Book Blogger Confessions is a meme every 1st and 2nd Monday hosted by Karen from For What It’s Worth and the Midnyte Reader.
It’s where book bloggers “confess” and vent about topics that are unique to us.
Feel free to share, vent and offer solutions, and remember to visit For What It’s Worth or the Midnyte Reader for other confessions!
This week’s confession:
Giveaways. As a blogger, how do you feel about extra entries, required entries etc? Do you have a system to choose/announce winners and keep prizes organized? What method works best for you when hosting a giveaway? (Rafflecopter/Google Doc’s or other)
Have you ever had problems hosting a giveaway sponsored by an author or publisher who is supposed to send the prize to the winner and doesn’t? How have you handled these issues?
As a prize winner – what do you do if your prize never arrives? Do you contact the blogger or just let it go?
I held my first giveaway at the beginning of the year. Because I’m on WordPress.com, I can’t use Rafflecopter, which is my preferred method of entry. It’s easy and quick and painless to use, and it’s fair and free. Instead, I made my entrants add a comment for each entry. I allowed multiple entries because I was using this giveaway as a promotional tool as well – I’d recently created a Twitter and Facebook account and wanted to get fans and followers to get my numbers up and get exposure.
I used Random.org to select the winner. They are a truly random number generator and I believe it was fair. Then I announced the winner and emailed them with the address they provided me, as well as contacting them on Twitter because I saw they were a regular user. Because I work full-time the winner had to wait until I had posted the prize but I notified them when the prize was posted.
I doubt I would use the commenting method again. I haven;t looked into whether Google Docs works on WordPress.com but I would like to explore that option. I was really obsessed with privacy (because I’m anonymous) and gave all my entrants the option to have their comments removed after the winner was chosen. None of them took up the offer, though.
I have never hosted a giveaway in conjunction with an author or publisher (but I am open to doing this!) and neither have I ever won a giveaway! I get most of my ARCs from Netgalley.
NetGalley, woohoo! I’ve always wondered how it is for people on WordPress. Great post and answers
My Book Blogger Confessions
Yeah, it’s not as easy on WordPress and I feel like I’ve sacrificed some things to ensure my blog looks pretty and is easy to use.
Good luck with trying out something that works for the giveaways. I adore rafflecopter and agree about privacy for entrants.
Yeah, although I understand why WordPress doesn’t allow it, I wish Rafflecopter would figure out a work-around. It’s by far the best thing to use for competition entires.
I didn’t realize you can’t use Rafflecopter on WordPress. I started using it because of the privacy issue. I hated having to make people leave their email in the comments. I felt that Google docs worked well but was kind of clunky in comparison to Rafflecopter but I do still use it on occasion.
I read on one person’s BBC post that she used WordPress forms. (http://bookishardour.com/2013/03/04/book-blogger-confessions-giveaways-and-entries/) I’m not sure if that would be of any help to you.
Yeah, it’s a Javascript thing. WordPress doesn’t allow access to anything that can change a page’s script. That’s why my whole blog is static. but at least when you comment on WordPress the only one who can see the email address is the blog host.
I’ll have ot check out Google Docs, it seems like a good idea for the next giveaway. Thanks for the link about forms!
I used to use Random.org too and I never had a problem. I didn’t realize you couldn’t use Rafflecopter with WP. That seems odd to me. I’m sure something will come out soon for WP users.
I’m keeping my eyes open for something from Rafflecopter. It’s a Javascript issue – WordPress is tight on security, which is why I like them.
I haven’t done many Giveaways as of yet too; although I do love giveaways and entering them. I use the Rafflecopter option for my giveaways just because it’s easier and faster for me to post and randomly select a winner. I haven’t done a giveaway on WP yet but thinking about it so now I’m not sure if I want to try Random.org. Having extra entries are great, more chances at winning that prize you want, although for me I don’t require them. Some of the extra Entries stuff like Twitter I don’t use so it’s not optional and FB isn’t neither. I also don’t require Fellow Bloggers to follow me, I think it’s their choice if they want to or not. So far I think how the giveaways are going is great.
Rafflecopter is a great idea, but not available on WordPress.com blogs. There’s nothing wrong with Random.org, it’s just a random number generator. I like to give extra entries as incentives but only one entry will ever be mandatory.
I do think it is unfair to force people to follow you to enter a giveaway, but a gentle suggestion is OK.
Random.org always intrigued me. I really wanted to find some way to think it wasn’t really that random. As if it somehow always chose a number in the middle. But then I guess there are always more numbers in the middle than the two at beginning and end. Eventually I am sure you will find yourself gaining all sorts of more giveaway experience.
LOL did you ever figure out if Random.org isn’t random? I think it’s fair.