GoodReads' First Readers discussion

Most of the books that I have won in the giveaways on this site have arrived within a week of winning. A few other giveaway books have taken several weeks to arrive and, so far, there have been two that just haven't arrived yet (Slammed #1 and Margot). I won the two books more than a month ago and I'm wondering when you guys think would be a good time for me to contact Goodreads about it. Should I wait longer to report it (or whatever it is that you're supposed to do when a book doesn't show up)? Anyone have experience with giveaway books not arriving?

I'd contact the giveaway lister once, say, three weeks had passed.

If you go to the giveaway details, there should be a button that's says "I haven't received my copy" and that will let Goodreads and the lister know.

Cassie, I did that more than a week ago for both books, so hopefully it will get resolved soon! I'll wait a few more weeks and then, I guess, my next step is to contact the listers directly.

there is one books that I won from goodreads and still haven't rec.ed it. Skydevil I wrote goodreads and they didn't get a response from the person that listed it so they took that person off of goodreads

I won a copy of Slither on FirstReads, from HarperTeen, but never received the book. I contacted them directly and they apologised for the delay and asked me to confirm my details, but never sent the book. That was back in April. I was pretty disappointed, but I didn't feel right about pursuing it further. It was free, after all.

Did you end up receiving your copies?

Nikki wrote: "I won a copy of Slither on FirstReads, from HarperTeen, but never received the book. I contacted them directly and they apologised for the delay and asked me to confirm my details, but never sent t..."

you know the best thing to do is contact goodreads and let them deal with it.

Nikki, that stinks! Congrats on winning the book. I hope it shows up for you soon. I got the copy of Margot last week, so that was nice. I didn't have to pursue that one, but it took a LONG time to come in. Slammed #1 still hasn't come in yet and that was one of the first books I won on here back in late July. I marked it as never being received on the giveaway page a while ago. I guess I'll wait a little bit longer to contact anyone about it. Maybe it'll show up like the Margot one did. It's good to know I'm not the only one dealing with lost copies of giveaway books!

Nikki

One of the first books I won took almost 6 months to arrive. I gave up on it, so when it arrived it was a nice surprise.

Recently, I won the 2nd in a series. It ended up with production issues. The author contacted me to Let me know. He also sent me a copy of the 1st book while I waited. That was nice.

I try to read the books I win in order of arrival, so I'll get to them soon.

So hang in there, it could get there soon.

P.S. check the publishing date, you may not get it until then unless it was an advanced copy.

Tom

You should always let the person doing the giveaway know you didn't get the book. It's always a possibility that they sent it and it got lost in the mail or it was returned to sender. I have had both of those things happen before.

I have done that and one person didn't bother sending it out she said that she wouldn't send it out again after sending it to another address in a different state.

Sheila wrote: "I have done that and one person didn't bother sending it out she said that she wouldn't send it out again after sending it to another address in a different state."

Letting them know doesn't always fix the problem. But at least you know what happened.

Hi, guys! Thanks for the advice!

Sheila wrote: you know the best thing to do is contact goodreads and let them deal with it.

Unfortunately, I contacted Goodreads and they said that after three months from the end date of the giveaway they can no longer intervene. So, if you need help, contact them within three months!

But, I did decide to re-contact the publisher to check if it was ever sent and apparently the person that had been handling the giveaways left, so mine got lost in the shuffle. They're re-sending it, so hopefully I'll get it this time!

Congrats on receiving your books, Hillary and Thomas! Hopefully the other one will come in soon!

I did not receive two of the books that I won this year. In both cases I contacted the company rep. making the offer, via Goodreads. In the first case, (which was several months after the end of the contest) the rep. remarked that the item had been mailed in February. They did not offer to resend it, so no book. I so noted on Goodreads using the "I have not yet received this book" feature.

In the second case, (about a month after the contest ended) the company rep. responded with apologies very quickly. They sent me two books, the one that I had won and an additional ARC of a book that will be published in several months.

I do encourage Goodreads users to contact the person listing the offer if the book that they won has not been received within four to six weeks after the end of the contest.

I had a few books that I've never received. I contacted the people doing the giveaway and most responded promptly with an apology and usually a reason why the book hasn't shipped yet. Some though have not replied at all.
I wonder if not receiving a book, and thus not doing a review, will negatively impact your chances of winning books.

Once I totally thought that the book I won was just lost in the mail and that I would never get it, but like two months after I won it and I was running out of books to read, it came.

The first book I won received after 5 month I clicked "I didn't receive the cooy". I never thought I ever get this copy and was happy that it still receive :-)
Once an author contacted me that the post office sent the book back and he will send it again. That was really nice. :-)

i have one giveaway that still has not arrived. i did contact the giveaway author/person and they couldn't help as they did not have any more copies. going through here i understand that i should have acted sooner. as it was way past 3 months. as as some one said, i'm not going to persue it as it was free. but on the give away details there is no option to put in - did not receive anymore only the option of have received. i take it that after 3 months the option goes away?

Rita wrote: "i have one giveaway that still has not arrived. i did contact the giveaway author/person and they couldn't help as they did not have any more copies. going through here i understand that i should h..."

I don't think the option goes away. Are you looking on the giveaway details page? Also double check that you haven't already marked it not received because once you do that the only option that will show up is to mark it received.

ahh... now that I think about it. I think I could have. thanks amber for jogging the old memory

You're welcome Rita! Sorry your giveaway never showed up.

It also depends on how big the publisher is. Again, when the Sandra Brwn book never arrived, and I contacted her, she got another sent. I ALWAYS keep my 'you are a winner emails" and file then in a folder on my server. I also immediately contact either author (if I can't find publisher contact) or media consult (listed on the paper with some companies like Globe Pequot and Simon and Shuster) and thank them directly WHEN the book arrives. Then there are ones who never have the option posted that book arrived or didn't, but they track every single book that goes out either by Post or by other Carrier. Just look at your labels....bar codes! If the book is late or never arrives alaways contact the source. They may have delivered it someplace else, or it was stolen, or whatever.

Rita, I am sorry your book never arrived. Go back into your email and try to find out why

Andrea and Amber thanks for that, but i did contact the author and it is no biggy. but i am more aware of what is going on now and have to say out of all the wins (both Goodreads and Library Thing)that is the only one not to arrive and i think that is great.

Ok, here's one: I received, read, posted a book....and.....a second copy arrived....contacted sender. Will hold bin it for a while and then set it aside as a future gift?....

Does anyone know how many books of a single title are given away when an author has a free giveaway? I'd love to have a free giveaway but am curious about the quantity. Is it 5, 10, etc? I can't seem to find the answer on the FAQ page. I'm ordering cases of my new novel and want to include that count in my order. Thanks!

Sorry, I found the answer.

It's been almost five weeks on my most recent one. I've never had a giveaway take this long. REALLY looking forward to reading this one, too. I only enter the giveaways that I think look extraordinary (three or four giveaways entered a day, at most).

My book arrived at long last -- there was an inventory issue at the publisher. When I contacted them, they were exceptionally nice about it -- indeed, my book arrived the very day that they responded to my e-mail. I've had very good luck with my giveaway wins arriving in a timely manner, or arriving shortly after I begin wondering where they are. Knock on wood. Haven't won one in six weeks or so, though; I'm beginning to get a hankering. I'm so choosy about which ones to enter, that winning one feels more than a little special.

I won 2 books and never received them :(. I contacted the author and she told me it might had lost in the mail, tough she was very kind to send me an ebook.
The other one im still waiting for it. And now i recently won another book, so i don't know what is going to happen with this one.

EDIT:

Yesterday after 5 months my book finally arrived!So, i guess we should be patient.

I know this community has been dead for 5 years but hoped some of you would have answers to my question.
I had a question about how the packages are delivered. I may be a bit too excited to get my book, but it has been about 2 weeks since I won my giveaway and I have not received it yet. A previous giveaway I won was shipped through Amazon, but this giveaway is an advanced copy of the book (which means I get the copy before it is published).
I am assuming that Amazon does not have access to these and is not shipping it, but I just wanted to confirm this.

My main question is: Does Amazon ship advanced copies of books, and, if not, are the packages usually delivered with your mail and put in your mailbox, or are they delivered through a package delivery truck?

This will help me know how quickly my package will be shipped.

An additional question: How long does it usually take for advanced copies of books to be delivered?

Info for the previous question: I do not live in a city, I live in a rural area, and the person who listed the giveaway lives in New York, which is about 550 miles from where I live.