Running promotional giveaways is an awesome way to grow your social media following, drive sales, generate leads, and increase traffic and engagement.

When you're promoting your new book, these are all really important factors for building excitement and ultimately making sales.

So, we're here to guide you through the best tried and tested ways to plan, execute, promote, and follow up your giveaway so you increase book sales- all without the hefty price tag of the traditional marketing strategies.

There are lots of different types of giveaways depending on what you want to achieve, here are some of the most effective options:

Social media giveaways that ask you to like, comment, and share are a brilliant way to spark excitement and boost book sales.

By hosting a fun and interactive competition on social media where people have to tag friends or share to enter, you can cleverly transform participants into promoters of your work, increasing the organic exposure of your book massively.

Social media giveaways are a sure way to pull in masses of attention and excitement around the book and will increase your following because of their viral potential. It really is a win-win: the book garners widespread attention, and readers get a shot at awesome prizes.

The downside of hosting your giveaway directly on social media is that you won't be able to drive meaningful actions that allow you to have more control of your post-giveaway marketing, like subscribing to email lists or following your Amazon author page. Plus, you'll be stuck having manually record and verify entries all by yourself.

This is why lots of people choose to host their giveaway with Gleam and then promote it on social media instead.

All you have to do is customise our pre-made giveaway template, add any extra entry requirements you want to have, and start spreading the word!

When you run a giveaway using Gleam, you can tailor your giveaway to achieve specific promotional goals, such as increasing social media engagement or newsletter subscriptions.

We can then store all of your entries in one spot, authenticate them, check people don't unfollow or unsubscribe before the winner is announced, track the success post-giveaway, and plenty other features.

An awesome way to gather momentum and increase book sales is to run a pre-sale book giveaway.

Pre-sale book giveaways are a strategic way to boost a book's early sales by offering a chance to win exclusive prizes to those who pre-order.

This approach increases excitement and anticipation for the new book its release, which is really important.

Readers benefit from potentially winning something special in addition to getting the book they're interested in, while you will secure early sales that will be great for helping the book's initial market performance.

Essentially, it's appealing for everyone involved: readers get more value from their purchase, and authors gain a stronger launch platform for new books.

Try out this template:

Customer only giveaways act as an effective strategy to sustain and increase sales by directly engaging with the people who have previously purchased your books.

By targeting this specific group, you're not only rewarding their initial purchase but also maintaining their interest in your work.

This focused approach encourages a sense of exclusivity and value among your existing customer base, making them more likely to engage with future releases.

The key here is retention; by keeping past buyers engaged, you increase the probability of these individuals making subsequent purchases.

It's also a nice way to give back to people who have supported your writing in the past.

Try this template:

When you're promoting a book, there's nothing more powerful than real recommendations from real readers. They're trustworthy, engaging and will resonate with the public far more than standard marketing material coming from an author or publishing house.

With this simple giveaway template from Gleam, you can easily offer up an exciting prize and let readers earn chances to win by recommending your book on social media and submitting the post to your campaign.

These can be videos, captioned photos or even simple text posts. However entrants decide to recommend your book it's an outstanding way to build positive word-of-mouth and promote your book to a massive audience of potential readers you'd struggle to reach on your own.

Try this template:

Hosting this type of book giveaway is also a brilliant way to gather content for your website. When you host this giveaway with Gleam, you can easily store all entries and create a beautiful embeddable gallery showing off everyones pictures with your book.

Goodreads has a specific section on their website dedicated to giveaways. Here, users can browse through a list of current giveaways, segmented into categories like fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, and more, allowing them to find books that interest them.

It's a central hub for readers looking for their next great read and for authors aiming to promote their work to a targeted audience of book enthusiasts.

Once you've chosen how you're going to run your giveaway, think about your target audience and which platforms and sites they're likely to be active on.

This will make an impact on the right platform you should choose to promote your giveaway on.

For example, if your book caters to a younger and more trendy demographic, promote your giveaway on TikTok or Instagram. If you're aiming a bit older, try Facebook or even Reddit- there are so many great reading subreddits.

Select an exciting giveaway prize to incentivise entry. You can give away your own book, plus some other higher value things like a signed copy, a kindle, or a book voucher.

If you have quite a good following, you could even offer the winner a chance to chat with you about your book.

This would be a good option if you're promoting non-fiction, especially in areas like fitness or productivity where you're an expert.

You could offer the winner a personalised consultation or zoom call as a giveaway prize- a one on one chat to dive deep into fitness strategies or productivity hacks tailored just for them. This would be a unique and very exclusive opportunity that adds a lot of value by connecting readers directly with your expertise.

Essentially, the key is to offer a prize that will really get people talking.

Once your giveaway is up and running you need to spread the word- these are the best ways!

Social media is an hugely effective stage for promoting book giveaways thanks to its broad reach and the potential for posts to go viral.

Engaging content is key-think posts that prompt likes, shares, and comments, boosting your giveaway's visibility and reach.

It's also really important to use hashtags that can connect you with readers interested in your genre. By using social media wisely, you can attract a wide audience and generate genuine excitement for your book, which is key to making your giveaway a success.

It's important to make sure you adjust your content for each platform so it performs well. People engage with these platforms in different ways so you need to tailor your giveaway posts to suit user habits:

Focus on creating short, engaging videos that incorporate trending sounds or challenges. These should be dynamic and visually appealing to capture attention quickly.

It's always a good idea to use on-screen text to add context or highlight key points so the message is clear even without sound.

High-quality, aesthetically pleasing images or videos are really important. Use a consistent theme or colour scheme to keep your feed an attractive and professional.

Another thing to keep in mind is that your captions should add context and personality, but aim to use them as a way to complement the visual content - rather than convey the essential information.

You should try to craft concise and compelling tweets that either provide value or provoke thought. Keep is short and sweet with all the important information (and maybe some humour), but avoid anything too wordy with too many hashtags.

For the visual content, it should be clear and informative like on Instagram. High quality images will always make your brand look more professional.

Again, high-quality images, videos, or informative graphics, but your posts can be longer and more detailed, and hashtags don't matter as much.

You can utilise Facebook groups or events to reach specific communities as well.

Email marketing is a powerful channel for promoting book giveaway because you have access to an audience that has already shown interest in your work. A well-crafted email can feel personal and direct, creating a sense of exclusivity and urgency among your subscribers.

Highlight the value of the giveaway, whether it's exclusive content, a signed copy of your book, or a unique experience related to your genre. Make sure you use eye-catching subject lines so your email has a chance of standing out in crowded inboxes, and include clear calls-to-action that guides recipients on how to enter the giveaway.

Segmenting your list can also improve engagement because it allows you to tailor messages to specific groups of readers based on information manage their preferences or past interactions.

Partnering with other authors, bloggers, or industry influencers for a collaborative giveaway can exponentially increase its reach.

Choose influencers and bloggers whose audience aligns with your target readership to ensure the promotion resonates with the right people and you get the most out of it. Collaborative giveaways can take many forms, from joint book bundles to cross-promotions on each other's websites and newsletters.

Partnerships not only expand your audience but also offer shared credibility, as each collaborator brings their trust and authority to the promotion.

Tools like cross-promotional emails, guest blog posts, and shared social media announcements can be another awesome way to amplify the giveaway's visibility. This way you are engaging an even broader and more diverse audience.

After your giveaway wraps up, it's the perfect time to keep the energy alive. Make sure to reach out to everyone who took part, not just the ones who won. It could be a nice idea to offer everyone who entered a small discount code.

It shows you're paying attention and appreciate their time, and it also might encourage people to go ahead with a purchase even though they didn't win.

Taking a look at how the giveaway went is super important too. Figure out what people loved and what didn't quite hit the mark to make your next one even better.

And don't forget about all the new people who are now following you. Keep them interested with regular posts and cool content so they stick around.

So, now you have everything you need to get started promoting your book, generating leads, and increasing sales with giveaways!