As the timer ticks down on my most recent Goodreads giveaway, I thought I’d share some of what I’ve observed and learned.  Hopefully those of you considering a Goodreads giveaway in the future will take something away from this.

Here are the details on the two giveaways I’m referring to:

The Cloudstone Key (ran November 20 to December 4) = 14 days open



The Peregrine Prophecy (ran December 5� to 14) = 9 days open [effective duration = 7.5 days*]

Here are the variables I played with to see how they impacted the results:

Time: I varied the duration of both giveaways (14 days for Cloudstone and 7.5 days* for Peregrine).
Status: The Peregrine Prophecy giveaway coincided with its public release (December 14; was ‘pre-released’ on December 10). The Cloudstone Key giveaway was for a book that had already been listed on Amazon for over three months.

My observations:

The ‘new release’ vs ‘existing title’ didn’t have a noticeable impact on my uptake. I averaged around 90 to 110 entries per day over both giveaways.
While the duration is an important consideration, I don’t think it’s what really drives success (read: getting the most people to sign up that you can). Instead, having a great cover and compelling copy are the two more prominent variables.  And when I say “copy”, it isn’t necessary that you copy and paste what your Amazon description verbatim. In fact, I advise against it. What I went with instead (thanks to some excellent advice from Emlyn) is a very brief summary of your synopsis – make it punchy – along with a smattering of reviews/what people are saying.
Given that the duration for Cloudstone was approximately twice as long as the duration for Peregrine, I am expecting to see the final count for Peregrine somewhere around half of what Cloudstone was (or ~750). As of 10:41PM PST (just over an hour left) there are 671 people requesting. So… I’m almost there.
Mention up front (i.e., at the beginning of your description of the giveaway) that they are ‘signed copies’ (read: you must sign them).  This is a good idea. A really good idea.
Schedule your giveaway to start on Wednesday or Thursday and end on an “unpopular/unimportant” date in the future.  Also, try to avoid spanning any major holidays.  I overlapped US Thanksgiving on my first and bumped up close to Christmas on my second.  Not a big make or break factor, just something to be mindful of.

I hope that helps… and good luck with your Goodreads giveaways!

Darren

* I “inadvertently” derailed the giveaway window for Peregrine for almost two days by making an edit to the description on a Saturday morning. KEY TAKE AWAY: do not make changes to your listing while it’s active – �ESPECIALLY ON THE WEEKEND – Goodreads will automatically take it down for approval (I should have read the fine print on this one… consider yourself warned)