi, and that's it. Learning the ropes there is far less complicated than Mail Chimp. And I agree with you. That's a great open rate, no abuse reports, and SO WHAT if people unsubscribe? I really don't understand what is wrong with people unsubscribing to something they no longer want to receive. I sometimes get 10-15 unsubscribes on my ORGANIC list...which is less than the average # of unsubs I get on my giveaway list.


----------



## Shelley K

So for M/M romance, the best bet would be the romance/erotica option rather than any genre?

Also, for people who have used the service, did you see any sales boosts during the promotion, when your books are in the mailing list and being repeatedly Tweeted? Has anyone recently marketed something not free to their many new subscribers and noticed corresponding sales?

Thanks!


----------



## HN Wake

I opened a Madmimi account and was up and running in under 20 minutes.  I like the one capability in MailChimp to send links for folks to download files, and may only use MC for those emails.


----------



## BWFoster78

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Platinum goes out within a week of filling. Sadly, it's impossible for us to know when those will be, but since it's half full right now, it's reasonable to think it might go out in November, more likely in December.
> 
> December will go out Dec 1st and you can usually expect those results by the 7th-14th, depending on if we decide to extend the ending date.


Thanks for the response. I just signed up for the Non Genre Specific Platinum Giveaway (only 9 spots left!).

Hopefully, it will go live toward the latter part of this month or early part of December, and I'll get the email addresses just prior to the middle of Dec. If not, I'll deal.


----------



## Guest

HN Wake said:


> I opened a Madmimi account and was up and running in under 20 minutes. I like the one capability in MailChimp to send links for folks to download files, and may only use MC for those emails.


That's a good idea!


----------



## Guest

BWFoster78 said:


> Thanks for the response. I just signed up for the Non Genre Specific Platinum Giveaway (only 9 spots left!).
> 
> Hopefully, it will go live toward the latter part of this month or early part of December, and I'll get the email addresses just prior to the middle of Dec. If not, I'll deal.


You could always share about the service with other authors. If they sign up, too, it will fill faster and then can go live sooner


----------



## HN Wake

And just another shout out to this service: I was in the most recent Platinum Giveway (non genre) and got over 130 Facebook likes/followers. (I started with 5 a week ago as a proud prawnie--ha ha) https://www.facebook.com/HN-Wake-283655188506648/


----------



## Salvador Mercer

SWEET!!


----------



## HN Wake

Thanks Salvador!


----------



## J.A. Cipriano

I was in the Fantasy Platinum and thought I'd share my 24 hour results.

I received 838 names at a cost of approximately $0.06 per name and loaded them all into mailchimp, was promptly warned, and ignored their warning.

I dumped them into a special list with a 7 email automation sequence similar to my normal sequence, thanking them for entering the giveaway and offering them 2 free books with 2 more to come in a couple days.

24 hours later I've had the following:

Unique Opens: 279
Total opens: 420 (guess some people had to open it a few times)
Unique Clicks: 67
Total Clicks: 123

Unsubscribes: 26
Bounces: 4
Spam reports: 2

I also had 3 emails thanking me for free stuff, and one person requiring assistance. 

To pay for the entire promotion, I'll need at least 4 people to read through the whole series. I'll probably edit this post or post again with more information when my second email goes out.


----------



## BWFoster78

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> You could always share about the service with other authors. If they sign up, too, it will fill faster and then can go live sooner


I posted about it on another writer's forum that I frequent, but I don't expect anyone to join up right away. As I relate my experiences, however, you might get some business from that down the road.

In the meantime, your site says there are only 8 spots left ...


----------



## tommy gun

Hey FKG!
how do we nominate a charity for one of the draws?

Also any plans to have more specific platinum draws?  I missed out on the last one but should have books ready by mid december now.

(barring more things going wrong)


----------



## William Meikle

Just signed up for the Sci-Fi Platinum - hope I did everything right this time around... looking forward to seeing the results of this one...


----------



## tommy gun

hi FGS.
I just saw the sci fi draw and am excited about it (IF the book gets back from the editor in time).
is it mentioned if we drop the price for the book to 0.99$ for the promo duration?


----------



## 77071

Is it running now?  People are following me on Twitter and I can't think of any other reason.


----------



## Sonya Bateman

Just wanted to add more kudos and positive results -- I signed up for the Bronze sponsor level for November and got 114 new mailing list subscribers (woo hoo!).

So I promptly turned around and bought the Silver sponsorship for December. 

Thank you for this awesome service!


----------



## Maria Romana

Aha! Thanks to Free Kindle Giveaway, currently at 999 on my fledgeling FB page. I know I'll get over the hump now!


----------



## KGorman

I'd purchased a Silver sponsorship in November, during which 93 people signed up for my mailing list. However, only 43 were added as 48 had already signed up in previous months.

My free book got 21 downloads on the first day of the contest, however.

Will be releasing a book at the end of December, and will report back on how the open/click rate is  Still great to have a list bigger than 2 people, though! Well worth the money, in my opinion.


----------



## Guest

tomgermann said:


> Hey FKG!
> how do we nominate a charity for one of the draws?
> 
> Also any plans to have more specific platinum draws? I missed out on the last one but should have books ready by mid december now.
> 
> (barring more things going wrong)


email me [email protected]  We love charity recommendations!


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Just signed up for the Sci-Fi Platinum - hope I did everything right this time around... looking forward to seeing the results of this one...


Excited to run on on this genre <3 Thanks for participating. We're glad to have you!


----------



## Guest

tomgermann said:


> hi FGS.
> I just saw the sci fi draw and am excited about it (IF the book gets back from the editor in time).
> is it mentioned if we drop the price for the book to 0.99$ for the promo duration?


that's entirely up to you, though sales titles and free/KU titles do perform best. I feel I should remind we never initially intended for this to be a way for authors to directly sell books (through our newsletter/advertising). Initially, we just wanted to help authors grow their audience so they could make sales going forward (after their promo with us). However, we ARE seeing people buying books and downloading books more and more now with our service. We hope that pattern continues to grow!


----------



## Guest

HSh said:


> Is it running now? People are following me on Twitter and I can't think of any other reason.


Yes


----------



## Guest

S.W. Vaughn said:


> Just wanted to add more kudos and positive results -- I signed up for the Bronze sponsor level for November and got 114 new mailing list subscribers (woo hoo!).
> 
> So I promptly turned around and bought the Silver sponsorship for December.
> 
> Thank you for this awesome service!


Glad to hear such great results! We hope it continues for you!


----------



## Antara Mann

I bought a Silver Slot and got 115 subscribers. I expected 200 something but let's see how engaged they are gonna be. I also bought a Platinum Giveaway with a coupon code and I hope I'll get this way at least 1000 subscribers. 
I followed the instructions in the email I received and I set the email campain to those people for today at 13 PM. 
a side note about Mailchimp: Mailchimp rocks! I tried with Get response and their analytics is awful + Mailchimp delivers just perfect. I have one email subscribers wo bounces and he bounced on get response too. I found a page comparing Mad Mimi and Mailchimp and Mailchimp offers better autoresponders based on those who haven't opened your previous campaigns.
And I don't know why but I found the Free Kindle Giveaways emails in my Spam folder - all of them (with the promotional books).


----------



## Guest

Unfortunately, words like "giveaway" get spammed. I find mad mimi newsletters in my inbox all the time. It's Mail Chimp that ends up in my spam folder with the exception of a few authors. Just keep an eye on it. Yes, Mail Chimp has better autoresponders built in, but it's easy to set up autoresponders without paying MailChimp extra money for it, and it can help with not getting newsletters sent to spam. FKG will always face that I think, due to having such a giveaway-heavy following, but mine comes through to the promotions folder on gmail


----------



## Guest

Our most recent newsletter had about 20% open rate and 6% click through rate. That puts us just under the industry average for open rate and about DOUBLE the industry average for click through. 

Oh, wow, learn something new every day. MadMimi DOES offer drip campaigns!
https://help.madmimi.com/what-on-earth-are-drip-campaigns/

Actually, apparently they have a whole host of add ons I wasn't even aware of! This is good news for FKG, as it means once our list is big enough, we can invite subscribers to update their settings and receive newsletters only about the genres they are interested in (which will be great for the platinum giveaways).


----------



## RomanceAuthor

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Yes, Mail Chimp has better autoresponders built in, but it's easy to set up autoresponders without paying MailChimp extra money for it, and it can help with not getting newsletters sent to spam. F


FKG emails ALWAYS land in my spam, so i don''t think using mad mimi makes any difference in that sense. The words you use in the subject line, and also the email itself is what triggers spam filters. Which email company you use (mad mimi or mailchimp) is irrelevant.


----------



## Maria Romana

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Oh, wow, learn something new every day. MadMimi DOES offer drip campaigns!
> https://help.madmimi.com/what-on-earth-are-drip-campaigns/


Yes, I was just about to post about this. I recently signed up for Mad Mimi (largely on your recommendation), and I've been playing with all the options. I just set up my first mailing yesterday as a drip campaign, and although it may not have all the bells and whistles I'd like, I was quite impressed with the ease and beauty of the mailing I was able to create. If anyone wants a peek at what you can do with MM, here is something I designed in about an hour, where most of the hour was me messing around with color choices and text: https://madmimi.com/p/19fbe6?fe=1&pact=34609164378.


----------



## Lisa Blackwood

I can't remember what slot I bought. (Isn't the terrible?   ) But I've had over 120 facebook likes. No noticeable change in sales/downloads, but that's not what I'm interested in. I'm hoping to get 100 newsletter signups.


----------



## Guest

RomanceAuthor said:


> FKG emails ALWAYS land in my spam, so i don''t think using mad mimi makes any difference in that sense. The words you use in the subject line, and also the email itself is what triggers spam filters. Which email company you use (mad mimi or mailchimp) is irrelevant.


Yes, that's what I was saying before. The nature of our emails can get them marked as spam, compared to normal campaigns that aren't device/giveaway heavy. However, using auto responders can also trigger spam filters. That was all I was saying in the piece you quoted. The benefit I have seen with madmimi has been higher deliver-ability when using a large list (my list is nearly 10,000 now).


----------



## Guest

Lisa_Blackwood said:


> I can't remember what slot I bought. (Isn't the terrible?  ) But I've had over 120 facebook likes. No noticeable change in sales/downloads, but that's not what I'm interested in. I'm hoping to get 100 newsletter signups.


I'm sure you will hit 100 &#128540;


----------



## Guest

Maria Romana said:


> Yes, I was just about to post about this. I recently signed up for Mad Mimi (largely on your recommendation), and I've been playing with all the options. I just set up my first mailing yesterday as a drip campaign, and although it may not have all the bells and whistles I'd like, I was quite impressed with the ease and beauty of the mailing I was able to create. If anyone wants a peek at what you can do with MM, here is something I designed in about an hour, where most of the hour was me messing around with color choices and text: https://madmimi.com/p/19fbe6?fe=1&pact=34609164378.


That looks very clean! One thing I have enjoyed about Mad Mimi besides the interface making things easy is that it's very easy to build something that looks clean and professional. I am excited that now I know how to include polls, forms, and buttons into my newsletter. I didn't realize all the add ons they include until today! Even list management, where people can unsub from one of my lists without unsubbing from all, similar to what I noticed a friend had with php list


----------



## Victoria J

I'm glad I snagged a silver spot this time. The bronze I bought back in May worked super well too.


----------



## HN Wake

Question: Is there a way to include a downloadable file in your thank you note on Madmimi (like there is in MailChimp?)  Thanks to all you Madmimi experts.


----------



## Guest

HN Wake said:


> Question: Is there a way to include a downloadable file in your thank you note on Madmimi (like there is in MailChimp?) Thanks to all you Madmimi experts.


"Mad Mimi doesn't support attachments because they can significantly hurt the ability of your emails to land in your recipients inbox instead of the spam folder. There are many cases of attachments being used to spread malware, so promotions that contain attachments are far more likely to be erroneously flagged as spam by ISP's and email clients.

As an alternative to including attachments directly to your promotion, we recommend storing your file somewhere online (such as your own website), then including a download link to it inside your promotion. You can add a regular text link, or if you're feeling adventurous, we find that adding your link to an image that relates to the file being downloaded helps your recipients feel confident and secure in downloading.

If you can't host the file on your website, you might try a service like Digioh. Digioh integrates with Mad Mimi. So you can upload your file and automatically generate a clickable download link in your Mad Mimi promotions "

https://help.madmimi.com/can-i-add-attachments-to-my-promotions/


----------



## J.A. Cipriano

So my second email went out the other day, and I thought I'd give you guys an update. I started with 838 names from the Fantasy Platinum.

I sent out my first email on 11/10/15 offering the first two books in my Lillim series for free and as of right now,11/16/15, have these results:

Unique Opens: 305
Total opens: 481
Unique Clicks: 78
Total Clicks: 157

Unsubscribes: 28
Bounces: 5
Spam reports: 2

My second email went out 11/13/15. It offered May Contain Spies to the remaining 804 subscribers for free.

Unique Opens: 215
Total opens: 342
Unique Clicks: 48
Total Clicks: 73

Unsubscribes: 13
Bounces: 1
Spam reports: 0 (woo!)

So far, 317 people have opened at least one email with 153 people opening both emails. Interestingly, I had 50 people open the second email who did not open the first email. 90 people have clicked at least one email and 35 people have clicked both emails.


----------



## Guest

Thank you for sharing your results! It's nice to see readers sticking around and finding new authors to enjoy!!


----------



## Antara Mann

I am also very happy with my results: 45.5% open-rate (every day the number increases) and 17.9% s far CTR.
One person emailed me to send her a mobi or PDf file cause she couldn't open the one i gave link to (Google Drive). in numbers that makes 51 people opened and 20 clicked. Naturally most are clicking on the mobi links but I have 4 clicks on the epub files and one - on the PDF.
I have also 3 unsubscribes but no spam or complaints (yeah! Rebecca - thank you for the warning message to include in the email) 
and 2 hard bounces and one soft bounce. the hard bounces are from aol emails and the soft bounce - from a German email ([email protected])?!
I am very, very happy with those results. I hope this numbers will preserve. In contrast - the number in my small email list from Fb subscribers I have 15 or 17% open rate and only 5% CTR. 
2 quick questions: when will the platinum giveaway start (if you can tell me how many spots are left) and do people buy from other vendors except Amazon (if you know)?
I am amazed but this really works. I hope I'll get buyers as well. Btw, for the Silver giveaway folks subscribed for a free Kindle, right?


----------



## Guest

Glad to hear such fantastic results! I feel as though we have a lot more success with these emails than with building through Facebook also. I wonder why that is, though. 

We have 6 of the general platinum spots available still. Those may fill once one of the current open giveaways end. The Sci Fi specific has 17 left


----------



## J.A. Cipriano

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We have 6 of the general platinum spots available still. Those may fill once one of the current open giveaways end. The Sci Fi specific has 17 left


I decided to do the general platinum using your coupon, but I'll admit I'm concerned with how many new subscribers I'm likely to get over the Fantasy Platinum, especially since they seem like they'll be relatively close to each other. This isn't necessarily important in a sheer numbers thing, but numbers do factor into the whole become genuinely interested in my stuff afterward thing. The laws of diminishing returns never fail.

I'm obviously not that concerned about it, but it is something I'm curious about, especially given that many of these people are likely being emailed by several other authors around the same time.

I'd be curious to see what percentage of the list is different for each platinum giveaway.


----------



## mythsnake

I just did the November with a bronze sponsorship on an epic fantasy. I was looking for mailing list sign-ups and got a total of 110 addresses sent to me. I did this earlier in the year with a historical romance as well, and I noticed a pretty large chunk of overlap in email addresses, about 15 in all. I keep one main list and segment by genre, so I just added those addresses to the SF/F segment. I feel pretty good about those 15 subscribers though since they showed enough interest in the last set of emails I sent out to survive the culling before I did the November sponsorship (I ditched everyone with a 2 or lower star rating). I also culled any new addresses that were obviously the same person entering with multiple addresses down to just one email, since I pay by the email sent, and yesterday I dumped the remaining addresses into an automation sequence offering a free book and a promise of more free stuff for those who remain on the list. My numbers today look pretty good, I think:

90 emails went in
29 opens (33%)
12 unique clicks (13%)
2 bounces (1 hard, 1 soft)
2 unsubscribes
0 abuse reports

The second email is scheduled to go out in 6 days now, so we'll see how it goes from there.


----------



## Eva Chase

Just popping in to report that I got 775 new addresses from the Fantasy/Paranormal giveaway (the total was over 800 but there were a few dozen repeats from my previous Bronze listing), and just sent my first email to that group reminding them of how they got on my list and offering my own giveaway of ebook copies of my book. It's been about 24 hours since sending, and so far I have 200 unique opens, 48 entries in the giveaway, a handful of clicks to the book's Amazon page, 23 unsubscribed, 3 bounced, and only one abuse report. I made the unsubscribe link easy to find in the body of the email to try to cut down on any possible spam reports, which seems to have worked!

Out of curiosity (and sorry if this has already been mentioned), after science fiction, what other genres are in the queue, if any?


----------



## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We have 6 of the general platinum spots available still. Those may fill once one of the current open giveaways end. The Sci Fi specific has 17 left


Guess I've got a bit of a wait before you run the sci-fi one :-(


----------



## G.

Thought I'd share my November platinum results. 

Email addresses: 837
Open rate: 33.3%
Click through rate: 1.9%
Bounced: 5
Unsubscribed: 28
Abuse reports: 5 (4 from yahoo addresses)

All in all, gives me a lot to work with.


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Guess I've got a bit of a wait before you run the sci-fi one :-(


Hopefully they fill fast. I was just thinking I may reach out to some sci-fi authors this week to see if they are interested. I'm noticing sci-fi is a hard-to-market genre right now, so getting those targeted newsletter subscribers could be a big help to those writing in this genre.


----------



## Guest

G. said:


> Thought I'd share my November platinum results.
> 
> Email addresses: 837
> Open rate: 33.3%
> Click through rate: 1.9%
> Bounced: 5
> Unsubscribed: 28
> Abuse reports: 5 (4 from yahoo addresses)
> 
> All in all, gives me a lot to work with.


Thanks for sharing! That open rate is looking pretty good! The click through rate may also improve depending on when you send the newsletter out. (I notice I am still getting clicks on some newsletters a week after sending them. I guess not everyone checks their email as incessantly as I do? hehe)


----------



## Guest

Eva Chase said:


> Just popping in to report that I got 775 new addresses from the Fantasy/Paranormal giveaway (the total was over 800 but there were a few dozen repeats from my previous Bronze listing), and just sent my first email to that group reminding them of how they got on my list and offering my own giveaway of ebook copies of my book. It's been about 24 hours since sending, and so far I have 200 unique opens, 48 entries in the giveaway, a handful of clicks to the book's Amazon page, 23 unsubscribed, 3 bounced, and only one abuse report. I made the unsubscribe link easy to find in the body of the email to try to cut down on any possible spam reports, which seems to have worked!
> 
> Out of curiosity (and sorry if this has already been mentioned), after science fiction, what other genres are in the queue, if any?


Thanks for sharing your fantastic results!

IF I had to guess, after Sci Fi, I will run something for thriller/horror, or possibly for young adult. I've been going through the entries on my form here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DMhCYxVzii3Il5aayf2oNZRCMvzqrPi49KB77AaGBoc/viewform

and selecting the genres with the most entries.


----------



## Guest

mythsnake said:


> I just did the November with a bronze sponsorship on an epic fantasy. I was looking for mailing list sign-ups and got a total of 110 addresses sent to me. I did this earlier in the year with a historical romance as well, and I noticed a pretty large chunk of overlap in email addresses, about 15 in all. I keep one main list and segment by genre, so I just added those addresses to the SF/F segment. I feel pretty good about those 15 subscribers though since they showed enough interest in the last set of emails I sent out to survive the culling before I did the November sponsorship (I ditched everyone with a 2 or lower star rating). I also culled any new addresses that were obviously the same person entering with multiple addresses down to just one email, since I pay by the email sent, and yesterday I dumped the remaining addresses into an automation sequence offering a free book and a promise of more free stuff for those who remain on the list. My numbers today look pretty good, I think:
> 
> 90 emails went in
> 29 opens (33%)
> 12 unique clicks (13%)
> 2 bounces (1 hard, 1 soft)
> 2 unsubscribes
> 0 abuse reports
> 
> The second email is scheduled to go out in 6 days now, so we'll see how it goes from there.


Fantastic process! With that click through, looks like you're the subscribes you kept are good quality!


----------



## Guest

JACipriano said:


> I decided to do the general platinum using your coupon, but I'll admit I'm concerned with how many new subscribers I'm likely to get over the Fantasy Platinum, especially since they seem like they'll be relatively close to each other. This isn't necessarily important in a sheer numbers thing, but numbers do factor into the whole become genuinely interested in my stuff afterward thing. The laws of diminishing returns never fail.
> 
> I'm obviously not that concerned about it, but it is something I'm curious about, especially given that many of these people are likely being emailed by several other authors around the same time.
> 
> I'd be curious to see what percentage of the list is different for each platinum giveaway.


There is some overlap, but if you see the results posted below, it seems only about 10% or less will be overlap. Unless you've participated in every giveaway we've ever done, then it might higher, but there are always new people joining in, as evidenced by the growth of our own mailing list for this service. But yes, expect some overlap.

One thing I have been recommending is that people not take the lists and immediately flood subscriber inboxes. Save your list to a separate location if you must, and wait until you the next time you would NATURALLY send a newsletter and THEN send it out. This way, your newsletter won't arrive with 10 others on the same day, and they will be more likely to click through than unsubscribe.

Hope that helps!


----------



## Eva Chase

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> One thing I have been recommending is that people not take the lists and immediately flood subscriber inboxes. Save your list to a separate location if you must, and wait until you the next time you would NATURALLY send a newsletter and THEN send it out. This way, your newsletter won't arrive with 10 others on the same day, and they will be more likely to click through than unsubscribe.


I think this is good advice. I didn't wait until my next regular newsletter because I'm not sending one until book 2 comes out in January, and I was worried that would be too long for people to remember how they'd ended up on the list even with a reminder. But I did wait a couple weeks after the giveaway ended to help space my mailing out from others.


----------



## Antara Mann

G. said:


> Thought I'd share my November platinum results.
> 
> Email addresses: 837
> Open rate: 33.3%
> Click through rate: 1.9%
> Bounced: 5
> Unsubscribed: 28
> Abuse reports: 5 (4 from yahoo addresses)
> 
> All in all, gives me a lot to work with.


the email subject line is very, very important and when you send your newsletter. I'd advise to subscribe to a few emails to authors of your genre or other successful authors and study their language, words, copy-writing etc. that's what I do.


----------



## Doril

I ordered a few days ago. Thanks.


----------



## 77071

A lot of folks now follow my twitter, but I'm hoping to add people to my mailing list (hopefully people who are actually interested in being there).  When will we get those sign ups or addresses?


----------



## Kate.

I've just signed up for the Platinum giveaway, but had a question before I submit the Google form. I have a Facebook page but don't use it, and don't have Twitter. (I'm in it for the subscribers.   ) Would it be okay to use the second raffle slot as a visit to the book's Amazon page? Or a visit to my Amazon author page? I'm not expecting the entrants to purchase anything, of course, but my books are in KU so they could pick them up for free if they were interested. Would that be okay?


----------



## Guest

Darcy said:


> I've just signed up for the Platinum giveaway, but had a question before I submit the Google form. I have a Facebook page but don't use it, and don't have Twitter. (I'm in it for the subscribers.  ) Would it be okay to use the second raffle slot as a visit to the book's Amazon page? Or a visit to my Amazon author page? I'm not expecting the entrants to purchase anything, of course, but my books are in KU so they could pick them up for free if they were interested. Would that be okay?


Yep  You can even request they follow you on amazon <3


----------



## Guest

HSh said:


> A lot of folks now follow my twitter, but I'm hoping to add people to my mailing list (hopefully people who are actually interested in being there). When will we get those sign ups or addresses?


One of the general giveaways ended a few days ago. Results were sent out.
The Paranormal and Fantasy also ended and had results sent out.
If you were in either of those, email me so I can forward you the results again in case they went to spam <3

The romance one ends tonight, and the next general one hasn't gone out yet.


----------



## Kate.

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Yep  You can even request they follow you on amazon <3


That sounds fantastic, thanks!


----------



## 77071

Thanks. 



TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> One of the general giveaways ended a few days ago. Results were sent out.
> The Paranormal and Fantasy also ended and had results sent out.
> If you were in either of those, email me so I can forward you the results again in case they went to spam <3
> 
> The romance one ends tonight, and the next general one hasn't gone out yet.


I think it was platinum, other than that I don't know. Checked the spam folder, didn't see anything.



TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Yep  You can even request they follow you on amazon <3


Ooh, I wish I'd thought of that!


----------



## Guest

HSh said:


> Thanks.
> 
> I think it was platinum, other than that I don't know. Checked the spam folder, didn't see anything.
> 
> Ooh, I wish I'd thought of that!


email us with the title and author name and we can look it up and see where you are placed


----------



## Antara Mann

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Yep  You can even request they follow you on amazon <3


How is that possible? To put the link to my author page on Amazon? I'll edit my contact form cause I'll prefer that over Facebook or Twitter.


----------



## William Meikle

Did this thread die? Last post I see is 2 weeks ago. Is there another one for the ongoing promotions and if so, could somebody point me at it please


----------



## Guest

Antara Mann said:


> How is that possible? To put the link to my author page on Amazon? I'll edit my contact form cause I'll prefer that over Facebook or Twitter.


Yes, you put the link to your Amazon Author Profile page


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Did this thread die? Last post I see is 2 weeks ago. Is there another one for the ongoing promotions and if so, could somebody point me at it please


There was a glitch a while back that deleted all posts and comments on posts made over a period of time, which I think may have eaten some of the comments here (I just re-posted one of my comments that were apparently lost). We're actually booking for January right now, which is one of the best months to promote in <3


----------



## William Meikle

Thanks - I'm booked in for the scifi platinum when that comes round...


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Do you plan on having a mystery genre giveaway at any point?


----------



## damienboyes

Ok, all signed up for the Platinum Sci-Fi giveaway.


----------



## Guest

Donna White Glaser said:


> Do you plan on having a mystery genre giveaway at any point?


Yep, working through the list! We actually did SciFi first because a LOT of sci fi authors filled out the notification form... but then not a lot of them signed up  But I will probably do Mystery and Thriller/Suspense together next.


----------



## Guest

damienboyes said:


> Ok, all signed up for the Platinum Sci-Fi giveaway.


Glad to have you! I've been working on reaching SciFi readers specifically lately in preparation of this giveaway  It's going well!


----------



## Dhayaa Anbajagane

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Glad to have you! I've been working on reaching SciFi readers specifically lately in preparation of this giveaway  It's going well!


Hi,

I'm really interested in joining the Sci-Fi giveaway. Just a little hesitant since it doesn't have a surefire run date as of yet.
Do you have a ballpark prediction as to when exactly the giveaway will be running?

Thank you.


----------



## Guest

Dhayaa Anbajagane said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'm really interested in joining the Sci-Fi giveaway. Just a little hesitant since it doesn't have a surefire run date as of yet.
> Do you have a ballpark prediction as to when exactly the giveaway will be running?
> 
> Thank you.


Unfortunately, we can run it til the spots fill, and that's dependent on Sci Fi Authors signing up. Keep an eye on this thread, though, to get an idea when it's close to filling. As of now, I believe we have 12 spots left 

NOTE TO EVERYONE WHO DID DECEMBER MONTHLY: Yes, it's ended! I will be emailing results *tomorrow* Unfortunately, I have to call it an early night because we leave for vacation tomorrow AM. But I'll be working from the road as not to delay those waiting on their results.


----------



## Kate.

I have a sci-fi series coming out in late January/early February. If the giveaway hasn't filled up by then, I'd love to join!


----------



## Guest

Darcy said:


> I have a sci-fi series coming out in late January/early February. If the giveaway hasn't filled up by then, I'd love to join!


I won't lie. I love having you. Great stories with gorgeous book covers are good for business hehe


----------



## Kate.

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I won't lie. I love having you. Great stories with gorgeous book covers are good for business hehe


Aww, gee, thank you!


----------



## Marilyn Peake

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> One of the general giveaways ended a few days ago. Results were sent out.
> The Paranormal and Fantasy also ended and had results sent out.
> If you were in either of those, email me so I can forward you the results again in case they went to spam <3
> 
> The romance one ends tonight, and the next general one hasn't gone out yet.


Have the December results been sent out? I haven't received mine yet.


----------



## Bbates024

Marilyn Peake said:


> Have the December results been sent out? I haven't received mine yet.


Same.


----------



## Guest

Those asking about December results, here is my comment from a few posts up:

NOTE TO EVERYONE WHO DID DECEMBER MONTHLY: Yes, it's ended! I will be emailing results *tomorrow* Unfortunately, I have to call it an early night because we leave for vacation tomorrow AM. But I'll be working from the road as not to delay those waiting on their results.  

Obviously this didn't happen. Unfortunately, we had internet issues when we arrived. Then my mom fell and has a concussion. But I will get the results out as soon a I can.


----------



## Bbates024

Thank you. I hope your mom feels better soon!


----------



## Marilyn Peake

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Those asking about December results, here is my comment from a few posts up:
> 
> NOTE TO EVERYONE WHO DID DECEMBER MONTHLY: Yes, it's ended! I will be emailing results *tomorrow* Unfortunately, I have to call it an early night because we leave for vacation tomorrow AM. But I'll be working from the road as not to delay those waiting on their results.
> 
> Obviously this didn't happen. Unfortunately, we had internet issues when we arrived. Then my mom fell and has a concussion. But I will get the results out as soon a I can.


Thanks so much for the update, Rebecca. I hope your mom feels better soon!


----------



## jenminkman

Marilyn Peake said:


> Thanks so much for the update, Rebecca. I hope your mom feels better soon!





TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Those asking about December results, here is my comment from a few posts up:
> 
> NOTE TO EVERYONE WHO DID DECEMBER MONTHLY: Yes, it's ended! I will be emailing results *tomorrow* Unfortunately, I have to call it an early night because we leave for vacation tomorrow AM. But I'll be working from the road as not to delay those waiting on their results.
> 
> Obviously this didn't happen. Unfortunately, we had internet issues when we arrived. Then my mom fell and has a concussion. But I will get the results out as soon a I can.


That's horrible! I hope your mom feels better soon. Don't worry about the results, family comes first.


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Family first. Hope your mom feels better soon, Rebecca.


----------



## Guest

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Apparently I fail at vacationing in every way. Anyway, she was out of it all day yesterday. Just hoping she is better today. I'm up and the husband and two of the four kids and my mom are all still sleeping, so I'm going to try to get started on results now. I really appreciate everyone's patience and want to ensure everyone this delay will NOT be a regular thing. I like to get those results out ASAP, and things will be back to normal starting next week


----------



## Donna White Glaser

Not a problem on the delay, Rebecca, but I didn't get an attachment for the .txt file.  Did you forget to attach it? I do that all the time, too.


----------



## Guest

Donna White Glaser said:


> Not a problem on the delay, Rebecca, but I didn't get an attachment for the .txt file. Did you forget to attach it? I do that all the time, too.


The monthly giveaways are not sent as a TXT but right in the body of the email. You will have gotten a separate email prior to the "summary" email. I remember sending yours


----------



## blancheking

Hope everything's okay. 

It looks like I missed the December one. Will lurk until January, I guess


----------



## HN Wake

Rebecca, hope your mom is ok. Sending strong karma.  

Just to add to this thread, I've sent my second email out to the list of over roughly 1,000 (separate from my 'organic list') I built via Rebecca.  (A thank you for a great 2015, a downloadable novella, and a link to a cool other giveaway site.)  Very few unsubscribes.  And so far, quite a few click throughs.  I'm super pleased.  My sense is these readers need to be softly reeled in--they may not buy/bite at first, but if you gain their confidence and trust, they just may.  Super pleased. Best impact for dollar I've paid in the last year as a newbie--and I've tried quite a few marketing things.  

Thank you, Rebecca!  A big thank you.


----------



## Guest

blancheking said:


> Hope everything's okay.
> 
> It looks like I missed the December one. Will lurk until January, I guess


January is currently up on the website to secure spots


----------



## Guest

HN Wake said:


> Rebecca, hope your mom is ok. Sending strong karma.
> 
> Just to add to this thread, I've sent my second email out to the list of over roughly 1,000 (separate from my 'organic list') I built via Rebecca. (A thank you for a great 2015, a downloadable novella, and a link to a cool other giveaway site.) Very few unsubscribes. And so far, quite a few click throughs. I'm super pleased. My sense is these readers need to be softly reeled in--they may not buy/bite at first, but if you gain their confidence and trust, they just may. Super pleased. Best impact for dollar I've paid in the last year as a newbie--and I've tried quite a few marketing things.
> 
> Thank you, Rebecca! A big thank you.


I am sooooo glad to hear this!!!!


----------



## Donna White Glaser

I know this will make me sound stupid but it took me a bit to figure out how to transfer the list from the email to an Excel file so I could import it to MC. But I got that figured out and we're good to go. Some quick data: I did the Dec. Silver with boost for $30. I received 153 emails total. Of those, 88 emails were successfully added to my list. There were the following errors/corrections:
63 emails were already subscribed (duplicates of previous results from the iPad giveaway) and 2 emails had already unsubscribed from the iPad group and couldn't be re-added. 
I won't be sending a newsletter until my next book launch, which will be in Jan. More info then. 
Thanks!


----------



## Guest

Thank you for the details! There's a way to import without using an excel file. It should have been in that video link I sent. I don't use mail chimp so for me importing emails is so much easier (from the sounds of it). I also recently learned how to market to unopens, so all giveaways are now being sent to our newsletter twice


----------



## Guest

January is booked. February is open. The platinum running currently was set for a longer run to make up for the holidays


----------



## WordNinja

It's been while since I posted here, but I wanted to give an update on the status of the mailing list I got from the free iPad giveaway earlier this year. 

The first mailing I sent out, I included an Amazon gift card giveaway to help reduce the number of spam reports. I ended up with 0.45% spam reports, just below the 0.5% threshold. The next couple of mailings, I also included a giveaway. 

For the last mailing, I decided I didn't want to keep bribing people to stay on the list. If they're not interested in buying my books, they may as well unsubscribe. To my surprise, I didn't get a single abuse report, and the unsubscribes were consistent with previous mailings. 

I've still got over 1500 subscribers (down from 1800, which isn't too bad IMO). The list I got from the Free Kindle Giveaway is performing even better (though it was much smaller to begin with, around 135). So overall, I'm happy with the results. Certainly there are some people who are only interested in the prizes. But the majority, I think, are avid readers looking for deals on books.


----------



## kwanloo

Does giveaways really work if you don't sell many and your book is very specialised like mine - Zodiac Guide to Successful Relationships & Careers?


----------



## Guest

Thank you for the Feedback, Andrea! We certainly do our best to target readers! As you said, some giveaway hounds will always find their way into the mix, but we do at least hope the people entering love giveaways AND books. Every genre/author may not appeal to them, but some people are building a real fan base here! I'm loving hearing everyone's results.

I actually just wrapped up another Platinum giveaway, and absolutely GIDDY about the results. Can't wait for the sponsors to open their email this morning and see what awaits them! Hopefully, this will keep growing so that the results are bigger each time


----------



## Guest

kwanloo said:


> Does giveaways really work if you don't sell many and your book is very specialised like mine - Zodiac Guide to Successful Relationships & Careers?


We've not had a lot of non-fiction authors, but we have had a few. I can't speak for them on their results, but hopefully at some point they will pop in and share. Thank you for asking and I'm sorry I can't answer, but without anyone's results to refer to, I would just be talking out my...


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## Guest

NOTE: We've added a new feature to our service! We now EMAIL VERIFY all the emails before sending to you, to ensure that you don't get any "fake" emails   This is a paid service we use called "Email List Verify" (in case anyone wants to use it). Although this is an additional expense for us, it does not change the current low prices we offer for our services


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## William Meikle

Just a plea for anyone interested to take up the Platinum sci-fi option -- I've got an ulterior motive in that I'm signed up for it and I -really- want this to get running soon  9 slots left as of my writing this...

http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/product/platinum-scifi/


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## Lara Gill

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> NOTE: We've added a new feature to our service! We now EMAIL VERIFY all the emails before sending to you, to ensure that you don't get any "fake" emails  This is a paid service we use called "Email List Verify" (in case anyone wants to use it). Although this is an additional expense for us, it does not change the current low prices we offer for our services


Hey there! What is your website with your offerings? Thanks!


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## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Just a plea for anyone interested to take up the Platinum sci-fi option -- I've got an ulterior motive in that I'm signed up for it and I -really- want this to get running soon  9 slots left as of my writing this...
> 
> http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/product/platinum-scifi/


If I don't fill it soon, I WILL run it as is. I don't want to leave you guys waiting too long <3


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## Guest

kittypixelscom said:


> Hey there! What is your website with your offerings? Thanks!


http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/sponsor-sign-up/


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## jazzywaltz

I signed up for the Platinum Paranormal/Fantasy giveaway back in October 2015 and got GREAT results. I'd just put my first book up for pre-order and it had no visibility on Amazon, but within the first week of it being featured in the giveaway I got a bunch of sales and the next thing I knew my book was in the top 20 in three different categories. Since that point my sales slowly snowballed from about 5 per day, all the way up to 63 sales the day before my book's release! And since it was a platinum giveaway my Facebook page was also featured and I got over 200 likes. PLUS I got 800 email subscribers. The regular monthly giveaways don't give you as much of a boost either in sales or subscribers, but it's cheaper and there are more authors to compete with so you get what you pay for. As far as I'm concerned, being a sponsor is 100% worth the investment.


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## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> If I don't fill it soon, I WILL run it as is. I don't want to leave you guys waiting too long <3


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## Guest

williammeikle said:


>


As you can imagine, our "booking spurts" happen after we send out giveaways (people re-enroll for a round two). So we've actually gone down to only 7 spots left! I'm going to tentatively plan to run this mid-late January, if that helps you to know. Even if it's not full. Thanks for being so patient!


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## Abderian

I signed up to the Scifi Giveaway, but I'm not sure if I need to discount my book or not? And are we sent a list of subscribers to add to our mailing lists ourselves? I didn't understand why I didn't have to give my signup form url.


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## Guest

Abderian said:


> I signed up to the Scifi Giveaway, but I'm not sure if I need to discount my book or not? And are we sent a list of subscribers to add to our mailing lists ourselves? I didn't understand why I didn't have to give my signup form url.


Glad to have you! You are not required to discount your book for our service. Of course, "deals" perform better, but it's nice to have some services that will give you a shot promoting at full price, too.

As for the subscribers, we collect directly through the form, then pass on to you. This helps prevent giveaway wear-out. A lot of people don't like having to redirect to dozens of pages during a giveaway, so this makes it simple for them. It gives them a chance to "test" different mailing lists, too, and decide where they want to stay subscribers. We provide FULL DISCLOSURE about how this works to readers--so it's not just in the small print TOS, but also listed as the first entry in the giveaway itself.


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## Abderian

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Glad to have you! You are not required to discount your book for our service. Of course, "deals" perform better, but it's nice to have some services that will give you a shot promoting at full price, too.
> 
> As for the subscribers, we collect directly through the form, then pass on to you. This helps prevent giveaway wear-out. A lot of people don't like having to redirect to dozens of pages during a giveaway, so this makes it simple for them. It gives them a chance to "test" different mailing lists, too, and decide where they want to stay subscribers. We provide FULL DISCLOSURE about how this works to readers--so it's not just in the small print TOS, but also listed as the first entry in the giveaway itself.


Great, thanks.


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## Guest

Update for those participating in the special promo. It's full! I'm putting everything together now  should be ready to go live this week 🙌🏻


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## Antara Mann

Hi Rebecca,
do you really verify all the emails we receive? Cause I have 13 which are hard bounces on both Mailchimp and Benchmark and most probably they are fake (only judging by the names, they look like it)
I was happy with the results of the last platinum giveaway I participated and forwarded this thread and your service to a few indie authors.


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## AliceS

I might try this for Feb.


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## Guest

Antara Mann said:


> Hi Rebecca,
> do you really verify all the emails we receive? Cause I have 13 which are hard bounces on both Mailchimp and Benchmark and most probably they are fake (only judging by the names, they look like it)
> I was happy with the results of the last platinum giveaway I participated and forwarded this thread and your service to a few indie authors.


Antara--as I said, this is something *new *I am starting to do! I just found the tool to do it, which I did not know about before  So now I will be handling that for the giveaways, at my expense and as a courtesy to the authors. I imagine some emails will still slip through, as no automated system will be 100% perfect, but it should help get rid of some of the obvious offenders.

Another thing I have been doing lately is tracking which emails engage in my newsletters and having MadMimi auto-add them to another list. If an email goes 6 months without interacting, then I'll delete it from our database. This is something other authors may want to incorporate as well. So far, it seems a high percentage of the FKG emails I have are good! But there were a few that had to go.


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## Guest

AliceS said:


> I might try this for Feb.


We would love to have you


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## thenotoriousjed

Do you or have you ever done one of these giveaways with kids, middle grade, YA books only? Say a platinum possibly with only these? I would be interested in it if so and may be able to get more kids authors involved through my site.


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## Guest

thenotoriousjed said:


> Do you or have you ever done one of these giveaways with kids, middle grade, YA books only? Say a platinum possibly with only these? I would be interested in it if so and may be able to get more kids authors involved through my site.


We are always doing new genre-specific giveaways, but haven't done one for age groups yet. That's definitely a possibility. We have a sign up form where people can sign up to be notified when we are offering slots for their genre:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DMhCYxVzii3Il5aayf2oNZRCMvzqrPi49KB77AaGBoc/viewform


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## Andrea Pearson

Rebecca, my Katon University series is fantasy with strong science fiction themes (magic originates from the pineal gland in their brain, for example, along with other science fictiony things). Would it work for a science fiction platinum sponsorship, or would I be better off waiting for the fantasy/paranormal slot? Or should I do both? 

Thanks for this service! It's pretty darn fantastic.


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## Guest

Andrea Pearson said:


> Rebecca, my Katon University series is fantasy with strong science fiction themes (magic originates from the pineal gland in their brain, for example, along with other science fictiony things). Would it work for a science fiction platinum sponsorship, or would I be better off waiting for the fantasy/paranormal slot? Or should I do both?
> 
> Thanks for this service! It's pretty darn fantastic.


I think with that you could fit into either or both! (And that sounds REALLY FREAKING INTERESTING!) What a cool story idea! Would love to see that as a movie, too!


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## M T McGuire

Hi there, I'm teetering on the brink of a Platinum Sci-fi - it looks great - but I wanted to check, have you had any feedback from folks using your services for humour books? (They're classic British humour they get compared to Douglas Adams a lot - which I actually find rather scary).

Cheers

MTM


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## Guest

M T McGuire said:


> Hi there, I'm teetering on the brink of a Platinum Sci-fi - it looks great - but I wanted to check, have you had any feedback from folks using your services for humour books? (They're classic British humour they get compared to Douglas Adams a lot - which I actually find rather scary).
> 
> Cheers
> 
> MTM


You might want to contact Susan Stec. She writes Paranormal Humor. I know that's not SciFi humor, but her books seem to do well with our service. She is the only one I know of off the top of my head who writes humor and uses our service, but hopefully others here with humor titles can speak up.


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## M T McGuire

Cool! Many thanks for that, I will look her up. The heroine of the latest book is telepathic so it sounds hopeful.

Cheers

MTM


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## Antara Mann

I'm wondering: i already used once the platinum giveaway and got 894 subscribers (59 were duplicates from the previous time -- a bronze sponsorship). If I order again a platinum all genres giveaway, how many subscribers will I get, i.e. I'm afraid that I might get a lot of duplicates. 60 are okay.


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## Abderian

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Update for those participating in the special promo. It's full! I'm putting everything together now  should be ready to go live this week &#128588;&#127995;


Is this the general promo? Do we get email notification before a promo we've signed up to goes out? Still not decided about discounting my book.


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## Guest

Abderian said:


> Is this the general promo? Do we get email notification before a promo we've signed up to goes out? Still not decided about discounting my book.


No, this was an expansion promo. Those on our subscriber newsletter has the opportunity to sign up for that ✌&#127995;️


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## Guest

Antara Mann said:


> I'm wondering: i already used once the platinum giveaway and got 894 subscribers (59 were duplicates from the previous time -- a bronze sponsorship). If I order again a platinum all genres giveaway, how many subscribers will I get, i.e. I'm afraid that I might get a lot of duplicates. 60 are okay.


There are usually some duplicates, but I haven't seen any report in high numbers of duplicates. Also, we are amidst an expansion promo. Our newsletter has doubled in size. Lots of new people to connect with.


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## J.A. Cipriano

Antara Mann said:


> I'm wondering: i already used once the platinum giveaway and got 894 subscribers (59 were duplicates from the previous time -- a bronze sponsorship). If I order again a platinum all genres giveaway, how many subscribers will I get, i.e. I'm afraid that I might get a lot of duplicates. 60 are okay.


I did the fantasy specific platinum in November 2015 and it netted me 838 subscribers.
I did the most recent platinum sponsor and it netted me 951 subscribers.

I had 248 duplicates. So the second platinum garnered me an additional 663 names of which 6 were found to be bad names. So 657 emails.

An interesting note. I emailed all the people from the first giveaway the other day who HAD NOT opened a single email (392 people) because I was getting ready to clean the list and asked who wanted to remain on the list. 65 responded that they did.


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## Guest

It's funny how that works! This is why I give people 6 months to engage with a newsletter before deleting them. I email mad mimi every so often and ask them for a list of emails who have not engages in 6 months, and they give me a list of who those people are. But I've since found a way to track it from my end as well. But there's always someone who doesn't open most emails but then, one day they do, and they buy something!


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## Andrea Pearson

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I think with that you could fit into either or both! (And that sounds REALLY FREAKING INTERESTING!) What a cool story idea! Would love to see that as a movie, too!


Okay, signed up.  Walden Covers and Books is the name on my PayPal account. Thanks! I hope this works out well.


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## Andrea Pearson

By the way, what's the answer I should put in the Rafflecopter Link section? Is that a link to my Twitter account or Facebook page?


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## Guest

Andrea Pearson said:


> By the way, what's the answer I should put in the Rafflecopter Link section? Is that a link to my Twitter account or Facebook page?


You pick which one  If you are doing platinum, you will get mailing list subscribers plus whatever you put there. If you are doing a bronze or silver giveaway and you want mailing list subscribers, just pick mailing list subscribers but then leave the link space blank.


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## Antara Mann

I forgot to ask yesterday, in my platinum giveaway, my second option was Amazon following. Is there any chance to find out how many new followers did I acquire on Amazon?
Thanks


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## M T McGuire

OK, things are looking good. I have a couple of questions.

First, in a giveaway, does my book have to be reduced to zero on Amazon or can you link to its page on my bookfunnel account so people can download it for free from there?

Second, is it just the Gold standard I need 10 reviews for. The book I was thinking of featuring - if I'm able to give it away free from an off Amazon address - was released on 17th December and only has 7 reviews so far.

Cheers

MTM


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## Guest

Antara Mann said:


> I forgot to ask yesterday, in my platinum giveaway, my second option was Amazon following. Is there any chance to fin out how many new followers did I acquire on Amazon?
> Thanks


Please email me


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## Guest

M T McGuire said:


> OK, things are looking good. I have a couple of questions.
> 
> First, in a giveaway, does my book have to be reduced to zero on Amazon or can you link to its page on my bookfunnel account so people can download it for free from there?
> 
> Second, is it just the Gold standard I need 10 reviews for. The book I was thinking of featuring - if I'm able to give it away free from an off Amazon address - was released on 17th December and only has 7 reviews so far.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> MTM


For promotion, a book doesn't have to be free at all. We promote books of all prices. We use amazon links, which we convert into our own amazon affiliate links so we can track the sales.

Only the gold spot needs 10 reviews or more


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## M T McGuire

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> For promotion, a book doesn't have to be free at all. We promote books of all prices. We use amazon links, which we convert into our own amazon affiliate links so we can track the sales.
> 
> Only the gold spot needs 10 reviews or more


That's fine, I'll probably leave it at $3.75 then. Awesome.

Cheers

MTM


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## Guest

Results for January have been sent, and I'm SUPER EXCITED! We saw close to twice as much action this month c compared to previous months! I can't wait to see February results (since we haven't even incorporated the expansion effort growth yet).


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## AliceS

Congrats! Looking forward to participating in March.


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## Abderian

Any news on the scifi giveaway?


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## Guest

Abderian said:


> Any news on the scifi giveaway?


Actually, yes! My plan was to set this one up TONIGHT!!

Also, some new options have been added to our promotional services. One is a Paranormal Romance VIRAL style giveaway. The last one I did got over 5,000 new subscribers!  Excited to try to repeat these results for those signed up--only 5 spots remaining <3


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## M T McGuire

Cool! I've signed up for that one, too. I hope I've filled in the form right. I am going to reduce my book from $3.99 to $2.99 while it's running. I am guessing you will e-mail us all with links to share etc. ;-)

Cheers

MTM


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## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Actually, yes! My plan was to set this one up TONIGHT!!
> 
> Also, some new options have been added to our promotional services. One is a Paranormal Romance VIRAL style giveaway. The last one I did got over 5,000 new subscribers!  Excited to try to repeat these results for those signed up--only 5 spots remaining <3


I'm waiting to get a check later today or tomorrow and then i'm joining the Platinum Sci fi giveaway. Hopefully the 2 spots don't get filled by the time I join in.


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## Roman

hi,

would your system work for picture books? I have a very attractive list of books available for free.

thank you


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## Guest

Roman said:


> hi,
> 
> would your system work for picture books? I have a very attractive list of books available for free.
> 
> thank you


I don't see why not, but we haven't tried specifically for that as of yet.


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## Abderian

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Actually, yes! My plan was to set this one up TONIGHT!!
> 
> Also, some new options have been added to our promotional services. One is a Paranormal Romance VIRAL style giveaway. The last one I did got over 5,000 new subscribers!  Excited to try to repeat these results for those signed up--only 5 spots remaining <3


Awesome, thanks!


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## Guest

Abderian said:


> Awesome, thanks!


You should have received a confirmation email for the sci fi giveaway. It goes live today! Please email me if you do not see the email in your inbox or spam/others folder. Thanks!


----------



## ChelseaAuthorPromotions

*waves* Hi sweetie!  I'm wanting to build up my mailing list but currently have only one short story out right now but plan to have more later. What would you recommend if anything? I'll be in a boxed set in March and June but would love to start building my subscriber list up now  <3


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## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> You should have received a confirmation email for the sci fi giveaway. It goes live today! Please email me if you do not see the email in your inbox or spam/others folder. Thanks!


Guess that means i'm too late even though it said on the site there were two spots left. I guess you start them when ever and not based on how many spots are left.


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## Guest

JalexM said:


> Guess that means i'm too late even though it said on the site there were two spots left. I guess you start them when ever and not based on how many spots are left.


I put it off as long as I could, Jalex. I do prefer to run them when they fill, but the scifi option has been up for months. I told one person asking I would do it before the end of the month and another person asking that I would do it yesterday. When I saw your comment yesterday, I waited as late as I could to give you a chance to order. Remember, a lot of people say they will do things and don't follow through, so I opted not to keep waiting and to honor my promise to those I told I would set it up last night.


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## Guest

ChelseaAuthorPromotions said:


> *waves* Hi sweetie!  I'm wanting to build up my mailing list but currently have only one short story out right now but plan to have more later. What would you recommend if anything? I'll be in a boxed set in March and June but would love to start building my subscriber list up now  <3


YES. Smart lady! I always tell people to start building their mailing list right away. Too many wait until after their book is out...then they have a book and no one to promote it to! Any of our options should be good to get you started, and I bet with your audience you could also just ask them to join your list to grow it twice as fast <3


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## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I put it off as long as I could, Jalex. I do prefer to run them when they fill, but the scifi option has been up for months. I told one person asking I would do it before the end of the month and another person asking that I would do it yesterday. When I saw your comment yesterday, I waited as late as I could to give you a chance to order. Remember, a lot of people say they will do things and don't follow through, so I opted not to keep waiting and to honor my promise to those I told I would set it up last night.


Well, I got up early this morning to order it. But I understand, I wouldn't want to wait months either. I'll just have to build my mailing list the old fashion way through facebook/twitter ads.


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## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> YES. Smart lady! I always tell people to start building their mailing list right away. Too many wait until after their book is out...then they have a book and no one to promote it to! Any of our options should be good to get you started, and I bet with your audience you could also just ask them to join your list to grow it twice as fast <3


I see you still have openings for all genres. How are the results of that one compared to the genre specific ones? I'll probably do that one.


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## Abderian

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> You should have received a confirmation email for the sci fi giveaway. It goes live today! Please email me if you do not see the email in your inbox or spam/others folder. Thanks!


I've pm'd you, Rebecca, but I'm confused. When I read you were setting up the giveaway tonight I didn't realise that meant it was going live - I thought it meant you were preparing it.

I expected to receive an email notifying me of the date of the giveaway so that I could set up a discount, offer my book for free or something else. Is it normal that these giveaways start without the participants being given any notice ahead of time? How is it possible for them to arrange their offers to coincide in that case?


----------



## Guest

Abderian said:


> I've pm'd you, Rebecca, but I'm confused. When I read you were setting up the giveaway tonight I didn't realise that meant it was going live - I thought it meant you were preparing it.
> 
> I expected to receive an email notifying me of the date of the giveaway so that I could set up a discount, offer my book for free or something else. Is it normal that these giveaways start without the participants being given any notice ahead of time? How is it possible for them to arrange their offers to coincide in that case?


I set it up that night, as I said I would. It didn't go live that night. It went live the next morning (late morning). I DID send out a notification and can confirm I have an email to you with this notification in my inbox. I can forward it to you again and you can see the time and date stamp on it, if you like.

Also, as I said in messenger, the goal of these promotions is to *grow* your audience so you can sell to them directly. Any "sales" during the promotion are really just seem as a bonus. Most find that they make their sales after the promotion, when they utilize their new list. A lot of this is also explained in the FAQ section on our website.

I hope this helps! And I'm sure you will love your results <3


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## Guest

JalexM said:


> I see you still have openings for all genres. How are the results of that one compared to the genre specific ones? I'll probably do that one.


the All Genre ones do very well. You tend to get more subscribers total with those, but they are a wider variety of subscribers (which includes, but is not exclusive to, your target audience). It does allow for you to reach some cross over audience, though. Sometimes I surprised to find that someone who normally reads literary fiction is also really into my sexy paranormal books. You just never know


----------



## Abderian

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I set it up that night, as I said I would. It didn't go live that night. It went live the next morning (late morning). I DID send out a notification and can confirm I have an email to you with this notification in my inbox. I can forward it to you again and you can see the time and date stamp on it, if you like.
> 
> Also, as I said in messenger, the goal of these promotions is to *grow* your audience so you can sell to them directly. Any "sales" during the promotion are really just seem as a bonus. Most find that they make their sales after the promotion, when they utilize their new list. A lot of this is also explained in the FAQ section on our website.
> 
> I hope this helps! And I'm sure you will love your results <3


Okay, I understand better now. I was just surprised to wake up to find it happening. I did find the email eventually, and I've tweeted the offer to my followers. I'll tweet it a few more times. How long does the giveaway last? ETA: Just checked the giveaway and found it lasts 20 days.


----------



## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> the All Genre ones do very well. You tend to get more subscribers total with those, but they are a wider variety of subscribers (which includes, but is not exclusive to, your target audience). It does allow for you to reach some cross over audience, though. Sometimes I surprised to find that someone who normally reads literary fiction is also really into my sexy paranormal books. You just never know


I do write genre defying fiction(First book is science fantasy and the second on kindle scout is a little bit of everything.) so maybe that would work well for me. Now I just have to write something sexy. 
I'll go ahead and join that one when I get home from work!


----------



## ChelseaAuthorPromotions

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> YES. Smart lady! I always tell people to start building their mailing list right away. Too many wait until after their book is out...then they have a book and no one to promote it to! Any of our options should be good to get you started, and I bet with your audience you could also just ask them to join your list to grow it twice as fast <3


Haha yes, I know some marketing should be done ahead of time or you are going to be off to a slow start and I have no plans for that!  So basically any of your plans would work for erotic or paranormal author mailing list? <3 and haha yes I do need to ask my list too but I'll probably wait till closer to release date  Around Vday maybe  I think last time I checked I had 22 entries for your Paranormal Romance one..I was like woah I got that many to sign up? whoohoo!  But there was a really nice prize so that's probably why LOL


----------



## Guest

ChelseaAuthorPromotions said:


> Haha yes, I know some marketing should be done ahead of time or you are going to be off to a slow start and I have no plans for that!  So basically any of your plans would work for erotic or paranormal author mailing list? <3 and haha yes I do need to ask my list too but I'll probably wait till closer to release date  Around Vday maybe  I think last time I checked I had 22 entries for your Paranormal Romance one..I was like woah I got that many to sign up? whoohoo!  But there was a really nice prize so that's probably why LOL


Any of our options would be good for those genres <3 you have my FB so you can chat me up there if you have any questions also <3


----------



## JalexM

JalexM said:


> I do write genre defying fiction(First book is science fantasy and the second on kindle scout is a little bit of everything.) so maybe that would work well for me. Now I just have to write something sexy.
> I'll go ahead and join that one when I get home from work!


Got it about an hour ago. Just one more person to go.


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## Guest

Platinum is full. It'll run in a few days.


----------



## ChelseaAuthorPromotions

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Any of our options would be good for those genres <3 you have my FB so you can chat me up there if you have any questions also <3


Thanks doll! I'm definitely interested  I'm going to wait till the boxed set I'm in is released if that's okay since I'll be in that set and I don't have much of a backlist to work with right now (as long as me being in that boxed set is okay) I'm just interested in the mailing list aspect of it, though I wouldn't be opposed to the sharing of the book to your subscribers too  Might do both if that's okay...will contact you on Facebook closer to release date (March 19th I believe) <3


----------



## Antara Mann

Rebecca, a bit off topic but can I email you on your inkmuse mail about the services you offer on Hungry Author?


----------



## William Meikle

Over 300 likes to the Facebook page from the scifi platinum so far, which makes it more effective cost wise than any FB Ads I have run, even before I get the new email subscribers... thanks for that...


----------



## Guest

Antara Mann said:


> Rebecca, a bit off topic but can I email you on your inkmuse mail about the services you offer on Hungry Author?


Absolutely!


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## M T McGuire

I too have had about 300 FB likes from the sci-fi platinum, indeed the traffic pushed my website over its bandwidth limit for the month which threw me totally!  Thanks.

MTM


----------



## Antara Mann

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Absolutely!


Great! Will do it in the coming days, probably on the weekend.


----------



## JalexM

M T McGuire said:


> I too have had about 300 FB likes from the sci-fi platinum, indeed the traffic pushed my website over its bandwidth limit for the month which threw me totally! Thanks.
> 
> MTM


Are they finding your FB pages after looking at your book page?


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## M T McGuire

JalexM said:


> Are they finding your FB pages after looking at your book page?


No, I asked for Facebook likes as my platinum extra.


----------



## JalexM

M T McGuire said:


> No, I asked for Facebook likes as my platinum extra.


Ah okay. Can't wait until the open platinum goes out.


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## Guest

I have February's giveaway set up and scheduled to go out on the first!
Tomorrow I will be scheduling the next Platinum giveaway to go live in about a week or so.
A new Platinum has been listed to begin booking, and we still have spot on the Horror/Thriller/Mystery Platinum Giveaway.
March is now booking also 

We've also added some new giveaway options!
Paranormal Romance VIRAL Giveaway
Paranormal Romance Newsletter Only Promotion
and our very own...
*SUPER STAR Giveaway*! (This is a hyper-targeted, single-author/book viral giveaway + SOLO feature. We're REALLY excited to offer this one and have just 5 Beta Test slots listed on the site.)


----------



## Andrea Pearson

Tell us about the paranormal romance viral giveaway. When do you think it'll run? How often do you let authors submit? I'm interested in like, all of the new options.


----------



## Guest

Paranormal viral runs when it fills 
Paranormal newsletter only goes out on the first of each month 

I'm running the first super star giveaway right now and am impressed with the results so far. It just went out two hours ago and I have gotten this client over 300 micro-targeted subscribers! Of course this is still in the beta testing phase, and a lot of it requires some direct-to-reader interaction based on the authors targeting preferences, which means it's time consuming on my end. Likely the price on this one will go up to $200 after the beta testing. But we will wait to see what the final results are. But we are essentially targeting genre specific readers withOUT using a cash/kindle prize via manual legwork. Really really excited about the results so far !!!


----------



## C. Rysalis

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I'm running the first super star giveaway right now and am impressed with the results so far. It just went out two hours ago and I have gotten this client over 300 micro-targeted subscribers! Of course this is still in the beta testing phase, and a lot of it requires some direct-to-reader interaction based on the authors targeting preferences, which means it's time consuming on my end. Likely the price on this one will go up to $200 after the beta testing. But we will wait to see what the final results are. But we are essentially targeting genre specific readers withOUT using a cash/kindle prize via manual legwork. Really really excited about the results so far !!!


Sounds very promising! Thanks for keeping us updated.


----------



## spellscribe

I signed up for March a little while ago for a silver(?) fantasy mailing list promo. What dates does that run?


----------



## Guest

spellscribe said:


> I signed up for March a little while ago for a silver(?) fantasy mailing list promo. What dates does that run?


March 1 

Update on the first Super Star Giveaway: We are at over 700 micro-targeted subscribes so far and 39 people interested in buying the author's book (priced at 2.99)


----------



## jazzywaltz

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Update on the first Super Star Giveaway: We are at over 700 micro-targeted subscribes so far and 39 people interested in buying the author's book (priced at 2.99)


700 subscribers in less than 24 hours. Definitely wouldn't have been able to do this on my own for a single-author giveaway! You rock. <3


----------



## Guest

jazzywaltz said:


> 700 subscribers in less than 24 hours. Definitely wouldn't have been able to do this on my own for a single-author giveaway! You rock. <3


I'm REALLY glad with how this is going, especially as it's not a cash prize giveaway  And here was are currently: 861 micro-targeted Subscribers so far! 37 clicks on your title in my newsletter also.


----------



## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I'm REALLY glad with how this is going, especially as it's not a cash prize giveaway  And here was are currently: 861 micro-targeted Subscribers so far! 37 clicks on your title in my newsletter also.


Wish I would've got in for the beta(Not that I could afford to at the moment.)


----------



## Guest

First feedback on my paranormal newsletter only promo:

"My sales for Changeling have DRASTICALLY gone up since your paranormal newsletter. It was AMAZING. Seriously. Went from ranking of 22K+ to about 9K - overnight. Sales DOUBLED 😊 You have a winner here." - Debbie Herbert


----------



## JalexM

Any updates on when the latest platinum will start?


----------



## Moist_Tissue

When can I sign up for the paranormal romance newsletter? It says sold out, does that mean for March? Can I sign up for April?


----------



## William Meikle

When does the scifi platinum end? Looking forward to getting a juicy new bunch of subscribers


----------



## GwynnEWhite

I am also interested in your next platinum posting. When do you think it will be?


----------



## Guest

JalexM said:


> Any updates on when the latest platinum will start?


We have one open platinum running now that ends in 3 days.
We are still booking for the next platinum.
I'm wondering what name you submitted under? Did you fill out the form that was sent to you after you signed up?


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> When can I sign up for the paranormal romance newsletter? It says sold out, does that mean for March? Can I sign up for April?


As soon I schedule March, I will open for April. If demand becomes high enough I'll start hosting these twice a month. Are you in our free facebook marketing group? I post opportunities there, too.


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> When does the scifi platinum end? Looking forward to getting a juicy new bunch of subscribers


This just ended, and results were sent within the last few hours. Please email me if you didn't get your results!


----------



## Guest

GwynnEWhite said:


> I am also interested in your next platinum posting. When do you think it will be?


It runs when it fills. Our last platinum got over 1400 subscribers, so I'm sure the next one will fill a bit more quickly.


----------



## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We have one open platinum running now that ends in 3 days.
> We are still booking for the next platinum.
> I'm wondering what name you submitted under? Did you fill out the form that was sent to you after you signed up?


I didn't get a second email, but I paid my 50$ for the slot. This was for the one that I'm guessing is running right now and not the one that isn't filled up yet. Which sucks because I was trying to get a certain amount of subscribers before my next book release.









I check my email religiously so nothing went to spam.


----------



## Guest

It's not a paypal email. It's auto generated. Run a search in your email on "[email protected]" and it should come up. If you still can't find it, EMAIL me and I will help you. 🙌🏻


----------



## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> It's not a paypal email. It's auto generated. Run a search in your email on "[email protected]" and it should come up. If you still can't find it, EMAIL me and I will help you. &#128588;&#127995;


omg, just found it 
I got the email around the same time I was having issues at work(Don't ever work in the film industry at any job) So I think I just saw it said receipt and overlooked it. 
How embarrassing on my part. Would I still be able to run in the next giveaway?

Edit - I filled out the form


----------



## Guest

You are good to go on the next giveaway 🙌🏻


----------



## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> You are good to go on the next giveaway &#128588;&#127995;


Alright, thanks!


----------



## Moist_Tissue

Can I have the link to the Facebook? Sorry if it was posted before, but my phone can make it difficult to find links.


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> Can I have the link to the Facebook? Sorry if it was posted before, but my phone can make it difficult to find links.


https://www.facebook.com/groups/976086735798716/


----------



## Mylius Fox

Just posting to stay posted for the future.


----------



## William Meikle

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> This just ended, and results were sent within the last few hours. Please email me if you didn't get your results!


Got it! Thanks. 1100 new subscribers - very pleased with that


----------



## Moist_Tissue

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> https://www.facebook.com/groups/976086735798716/


Thanks! I just sent me request to join.


----------



## pwtucker

Can I lock in on a Platinum Fantasy spot for March?


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Got it! Thanks. 1100 new subscribers - very pleased with that


Very Glad!


----------



## Guest

pwtucker said:


> Can I lock in on a Platinum Fantasy spot for March?


We have a general platinum coming up and one for Horror/Thriller/Mystery. I'm not sure when we will do Fantasy again! We're working through the genres. But we do have a Super Star Giveaway that will have more spots listed in March. Those are our best performing giveaways.


----------



## Abderian

The Platinum Scifi results just knocked my socks off. 1400+ new subscribers!


----------



## Moist_Tissue

I am releasing a book in late April. I am going to do a preorder on Amazon. Which package has the best results for a soon to be released book?


----------



## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We have a general platinum coming up and one for Horror/Thriller/Mystery. I'm not sure when we will do Fantasy again! We're working through the genres. But we do have a Super Star Giveaway that will have more spots listed in March. Those are our best performing giveaways.


Would it be taboo to do a super star giveaway and a platinum giveaway, or just a super star giveaway.


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> I am releasing a book in late April. I am going to do a preorder on Amazon. Which package has the best results for a soon to be released book?


I would say the Super Star giveaway if I restock them in time. I need to work through the current clients on that one first. It's extremely personalized.


----------



## Guest

Abderian said:


> The Platinum Scifi results just knocked my socks off. 1400+ new subscribers!


----------



## Guest

JalexM said:


> Would it be taboo to do a super star giveaway and a platinum giveaway, or just a super star giveaway.


These are two totally different audiences. The idea with the super star giveaway is to hit your "hot market" -- micro-targeted. The platinum giveaway will get you a wider audience, which is great to reach people you normally wouldn't reach but who might still be interested.


----------



## KGorman

Just plugged the February Giveaway's list into Aweber. 240 emails and only 3 that didn't import! Wahoo!


----------



## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> These are two totally different audiences. The idea with the super star giveaway is to hit your "hot market" -- micro-targeted. The platinum giveaway will get you a wider audience, which is great to reach people you normally wouldn't reach but who might still be interested.


Then, I'll probably sign up for the super star one when it's available.


----------



## pwtucker

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We have a general platinum coming up and one for Horror/Thriller/Mystery. I'm not sure when we will do Fantasy again! We're working through the genres. But we do have a Super Star Giveaway that will have more spots listed in March. Those are our best performing giveaways.


Great! I'll go for a superstar fantasy listing in March then


----------



## William Meikle

Given the results I've had with your promotions already, I'm keen to sign up for one of the superstar giveaways as soon as you're ready to go with more....


----------



## Guest

Glad everyone is happy with their recent results! I'm working as quickly as I can to catch up on weeks of backlog caused by a broken computer. (Going forward I will now have 2 computers). I hope to be able to make new specialty listings once I'm caught up. 🙌🏻


----------



## Moist_Tissue

Do you have much information to share about your New Release promo? The reviews, promotional blasts, and marketing tips? This is quite different from a blog tour, right?


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> Do you have much information to share about your New Release promo? The reviews, promotional blasts, and marketing tips? This is quite different from a blog tour, right?


It depends what you want to know! A couple kboarders who have used this service recently are Jasmine Walt and J.A. Cirpriano.

But generally it's a very straightforward program. I find you reviewers to read your book and post honest reviews if they like it enough to review it. I give an Amazon "write up" with tips on how to optimize your Amazon page to help with long term visibility, and I do a book blast to get you sales and visibility on a date of your choice.


----------



## Moist_Tissue

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> It depends what you want to know! A couple kboarders who have used this service recently are Jasmine Walt and J.A. Cirpriano.
> 
> But generally it's a very straightforward program. I find you reviewers to read your book and post honest reviews if they like it enough to review it. I give an Amazon "write up" with tips on how to optimize your Amazon page to help with long term visibility, and I do a book blast to get you sales and visibility on a date of your choice.


Ah, I see. I'm going to think about it. Also, for the Kindle Giveaway, I purchased a bronze slot. I was going to do it for my mailing list, but I think I will buy a second slot and add a link to my Bookbub Author Page. Have you ever linked to an author's Bookbub page?


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> Ah, I see. I'm going to think about it. Also, for the Kindle Giveaway, I purchased a bronze slot. I was going to do it for my mailing list, but I think I will buy a second slot and add a link to my Bookbub Author Page. Have you ever linked to an author's Bookbub page?


We have done that once before, I believe. It's a good idea! We've done Amazon author pages a bunch too, but I like that with book bub we can see how many followers we have


----------



## Guest

Platinum results were sent out last night! If you didn't get them, please email me [email protected]
Thanks!


----------



## M T McGuire

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> It runs when it fills. Our last platinum got over 1400 subscribers, so I'm sure the next one will fill a bit more quickly.





TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> This just ended, and results were sent within the last few hours. Please email me if you didn't get your results!


Hi I missed this post. I didn't get the results to the scifi platinum, is it too late to mail them to me? I got a fair few sign ups from Facebook and when no list arrived by email I assumed I'd made a mistake thinking they were coming. I will contact you my email.

Cheers

MTM


----------



## Guest

M T McGuire said:


> Hi I missed this post. I didn't get the results to the scifi platinum, is it too late to mail them to me? I got a fair few sign ups from Facebook and when no list arrived by email I assumed I'd made a mistake thinking they were coming. I will contact you my email.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> MTM


I think we spoke? I've sent to three emails now. Hopefully that last email went through. If not, we'll figure something out!


----------



## JalexM

As I feverishly refresh the page waiting for the superstar spot to open up and ordered an new release spot through hungry authors, I was wondering how does the superstar spot generally works. Would an author need to provide a list of authors and books their work is similar too, or do you look at also-boughts or something similar?
I only ask because I don't think my books are similar to anything super popular or author I have read and it has caused issues with marketing my first book. When I asked my fans what books or authors the novel was similar too, they said it was familiar but different and couldn't compare it to anything.
My go to person is Brandon Sanderson even though he writes high fantasy. And for now(High fantasy coming in the next few years), I write science fiction and urban fantasy.


----------



## Guest

JalexM said:


> As I feverishly refresh the page waiting for the superstar spot to open up and ordered an new release spot through hungry authors, I was wondering how does the superstar spot generally works. Would an author need to provide a list of authors and books their work is similar too, or do you look at also-boughts or something similar?
> I only ask because I don't think my books are similar to anything super popular or author I have read and it has caused issues with marketing my first book. When I asked my fans what books or authors the novel was similar too, they said it was familiar but different and couldn't compare it to anything.
> My go to person is Brandon Sanderson even though he writes high fantasy. And for now(High fantasy coming in the next few years), I write science fiction and urban fantasy.


We have authors submit who they are similar to. I would suggest going with a popular sci fi author who has a quirky writing style, even if it's different from yours.


----------



## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We have authors submit who they are similar to. I would suggest going with a popular sci fi author who has a quirky writing style, even if it's different from yours.


Alright! Brb looking up authors.


----------



## Moist_Tissue

When do you post the promotion for March? I purchased two slots. One bronze and the other bronze + boost. I am waiting until Saturday or Sunday to create my pre-order on Amazon (as this will allow me to choose May 28th as the release date). On Monday, I hope to have it show up on Bookbub's website then use that link for this promotion. I am just worried about your deadline for having that info.


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> When do you post the promotion for March? I purchased two slots. One bronze and the other bronze + boost. I am waiting until Saturday or Sunday to create my pre-order on Amazon (as this will allow me to choose May 28th as the release date). On Monday, I hope to have it show up on Bookbub's website then use that link for this promotion. I am just worried about your deadline for having that info.


March 1 is usually when it goes live, usually it's best to have the info a few days beforehand. IF for any reason your info isn't on the form in time, just email me once you have everything you need, and I'll send you the form for the following month at no additional charge--you can use the promo you booked then <3


----------



## Moist_Tissue

Thanks for being so patient with my many questions!


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> Thanks for being so patient with my many questions!


It's seriously no problem at all.


----------



## thesios

Can I assume , the number of non-genres platinum left in the system are the remaining number of spots until launch ?


----------



## Guest

thesios said:


> Can I assume , the number of non-genres platinum left in the system are the remaining number of spots until launch ?


That is correct


----------



## William Meikle

Can't afford $200 for the Superstar this month so that'll have to wait, but I signed up for the PLATINUM GIVEAWAY for HORROR – THRILLER – MYSTERY... 11 slots left there now.


----------



## Moist_Tissue

Yep. The Superstar is also out of my budget this month. It's embarrassing how much I spent on Fiverr in the last few days, plus I am paying for a developmental edit so that's most of my budget.

How long does the Superstar giveaway run? My book is releasing in May. I'm going to do a pre-order, so maybe I should start promos in April?


----------



## thesios

DO you think a superstar for a new Pen name is worthwhile ?

When will it launch


----------



## Guest

thesios said:


> DO you think a superstar for a new Pen name is worthwhile ?
> 
> When will it launch


Absolutely. I invasive it would be a huge benefit. We just listed 2 more super star promotions today. Not sure when there will be more. We are listing a couple spots at a time as we work through the ones already booked.


----------



## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> Yep. The Superstar is also out of my budget this month. It's embarrassing how much I spent on Fiverr in the last few days, plus I am paying for a developmental edit so that's most of my budget.
> 
> How long does the Superstar giveaway run? My book is releasing in May. I'm going to do a pre-order, so maybe I should start promos in April?


I totally understand. i recommend starting a month before you want to use the list but featuring a different title for the promo than the one you will promote first to your new list &#128588;&#127995;


----------



## Guest

williammeikle said:


> Can't afford $200 for the Superstar this month so that'll have to wait, but I signed up for the PLATINUM GIVEAWAY for HORROR - THRILLER - MYSTERY... 11 slots left there now.


The platinum are still put best multi-author promotions  you will do great with it


----------



## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Absolutely. I invasive it would be a huge benefit. We just listed 2 more super star promotions today. Not sure when there will be more. We are listing a couple spots at a time as we work through the ones already booked.


If the spots aren't taken by tomorrow morning I'm in.
Trying to have an explosive launch of my next book as you can tell.


----------



## thesios

Did u just raised the price to $200 ?

If I purchase it today , when would I expect the giveaway to go live

My pen name is launching tomorow


----------



## JalexM

thesios said:


> Did u just raised the price to $200 ?
> 
> If I purchase it today , when would I expect the giveaway to go live
> 
> My pen name is launching tomorow


She mentioned raising the price to 200$ a while back.


----------



## Guest

JalexM said:


> If the spots aren't taken by tomorrow morning I'm in.
> Trying to have an explosive launch of my next book as you can tell.


Since I am already managing yor release, you can contact me even if the spots sell out and I will add you in. My launch clients get some perks such as access to sold out promotions, so long as it won't affect the promotion of any other client ✌&#127995;️


----------



## Guest

thesios said:


> Did u just raised the price to $200 ?
> 
> If I purchase it today , when would I expect the giveaway to go live
> 
> My pen name is launching tomorow


Yes. The beta testing price was just for beta testers. It mostly covered expenses to run their giveaways and see what works and what I think the service would be worth. My pricing reflect a combination of the value of the list to the author and my time and expenses put in. The increase in price covers not only my profit, but additional funds to be used for FB ads, which I have been able to get down to .05 a click, although that is only one small aspect to the technique used for this promotion &#128588;&#127995;

The author can choose when their promotion runs, but I als they request a few days so I can see what would not overlap anyone else.


----------



## thesios

what the earliest I can scheduled a promo for New Adult Romance book


----------



## Guest

thesios said:


> what the earliest I can scheduled a promo for New Adult Romance book


I would recommend for March 7th or later.


----------



## thesios

Any coupons for a hungry artist 

and what information would u need


----------



## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Since I am already managing yor release, you can contact me even if the spots sell out and I will add you in. My launch clients get some perks such as access to sold out promotions, so long as it won't affect the promotion of any other client ✌&#127995;️


Awesome! 
Then I'm definitely signing up. I just finished 8 weeks worth of automation in preparations for the upcoming platinum spot so it would be perfect.


----------



## Guest

thesios said:


> Any coupons for a hungry artist
> 
> and what information would u need


When you sign up, ma form will automatically be emailed to you to collect the information needed. &#128588;&#127995;


----------



## Guest

JalexM said:


> Awesome!
> Then I'm definitely signing up. I just finished 8 weeks worth of automation in preparations for the upcoming platinum spot so it would be perfect.


I have a lot of confidence in your work, so I'm excited to be part of your launch plans &#128588;&#127995;


----------



## thesios

could we have a chat before I commit ?

fb , skype?


----------



## Guest

thesios said:


> could we have a chat before I commit ?
> 
> fb , skype?


Of course. I'm on Facebook now. Rebecca Hamilton. The one with the logo not the book cover (the account though, not the page)


----------



## thesios

I hope i got the right one


----------



## Guest

You did. 

Super Star giveaway is sold out. I'll update when it's available again. ✌🏻️


----------



## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I have a lot of confidence in your work, so I'm excited to be part of your launch plans &#128588;&#127995;


Thanks! That makes me feel a lot better about this launch. I'm kind of nervous as it's my second major launch but you've been a pleasure to work with!


----------



## Guest

JalexM said:


> Thanks! That makes me feel a lot better about this launch. I'm kind of nervous as it's my second major launch but you've been a pleasure to work with!


Thank you! You are well! I can't help but become personally invested in my clients and their work. I want them to do well!


----------



## thesios

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> You did.
> 
> Super Star giveaway is sold out. I'll update when it's available again. ✌&#127995;️


WHO STOLE MY SPOT


----------



## memememe

Hi Rebecca - do you recommend Superstar giveaways for freebies?

Also, you mention FB ads. Would you consider doing a FB ad service at some point? My books should be easy to target, and I'd be thrilled to pay for someone to manage the ads.


----------



## Guest

memememe said:


> Hi Rebecca - do you recommend Superstar giveaways for freebies?
> 
> Also, you mention FB ads. Would you consider doing a FB ad service at some point? My books should be easy to target, and I'd be thrilled to pay for someone to manage the ads.


I will have to think about that! My results with FB ads are mixed--but with the super star promotion, the set up has allowed me to get .05 a click. But with my "regular ads" I still seem to be stuck at .20-.30 a click (on rare occasion .15). One thing that remains important to me is that I am providing value and that my clients get the attention they deserve ✌&#127995;️


----------



## JalexM

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Thank you! You are well! I can't help but become personally invested in my clients and their work. I want them to do well!


That's actually great to hear, I think it's better to work with people who want you to succeed!


----------



## memememe

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> I will have to think about that! My results with FB ads are mixed--but with the super star promotion, the set up has allowed me to get .05 a click. But with my "regular ads" I still seem to be stuck at .20-.30 a click (on rare occasion .15). One thing that remains important to me is that I am providing value and that my clients get the attention they deserve ✌&#127995;️


Duu-ude. 
Sweeeet.

In all seriousness, if an author happens to have purchased a superstar promo for you... would you be interested in managing Facebook ads for them? I'm assuming this promo stuff enables you to get cheaper ads, which is cool for the author as well... and maybe you can combine the two?


----------



## Becca Fanning

I bought one of the $50 Paranormal Viral slots. Is it on hold until the rest of the slots sell?


----------



## Guest

memememe said:


> Duu-ude.
> Sweeeet.
> 
> In all seriousness, if an author happens to have purchased a superstar promo for you... would you be interested in managing Facebook ads for them? I'm assuming this promo stuff enables you to get cheaper ads, which is cool for the author as well... and maybe you can combine the two?


The superstar promo includes FB ads, so if the author wanted to add more funds to that, I could do that at no additional charge. &#128588;&#127995;


----------



## Guest

Becca Fanning said:


> I bought one of the $50 Paranormal Viral slots. Is it on hold until the rest of the slots sell?


Yes  only 5 spots left to fill, though. I suspect they will go quickly


----------



## jackconnerbooks

What if the book you want to give away is only available for pre-order?


----------



## Guest

jackconnerbooks said:


> What if the book you want to give away is only available for pre-order?


We do promotions on PreOrder titles.


----------



## TromboneAl

I'm in this month's giveaway, with my goal being newsletter subscriber signups. It worked great last time I did it.

I know I'll get the list of those who have subscribed at the end of the period, but for some reason, I've been getting tons of news subscribers today. I normally get about .5 per day, and I've gotten 16 so far.

Is that just coincidence?


----------



## Guest

TromboneAl said:


> I'm in this month's giveaway, with my goal being newsletter subscriber signups. It worked great last time I did it.
> 
> I know I'll get the list of those who have subscribed at the end of the period, but for some reason, I've been getting tons of news subscribers today. I normally get about .5 per day, and I've gotten 16 so far.
> 
> Is that just coincidence?


I guess so! Unless they are finding you another way to sign up as well? Congrats, though, because that's awesome!


----------



## N. D. Iverson

I'm kind of confused on how this promotion works. I went to your website and clicked on the monthly/discover giveaways and when you click on a book, you just get brought to the Amazon page. How does this grow your email subscriber list? At the end of the giveaway, does every author involved receive the entrants' emails? Thanks!


----------



## LovelynBettison

I signed up an all-genre Platinum sponsorship that ran last month. I was hoping to get email subscribers from it, but I didn't seem to get any. I was a bit confused by what I was supposed to do though. I'm not sure if I just did something wrong or what because it seems like other people have had good experiences getting subscribers from these sponsorships.


----------



## Guest

LovelynBettison said:


> I signed up an all-genre Platinum sponsorship that ran last month. I was hoping to get email subscribers from it, but I didn't seem to get any. I was a bit confused by what I was supposed to do though. I'm not sure if I just did something wrong or what because it seems like other people have had good experiences getting subscribers from these sponsorships.


Please email me. A few things could have happened.

1) you signed up for a promotion that hasn't run yet
2) you ordered a spot but didn't fill out the form (in which case, we can connect and get you on the next one)
3) you signed up, filled out the form, it ran, and you missed our results email that contains your list of sign ups (which we can resend)

Either way, if you email us, we will get to the bottom of it for you


----------



## Guest

N. D. Iverson said:


> I'm kind of confused on how this promotion works. I went to your website and clicked on the monthly/discover giveaways and when you click on a book, you just get brought to the Amazon page. How does this grow your email subscriber list? At the end of the giveaway, does every author involved receive the entrants' emails? Thanks!


The book promo is separate from the newsletter aspect of the promo. The newsletters are built through the rafflecopter, not through the book covers.


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## N. D. Iverson

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> The book promo is separate from the newsletter aspect of the promo. The newsletters are built through the rafflecopter, not through the book covers.


How does the author receive the emails gathered in the rafflecopter giveaway?


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## Guest

N. D. Iverson said:


> How does the author receive the emails gathered in the rafflecopter giveaway?


We send them based on the sign ups. Each author gets only the emails of those who requested that author (or those who agrees to be sent to all--the reader always knows exactly what they are signing up for based on the rafflecopter). We've been doing this for quite a while now and have been able to perfect the method to what makes readers happiest and make the giveaways the easiest for them to enter ✌&#127995;️


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## N. D. Iverson

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We send them based on the sign ups. Each author gets only the emails of those who requested that author (or those who agrees to be sent to all--the reader always knows exactly what they are signing up for based on the rafflecopter). We've been doing this for quite a while now and have been able to perfect the method to what makes readers happiest and make the giveaways the easiest for them to enter ✌&#127995;️


Thank you for clearing that up!


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## M T McGuire

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We send them based on the sign ups. Each author gets only the emails of those who requested that author (or those who agrees to be sent to all--the reader always knows exactly what they are signing up for based on the rafflecopter). We've been doing this for quite a while now and have been able to perfect the method to what makes readers happiest and make the giveaways the easiest for them to enter ✌&#127995;️


That's good to know. I did the platinum giveaway and thought this was the case but I am quite cautious so I still gave mine list a double opt in. They had the option to download a free book, by joining my mailing list, and they'll have three emails about that after which I'll delete anyone who doesn't sign up. So far about 150 of the first 1,500 have signed up and about 30 have unsubscribed. That after the first email of three so things are looking good.

It's not necessary to be as cautious as mr but I write sci fi humour which is a bit out there and not everyone's cup of tea so I like to give them options and make sure the folks who are on my list realise what they're in for and really want to be there.


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## William Meikle

Of the 1100 subscribers I got from the last platinum, only 21 unsubscribed after my 1st newsletter to them. I call that a good result 

Looking forward to the horror/thriller platinum now...


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## Marseille France or Bust

Nevermind. Went to page 1. Is all the information still accurate? How many authors do you have for the Platinum Thrillers/Mystery slot left?
----------
This is a looooong thread. Can you recap how to use your service? Can you re-post the link?

Thanks.


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## Guest

Yes, still accurate. We have 11 of those spots left 

http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/product/platinum-horror-thriller-mystery/


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## Kassandra Lynn

Hi,

I want to share my experience with Sendy, a super cheap substitute for Mailchimp and Madmimi, which I believe all of you might be interested in reading about due to the high number of new subscribers you can get from kindle giveaway promotions.

View my post on:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,232165.0.html
Modify message


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## UnicornEmily

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Please email me. A few things could have happened.
> 
> 1) you signed up for a promotion that hasn't run yet
> 2) you ordered a spot but didn't fill out the form (in which case, we can connect and get you on the next one)
> 3) you signed up, filled out the form, it ran, and you missed our results email that contains your list of sign ups (which we can resend)
> 
> Either way, if you email us, we will get to the bottom of it for you


That happened to me once (the e-mail with the subscribers landed in the spam folder). Rebecca Hamilton was super nice about it while we figured out what happened. So there's no need to worry.


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## Amby

.


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## N. D. Iverson

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> Yes, still accurate. We have 11 of those spots left
> 
> http://www.freekindlegiveaway.com/product/platinum-horror-thriller-mystery/


I am really interested in signing up for this promotion. It says that it is not run monthly, and that a refund will be issued if there is not enough slots filled within 3 months. Does this promotion typically fill up? Will you still run it if there is say, 15 slots filled instead of 20? Thanks!


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## Guest

N. D. Iverson said:


> I am really interested in signing up for this promotion. It says that it is not run monthly, and that a refund will be issued if there is not enough slots filled within 3 months. Does this promotion typically fill up? Will you still run it if there is say, 15 slots filled instead of 20? Thanks!


I usually run it as long as it's half full, but I do give time to fill as many spots as possible.


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## Guest

Amby said:


> Hey, Rebecca. Sorry to bug you. I sent a message through your site but never got a response. I was wondering about your new release package-- is there any sort of wait list for that? I plan to release a new urban fantasy novel around month's end, and was wondering if I needed to book the promo way in advance.
> 
> Thanks!


I usually recommend 3 month for max results, but I CAN do it on short notice if the author is okay with doing the blast before the reviews come in.


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## William Meikle

N. D. Iverson said:


> I am really interested in signing up for this promotion. It says that it is not run monthly, and that a refund will be issued if there is not enough slots filled within 3 months. Does this promotion typically fill up? Will you still run it if there is say, 15 slots filled instead of 20? Thanks!


Go on, you know you want to 

{Disclaimer: I'm one of the nine signed up already  }


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## Moist_Tissue

I bought a paranormal romance promotion for $20 and a viral paranormal romance giveaway. I didn't realize that buying the viral paranormal romance giveaway also included a spot in the paranormal romance newsletter. Am I right?


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## Guest

Moist_Tissue said:


> I bought a paranormal romance promotion for $20 and a viral paranormal romance giveaway. I didn't realize that buying the viral paranormal romance giveaway also included a spot in the paranormal romance newsletter. Am I right?


You also get a spot in the newsletter.


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## Guest

Due to market saturation, Free Kindle Giveaway will be discontinuing SOME of their giveaway services.

You can learn more here.

https://madmimi.com/s/f11667

Thank you for your understanding. If things change between now and June, I will reconsider.


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## vkloss

When do you anticipate running a genre specific (fantasy) giveaway?


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## thesios

Rebeca

there are only 3 spots left on the platinum when are u planning to run it , then I will know which book to use 

I have a count deal starting on the march 17


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## OnajeJohnston

Hi Rebecca, 

I sent a message to you (but perhaps it did not go through) a few days ago also asking questions about the platinum promotion.


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## Guest

vkloss said:


> When do you anticipate running a genre specific (fantasy) giveaway?


We did that in the beginning so it's a while before we get back to it. However i have a similar promotion going on right now on my Facebook.


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## Guest

OnajeJohnston said:


> Hi Rebecca,
> 
> I sent a message to you (but perhaps it did not go through) a few days ago also asking questions about the platinum promotion.


I'm sorry I missed your email. Please email me [email protected] and I should be in touch by Wednesday night at the latest.


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## Guest

thesios said:


> Rebeca
> 
> there are only 3 spots left on the platinum when are u planning to run it , then I will know which book to use
> 
> I have a count deal starting on the march 17


I plan to give it until the end of the month to fill.


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## thesios

what does the last metric/stats on the top bar of the rafflecopter means 0 / 115 ?


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## Guest

thesios said:


> what does the last metric/stats on the top bar of the rafflecopter means 0 / 115 ?


It means how many entries you PERSONALLY can earn (115) and how many you have earned so far (0).


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## theaatkinson

hmm. I know I bookd two spots, but it was weeks ago...and my memory sucks. is there a way to see what book we added as a link?


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## Guest

theaatkinson said:


> hmm. I know I bookd two spots, but it was weeks ago...and my memory sucks. is there a way to see what book we added as a link?


If you email me, I can look that data up for you on Tuesday when I am back in town and get back to let you know <3


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## JalexM

I'm excited to get a lot bigger list in the next few days. I just did some list cleaning to prepare.


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## thesios

Did u super star promo run ?


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## JalexM

thesios said:


> Did u super star promo run ?


Not yet, the last platinum just finished. The superstar run should be better.


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## Bbates024

I'm back I just picked up May for Arena I'm going to have the new cover up by then and I might as well show it to a few people! 

This is still one of the best deals in town!


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## thesios

I am waiting for my list as well !


JalexM said:


> Not yet, the last platinum just finished. The superstar run should be better.


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## thesios

we have a book at the scout , last 2 days , so i am hoping to send this group an email before its over


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## Guest

The results of the recent Platinum were sent earlier today


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## thesios

thanks Rebecca

Great work / results as always


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## Guest

You're welcome!

***

We have a $15 off coupon in our Facebook group right now:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/976086735798716/


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## thesios

I have a very very dark erom , that has ranked under romance horror and romance suspense

Would it fit your horror / suspense platinum ?


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## Guest

UPDATE: April results ARE coming. As promised in the "launch" email, results will be delivered by May 1st and we are definitely on schedule to deliver before the date we anticipated. Most likely, they will be delivered by this weekend, which is well ahead of the May 1st date we promised to have them to you by. Thank you for your patience!


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## tommy gun

Hi FGS!  Now that I finally have some books ready I see the one is being discontinued ..... maybe.
Are all the offerings on the same order page for FKG sponsor sign up?
When are the next offerings coming up?

What are your tentative Plans?  (yes I am asking you to use your bowling ball as a crystal.....)


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## Guest

Hi tom! The other options will remain  

Coming up we have an general platinum (1000ish subscribers) and some viral ones (2000-3000 subscribers). We also have super star giveaways (500-2000 micro targeted subscribers) and an epic PNR/UF giveaway that should get 5,000-20,000 subscribers per author


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## tommy gun

just starting to build this new SF side and I want to start small but build fast.  
I am releasing 3 books in a row separated by 25 days  each.
So May is my start.  Going to do 2 promos through you.  gotta build that list fast.... ish


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## Guest

tomgermann said:


> just starting to build this new SF side and I want to start small but build fast.
> I am releasing 3 books in a row separated by 25 days each.
> So May is my start. Going to do 2 promos through you. gotta build that list fast.... ish


Well, now is a great time to start. We've been refining our method, and if my genrecrave results and recent release (21 Shades of Night) are telling me anything, it's that we've cracked the code to finding subscribers who BUY <3


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## tommy gun

booked for may.
I need to start small with this but will go for one of the bigger options you have likely toward the end of the year.


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## Guest

Just wanted to say a quick thanks (again) to Rebecca for this service.  I signed up for a Silver level for the April giveaway and got 144 new subscribers.  This time around I went ahead and sent my welcome message the same day I got the results.  82 people opened the message (57.7% - an all time high for my list LOL), 31 clicked something, and only 2 bounces and 3 unsubscribed (0 abuse reports)!  

I think that's extra awesome as the second paragraph pretty much gave a "social permission" to just unsubscribe if they weren't really interested in my stuff and gave them the unsubscribe link.  I also had a second one at the end of the email in case someone did read the whole thing and decide to unsubscribe after.  That I only had 3 out of all those opens is, to me, a great sign of how well targeted the sign ups are and that the readers are, for the most part, actually interested in the authors and their stories versus just grabbing every possible entry.


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## Marseille France or Bust

I just signed up for the May Silver, but have to admit I'm a bit confused as to what I signed up for. I have sent an email to [email protected] It asks for raffle slot type and raffle link. Please explain the form. Have a historical fiction book in KU I want to promote.

Thanks.


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## UnicornEmily

Hey, I see you have the Superstar Giveaway back in stock!  I've been eyeing that.

A question: Are these the same readers who are in the Hungry Author new release blast, or are these a completely different list with very little overlap?

Also, another question: Would it be appropriate to do one now, or would it be better to wait until I have a few more books out in both series?  (I will have six more books out in three months, for instance.)


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## Guest

Anma Natsu said:


> Just wanted to say a quick thanks (again) to Rebecca for this service. I signed up for a Silver level for the April giveaway and got 144 new subscribers. This time around I went ahead and sent my welcome message the same day I got the results. 82 people opened the message (57.7% - an all time high for my list LOL), 31 clicked something, and only 2 bounces and 3 unsubscribed (0 abuse reports)!
> 
> I think that's extra awesome as the second paragraph pretty much gave a "social permission" to just unsubscribe if they weren't really interested in my stuff and gave them the unsubscribe link. I also had a second one at the end of the email in case someone did read the whole thing and decide to unsubscribe after. That I only had 3 out of all those opens is, to me, a great sign of how well targeted the sign ups are and that the readers are, for the most part, actually interested in the authors and their stories versus just grabbing every possible entry.


Thank you, Anma! It's really hard with giveaways to get quality subscribers sometimes, but we have done our best as a service to circumvent that as much as is possible <3


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## Guest

PatriceWilliamsMarks said:


> I just signed up for the May Silver, but have to admit I'm a bit confused as to what I signed up for. I have sent an email to [email protected] It asks for raffle slot type and raffle link. Please explain the form. Have a historical fiction book in KU I want to promote.
> 
> Thanks.


Responded <3


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## Guest

UnicornEmily said:


> Hey, I see you have the Superstar Giveaway back in stock! I've been eyeing that.
> 
> A question: Are these the same readers who are in the Hungry Author new release blast, or are these a completely different list with very little overlap?
> 
> Also, another question: Would it be appropriate to do one now, or would it be better to wait until I have a few more books out in both series? (I will have six more books out in three months, for instance.)


I have SO much going on, I know it's hard to keep up with. What we have done is began building different lists/segments/etc for different purposes and using different methods. There IS some cross over, however, judging by how each list "behaves" and our total number of subscribers compared to the subscribers per list, there's a good amount of fresh subs on each lit.

With Hungry Author, we actually have one "main segment" that we use that is different from Free Kindle Giveaway. (However, Hungry Author is now allowing "add on segments" so that authors can reach 1-2 additional segments if they wish with their blasts, for up to 3x the results)

For the SuperStar, the benefit is unique as we are not using cash prizes to get you subscribers and the subscribers we do get you are EXTREMELY targeted to be YOUR best audience. It includes a blast for your book only, but then you get the subscribers to keep that you can send all future releases to. Right now, we actually have one girl participating in one of our "Epic Promotions" (These get 5000-20,000 genre subscribers) who doesn't even have a book out yet. She's going to release her book to these subscribers when she gets them. Personally, I think that's genius


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## tommy gun

K, just starting off with this SF series and I will have three books out over 2 months.  THEN in december I am releasing another series Zombies of course.
What list building would you recommend?


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## Guest

tomgermann said:


> K, just starting off with this SF series and I will have three books out over 2 months. THEN in december I am releasing another series Zombies of course.
> What list building would you recommend?


Depends on how fast you want to build. If you want to take your time, the Viral option is cheaper and still gets GREAT results.
If you want better value (more subscribers for your $$) then want the Epic option.
We also have a Super Star option for those who want something more finely tuned to their specific audience.


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## Guest

May Participants - This is scheduled! If you did not receive an email confirming your book will be in the May promo, please let me know! It goes live tomorrow!


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## tommy gun

Hi!  Just checking when would the epic sf and fantasy run?  do all spots have to sell first?


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## LyraParish

Where do I go to sign up?


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## M T McGuire

I did a sci fi giveaway with you guys a while ago, did a double opt in on the smashing 1480 readers who entered and got a very respectable 260 subscribers. Even though a lot of them unsubscribed - about 60 and my usual rate is lower - about 5 per hundred - the guys who stayed are really active and generally lovely. That was a fantastic bargain for $50 and I thought I'd do it again. However I see there's been quite a hike in your prices. I'm interested in the epic scifi fantasy one as my book is a crossover. Please can you just briefly outline what new smashing features I get for $200 that I didn't get with the discover sci fi $50 in Jan. Off the top of my head I believe $200 is more than the price of a world wide bookbub for sci fi, when I last looked, so I'm intrigued. And interested in the last spot if it sounds right for me. 

Cheers

MTM


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## Guest

tomgermann said:


> Hi! Just checking when would the epic sf and fantasy run? do all spots have to sell first?


Yes, we have to fill the spots first


----------



## Guest

LyraParish said:


> Where do I go to sign up?


freekindlegiveaway.com


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## Guest

M T McGuire said:


> I did a sci fi giveaway with you guys a while ago, did a double opt in on the smashing 1480 readers who entered and got a very respectable 260 subscribers. Even though a lot of them unsubscribed - about 60 and my usual rate is lower - about 5 per hundred - the guys who stayed are really active and generally lovely. That was a fantastic bargain for $50 and I thought I'd do it again. However I see there's been quite a hike in your prices. I'm interested in the epic scifi fantasy one as my book is a crossover. Please can you just briefly outline what new smashing features I get for $200 that I didn't get with the discover sci fi $50 in Jan. Off the top of my head I believe $200 is more than the price of a world wide bookbub for sci fi, when I last looked, so I'm intrigued. And interested in the last spot if it sounds right for me.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> MTM


We still have the $50 option. That's our Viral option.
The Epic option gets 5,000-20,000 subscribers and includes a TON of extra features, including being part of a book blog tour, a Facebook party, and a large cross promotion that I organize. I make all the HTML posts for your book tour, too. This is in addition to going out to our newsletter that has tripled in size since you last promoted with us.


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## reneepawlish

Where's the epic for mystery 
Or did I miss an answer somewhere?


----------



## Guest

reneepawlish said:


> Where's the epic for mystery
> Or did I miss an answer somewhere?


I haven't started one yet. We have some people bed for a genre and then they don't participate (I know that wouldn't be you, but finding 20 mystery authors to *follow through* I know is going to be an issue). I do offer the Super Star, which gets super curated results for you personally. <3


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## Eileen

Hi, Rebecca,

Do you have a build a street team option? I feel like I saw that somewhere on your site, but now I'm wondering if I dream it!


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## Guest

Eileen said:


> Hi, Rebecca,
> 
> Do you have a build a street team option? I feel like I saw that somewhere on your site, but now I'm wondering if I dream it!


We did this as a one time opportunity. It went pretty fast  But we'll have more opportunities like that in the future, just maybe not the same one. <3


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## Guest

BVLawson said:


> I'm grateful to Rebecca and company for this service, and I have gained many new subscribers.
> 
> But I'm curious as to other folks' experience with that first newsletter they send out to the new signups - I have a pretty good handle on what to include in the _body_ of the newsletter, but I'm wondering what others have found works best in the _subject line _of the email?
> 
> I've tried various things, but I'm still not sure what would work best with these new subscribers to pique their interest and at the same time remind them of who you are and why you're contacting them. After all, if you can't get them to even open the email, what you write in the body won't matter.


Are you in the author marketing group on facebook? the ladies and gents there have GREAT insights on this kind of thing (and it won't be buried in the back of this post) - you can friend me on FB and message me if you like and I can help you find the group, if you need it.


----------



## Guest

For mine, I kept it simple so they knew why I was emailing them.  

"Welcome Kindle Giveaway Participants to Anma Natsu’s News & Notes!"  

I didn't even include anything about "get your free story" or the like.  The first round, I had a 55.2% open rate and the second one a 59.2% rate.  Both much higher than my list average


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## UnicornEmily

Great tip, Anma Natsu!  Thanks!


----------



## Marseille France or Bust

Hi, can someone give me an update on my Silver promo? I got an email saying it was over and that the title of the email read "RESULTS," but there were no results within the email or email address file attached.

Please PM me for an update. I have also replied to your emails and posted on Facebook group.


----------



## Guest

Marseille said:


> Hi, can someone give me an update on my Silver promo? I got an email saying it was over and that the title of the email read "RESULTS," but there were no results within the email or email address file attached.
> 
> Please PM me for an update. I have also replied to your emails and posted on Facebook group.


Emailed back and confirmed results were sent on the 18th! There's always 2 emails, so you need to find that second email. I replied to it so it hopefully "bumped" in your inbox!


----------



## Eileen

TheForeverGirlSeries said:


> We did this as a one time opportunity. It went pretty fast  But we'll have more opportunities like that in the future, just maybe not the same one. <3


Okay, looking forward to it!


----------



## Ethan Jones

I'm very interested to be a part of the new promo. Can you please let me know when/if you're starting a new one?
Thanks,
Ethan


----------



## Guest

BVLawson said:


> Thanks, Anma! Good suggestion. Do you send a second email to folks who didn't open the first one, say two weeks later? (Some Kboarders have recommended this.) I'm wondering if the same email subject line as the first time would suffice or if it's better to use a different one the second time around - I hope someone who has tried this will chime in. My open rates aren't bad, somewhere in the 35-40% range, but would love to get those others to join in the fun.


Nope, after that they are just on the regular email list and get the usual send outs (I don't have anything like an auto responder sequence set up some of the others do, particularly with non-fiction). The open rates cannot be seen as 100% accurate because text only email clients or settings keep Mailchimp from tracking unless they click a link.

Generally the ones who are the least interested who don't open the welcome start unsubscribing with the regular email sendouts


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## Guest

Available options have been updated. We also recommend joining our free marketing group on Facebook. This is the fastest way to see current results as well as get answers to your questions.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/976086735798716/


----------

