Thursdays with Amanda: 10 Prize Ideas for Giveaways or Contests
Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.
Next week, I’ll revisit those social media critiques we were working through, but in them meantime, I thought it would be fun to list a smattering of prize ideas for giveaways…prizes that won’t cost you a fortune.
- Gift cards
- Coupons for ebooks (could be novellas, shorts, etc. that you have self-published)
- The chance to name a character (may only work for established authors, but the idea is the winner gets to name a character in an upcoming book)
- Twenty minute Skype call with the author
- Free book
- A book dedication
- A shout-out in the Acknowledgements section
- A “fan of the year” or “fan of the month” badge for their blog/website
- Book tchotchkes in the form of PDFs that you email to winners, such as paper dolls (for childrens or romance genres), detailed world maps (for speculative fiction genres), recipes (for historical genres, etc), paper crafts/Cubeecrafts (for childrens or speculative genres), basically anything that either appeals to readers’ children/grandchildren or to the inner nerd or hobbyist. This idea may cost a bit of money up front, but the long-term use makes it worth it.
- Themed gift baskets that tie in with your novel, such as gardening theme baskets for gardening cozy mysteries, etc.
What else? What other great giveaway prizes can you think of (aside from huge doorbusters, like iPads).
21 Comments
I just self-published a paranormal romance, and I’m trying to think of what I can put into a gift basket. Since I (and the protagonist) live near Gettysburg, I’m thinking about giving away a gift card to one of the ghost tour places there. I’m also hoping that at least one of those places will agree to carry my book, so maybe that would be a push in the right direction…
Anything having to do with bacon. For all genres.
haha!
The only type things I’d thought of (other than giving away my artwork) were similar to your # 9 suggestions. Some very creative suggestions, of course! A few biggies, too—like putting someone’s name in the Acknowledgments or as a dedication?! Printing this one out (as I do many posts from this blog!) Thanks, Amanda 🙂
Haha! I love it when folks use the word “tchotchkes” Amanda! 2000 extra points! 🙂 Great Stuff…SR
Haha! It’s one of those words you can only use once in awhile…but when you use it, it’s so satisfying.
Great ideas, thank you!
I give away pickle ornaments for the Christmas tree. Fits right in with my book, In A Pickle. When I have a giveaway for my mystery, Murder Among the Orchids, I give a small orchid plant. That only happens at speaking engagements though. The small orchids aren’t too expensive but not for a big giveaway. Don’t know that I could stretch the idea to paper dolls 🙂
I like the jewelry idea. I think it’s even more fun if you can make your own. I fuse glass and am just starting to create things with silver clay so am keeping this idea in mind as giveaways for both my blog and whenever my books actually get published. 🙂 Love having these suggestions Amanda. Thanks bunches.
One thing I’ve seen that’s really cool, and mostly for historicals, is a piece of jewelry that mimics the theme of the book. Doesn’t work for every book, but it can be a really cool tie-in if a necklace or ring figures into the plot.
Oooh, nice idea.
One
I love gift baskets full of chocolate and other goodies and I’m still trying to win one someday! But one caveat–make sure you make good on your giveaways–as soon as possible. It is uber-disappointing when authors don’t follow-up with what they’ve promised their readers.
AND speaking of which, I just got the sweetest package from fellow author Cynthia Herron today. I’d won a gift card over there. Very thoughtful and very speedy. I want to be like that when I can figure out what to give-away!
Gotta love it when people are on the ball.
My mind is whirling now… 🙂
Well I hope it whirls right to the paper doll idea…I’ve been dying for someone to do that one.
Thanks, Amanda. Love these ideas! Saving them for when I’ll need them later.
I gave away a 2 night stay at a hotel in one of my novel locations. The hotel threw in the 2nd nite free.
Wow, that’s awesome.
These are GREAT ideas!