Towards the end last year Goodreads sent out an email to all the authors on their site. In it they claimed many of us were clambering for changes to their giveaway program. For those not in the know, giveaways were free for us to set up etc. and all we were responsible for was the books at the end. This new, better program, the email said, would benefit us and get our work in front of more eyes. There's a catch though, each giveaway would now cost the author between $200-$600, and would only be available to U.S. residents. Let that information sink in.
As someone who has achieved bestseller rank twice, people assume I'm making money hand over fist. I'm not, nor are the majority of indie authors, even those with serious name recognition. Ad's cost money. Amazon charges a minimum of $100, boosted posts on Facebook start at $1 and go up if you want to be seen by more than a handful of people. Keep that in mind as you figure in that there's no guarantee that people will buy your book, let alone give you a review after they've read it. Nor do we make most of that sale price you pay, usually only a few dollars of it goes to us. We pay for our own editors, layout people, cover designs as well. You can see that best-selling or not, being an indie author can be an expensive career. The free giveaways were a cheap way to get our work into the hands of people who otherwise might not be inclined to check us out, and hopefully generate interest in our other works. But, because of "overwhelming demand " that avenue is gone. I have a vast number of other indie authors in my network, I know of few, if any who wanted these changes.
So, that leaves the question: why did Goodreads really change the giveaway format?
It's long been known that publishing houses dislike indie authors. We cut into their profits among other reasons. That I suspect is the real reason behind the change. The big firms put pressure, in the form of not using the sites giveaway platform for their own releases, to force a change. Goodreass is a business, they need that money to survive. So they decided to screw over their core users: indie authors and readers in order to keep it. How does this hurt the reader you ask? By charging they've severely limited the number of books that will be up for free, because most of us won't, or can't afford their prices. As a consequence you will be left with only the big names and have less chance of winning.
I for one will continue offering giveaways, through my blog, website, Amazon, and Facebook page. I will not be offering them through this site however, for the foreseeable future. I strongly urge other author's to follow suit and for readers not to swallow this sites lies and feed their corporate greed. Let them know your thoughts on this newest action. Who knows, maybe they'll listen or another website will open up that puts the needs of its users a head of the wants of a few.