Goodreads Giveaways: Are They Still Worth the Effort and Cost?

Initially, I could list a Giveaway for free if I was paying for the print books and distributing them. I thought Goodreads encouraged independent authors and catered to those who wanted print books, however, this week I discovered that Goodreads now charges $119 to publish ANY Giveaway. This makes doing a Giveaway financially prohibitive for indie authors wanting to give out free copies of print books. The publishing company that indie authors use is already making a profit off us when we order the print books; most indie authors do not have a marketing budget and have to do self-marketing to reduce costs to $0 or as close to that as possible; we are giving away free copies of print books that cost us time and money to purchase and ship. On the flip side, traditional publishers (and some vanity presses) have marketing budgets and print the books at cost and do not make any profit off the copies they give away, and they usually have bulk rate mailing permits that get up to 60% off mailing costs.

I have given away hundreds of free copies of my books through past Giveaways with little to no return (maybe 1-2 new reviews for every 100 books given away--some of the print book Giveaways got me better return rates, but many of the reviews were solely posted to Goodreads and not Amazon where they would boost my marketing placement). If we choose the e-book giveaways, we get the added bonus of free books and distribution but paying $119 for a print giveaway does not get us ANY of this. 

In simpler terms: To run a Giveaway for 100 e-books of one of my books, The Corruption, would cost $119. I would not have to worry about distribution or anything else. 

To run a Giveaway for 100 print books of The Corruption would cost your fee $119 plus $538 for mailing costs, another $75 for shipping supplies, and $575 for the actual books plus the cost of shipping the books to me. I would also have to go to the time and effort to address and mail each one--probably a 2 day project.

Both of these options would give me about 2 reviews and 0 new purchases of books. On the other hand, I can promote my books in other ways that are equally or more effective on other platforms, including Amazon and this blog for free. 

So I asked Goodreads these questions:

(1) Why does it now cost for both print books and e-books? 

(2) Did you decide to cost authors more so that you could make print book Giveaways exclusive to big budget publishing companies like Harlequin? 

(3) What benefit are you providing to indie authors by charging us the exact same amount for two entirely different Giveaways--one where you take care of purchasing and distributing the books and another for the same price but where we have to do all the work and pay additional costs to give our print books away? 

This was the response I received: 

Thank you for reaching out to us with your concerns about the Goodreads Giveaway program. We greatly appreciate your detailed feedback and the time you've taken to share your experience as an independent author. Let me address each of your points:

Regarding the costs for both print and e-book giveaways:

The introduction of fees for all giveaways was implemented to cover operational costs and to improve the quality and reach of the program. We aimed to ensure the sustainability of the service and potentially increase the visibility of giveaways to readers.

On the impact on independent authors vs. large publishing houses:

I want to assure you that our intention was not to exclude independent authors or favor large publishing companies. The standardized pricing was an attempt to streamline the giveaway process for all participants. However, we recognize that this change has had a significant impact on independent authors with limited budgets, and we appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

Concerning the benefits provided for the cost:

The Giveaway program aims to offer increased visibility on Goodreads, potential for more entrants and reader engagement, automated winner selection and notification, and simplified distribution for ebook giveaways. However, we understand that these benefits may not fully justify the costs, especially for print giveaways where authors bear additional expenses and logistical responsibilities.

Your detailed breakdown of the costs involved in running print giveaways versus e-book giveaways is particularly insightful. We recognize the significant difference in effort and additional costs required for print giveaways, and your point about the disparity in pricing despite these differences is well-taken.

Please know that your feedback is invaluable to us. Goodreads continuously evaluates its services, and insights from authors like yourself are crucial for understanding the real-world impact of our policies. I will personally ensure that your concerns are passed along to our product team for consideration in future updates to the Giveaway program.

We appreciate your past promotion of Goodreads Giveaways on your blog and understand if you feel the need to update your review based on these changes. Your perspective as an active member of the indie author community is especially valuable to us.

If you have any additional questions or would like to discuss this further, please don't hesitate to reply to this email. We're committed to supporting authors and improving our services based on user feedback.

Thank you again for your candid feedback and for bringing these important issues to our attention.

Needless to say, with this new development, I plan to start doing print book giveaways on this blog sometime in the next 6 months instead of using Goodreads. I hope Goodreads lowers its price for print giveaways in the future, but until then I cannot recommend independent authors using them.