How Is This Even Possible? (More Storygraph Giveaway Feedback)

Back in July, I tried a Storygraph giveaway. My results were great! I was awarding 100 copies of my novel and the final entry count was 960. So many people wanted me my book!

The Storygraph has over five million users, so where better to get some much needed book attention—Goodreads? That's laughable. The Storygraph is the answer to an author's dream.

That said, I've been afraid to check back in and read my reviews. I'm always afraid to read reviews, but that hasn't necessarily stopped me in the past. This time, though, those reviews would be broadcast to (hypothetically) millions of readers. What if every winner hated it? Do I really want that on my record?

Tonight, in lieu of having an interesting topic to write about, I summoned my courage and decided to take a look.  

 

One review! Worse, that was the one review my novel had before I did my giveaway!

Obviously, my book is cursed. I've tried to ferret out all the reasons why my novel failed, and this is the only one left. (Wish I'd known that before I published. It would have saved me tons of money.)

 

Okay, I can live with that. Thirteen people entered just for kicks. That's not unusual. I encountered a bit of a glitch when the winners were chosen—somehow the Storygraph site only housed the first chapter of my book, so I had to email digital copies to the winners myself. No biggie. One of those recipients emailed back and said, "I will review as well after my read. Since I have your email I will send it to you with my tags." She didn't. Maybe it's still on her TBR list. That's possible. It has been two months, though.

I found an article by a Substacker that said:

"I have not noticed any increase in sales after the giveaway. As of two months later, only two of the winners have finished the book." 

I can only conclude that her book is cursed, too. 

According to Google:

"A giveaway is a visibility tool, not a review generator. The real victory of a 100-copy digital giveaway is that 100 readers now have your work in their pocket, and hundreds more likely added it to their public "To-Read" shelves* during the promotion period. Those reads will trickle in organically over the next year." 

*I got 36.

Sure, I'm willing to buy into the premise that these people have scores of books on their Kindles, so they haven't gotten to mine yet. But for the goal of sales, a straggler review posted a year from now does nothing for me. With no marketing budget to speak of, $69.00 is a strain on my finances, and I'm not alone.

I felt it was important to post this follow-up for anyone considering a Storygraph giveaway. Armed with facts, my fellow authors can then make up their own minds whether shelling out money for one is worth it.

Reviews are notoriously hard to attain. It's said that between 1% and 5% of readers leave reviews. I think that's an overstatement. 1%, sure. And I agree that nobody owes us a review. I do think that sites (that authors are paying) could be more rigorous in enforcing them; for example, excluding people who don't write reviews from entering future giveaways. But that, too, is a double-edged sword. A perfunctory one-sentence review written only to satisfy a requirement is worthless and insincere.  

I don't know the answer. I don't know that there is an answer. What I do know is that I need to stop reneging on my promise to myself to stop spending money on marketing.