CanadianContent discussion

I just noticed that goodreads, without warning is charging for authors to do giveaways. It went from a free service to at basic, costing 59$ (and that's American). It already costs a great deal to either mail or ship the books we offer (I've spent over $250 just mailing my giveaways to winners). Is anyone else concerned that a free service has been changed to a very costly one overnight?

That's a disappointment. I really enjoy participating in the giveaways and have discovered some great reads that way which I then have promoted to my book club and other readers. What a shame! I'm sure the participating rate will decline because of that change.

I had read this somewhere else as well, and If I remember correctly, there is some further restrictions for authors/publishers outside the USA?

Edited: found what I was looking for: " Our new program will initially only be available for giveaways for entrants who are U.S. residents."
Which means for us living in Canada, no more giveaways from Goodreads

Hiss !!! Boo!!!!! Who can I escalate this to?????

I'm on mobile so can't easily forward you the response I received from Goodreads some time ago when I caught wind of the giveaway changes. I hope lots of Canadian readers/reviewers do complain. Not feeling the love for Indie authors nor their Canadian fans with this move. I can only deduct this as being greed driven!

Here is the response I received "Hi Wanda,

I’m sorry you’re disappointed.  Our new Goodreads Giveaways program launches on January 9, 2018, and giveaways created on and after this date will only be available to U.S. residents.  When you visit the giveaways page over the next few months, you’ll see the number of giveaways you can enter begin to drop as giveaways created before the launch of our new program complete as scheduled.

Non-U.S. residents can continue to enter giveaways that were created before January 9, 2018 and are available for entrants in their country of residence.  These giveaways will run as scheduled, and non-U.S. residents will be eligible to win.  If you are randomly selected to win from the pool of entrants, you’ll be notified via email.  

It is worth mentioning that Kindle Unlimited provides a 30-day free trial that allows you to download and read books for free.  Members from Canada are eligible to try this out. 

If you have any additional questions or concerns about this, please don’t hesitate to let me know".

Wow, that is a pretty craven plug for Kindle Unlimited! This makes me angry about the Amazon ownership all over again.

I’ve noticed recently that some of the giveaways in the U.S. are for Kindle copies now rather than ARCs or finished books. It makes me wonder if Amazon/Goodreads is putting pressure on publishers to offer Kindle editions instead as a way to promote their brand.

"It is worth mentioning that Kindle Unlimited ..."

Which is probably what's behind all this.

Wanda wrote: "Here is the response I received "Hi Wanda,

I’m sorry you’re disappointed.  Our new Goodreads Giveaways program launches on January 9, 2018, and giveaways created on and after this date will only b..."

@ Wanda - Good for you for expressing your dissent.

So others like myself can send emails as well

1) what is the name/heading and email address you sent your initial enquiry/complaint to?

2_ what is the name/heading and email address of the person who responded to you.

Figure it's better to start sending emails to the same person so they receive multiple complaints and take it seriously and then move on to others as well.

Thanks in advance.

@MJ I sent my inquiry to the general Goodreads email via the "contact us" on their main site. I don't think you can choose a particular staff, it's random. But I do encourage everyone to send their complaint, it doesn't feel good to be left out of the giveaway when we are capable reviewers too! I hope our Canadian publishers find alternatives such as via 49th Shelf or LibraryThing. I have connected with many wonderful authors through the giveaways and so I'm sincerely disappointed to see it shut down for us.

Wanda wrote: "@MJ I sent my inquiry to the general Goodreads email via the "contact us" on their main site. I don't think you can choose a particular staff, it's random. But I do encourage everyone to send their..."

Thanks Wanda.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one irritated about this. I only recently joined Goodreads, and I'm doing a giveaway shortly, but yes, it's costing $59 US, and only US residents are eligible to participate. Once the cost goes up to the full $119 (for the cheap package!), I won't be able to afford to do giveaways, and I'm sure other authors will feel the same. From what I have read, Goodreads sees this as a form of marketing for authors, and are charging for their services accordingly. It is disappointing for sure; especially since other countries can no longer participate, although Goodreads has said that this will (likely) change in the future as they get the system sorted out.

I sent an email and got a very unsatisfactory response so suggest perhaps Goodreads will hear concerns better on social media. I have tweeted a couple of times this morning.

I haven’t contacted but it’s so disheartening to see the number of giveaways listed dwindling each day.

Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ wrote: "I haven’t contacted but it’s so disheartening to see the number of giveaways listed dwindling each day."

Something else that is getting Americanized...... I am trying to support those who cater to International literature instead of American....might be time to move my list of books from Good Reads to somewhere else.

There was a new giveaway for Brother - US only. :(

❀ Susan wrote: "There was a new giveaway for Brother - US only. :("

and a Canadian writer. What is wrong with this picture?

Nice for him to market to other countries but sad for us to be cut off from the ARCs and giveaways for sure. Will be interesting to see if I get a response from my tweet.

I just sent Good Reads an email and expressed my disgust.

We are not allowed to include Canadians in the giveaways. There is no option for it. It is saddening on both sides. We can't enter the giveaways, and authors can't get exposure to people outside of the States. I'm new enough that I didn't realize this was such a huge change here until hearing you guys talk about it. Has anyone been given a reason why other countries aren't included? All I read was that the system couldn't support it yet, but if it could before, why change it?

I see it as just another example of the "Americanization" of the world :-(

@Susan I followed along with your tweet, might as well blast off a few complaints via social media. Thx for the suggestion.

My hope is that they’re rolling out this new giveaway program in phases and this US residents only limitation is just the first step. Fingers crossed....

❀ Susan wrote: "I sent an email and got a very unsatisfactory response so suggest perhaps Goodreads will hear concerns better on social media. I have tweeted a couple of times this morning."

I also followed you, Susan. This is outrageous.

What about the pub houses? Are the Canadian ones going to use an alternative?

The response I got from Good Reads:

I'm sorry you're disappointed. As we announced, our new Giveaways program replaces our former Giveaways program and initially is for U.S. residents only. Our goal is to make our products and features available for more members, but we don’t have specific timing for this. Unfortunately I don’t have additional details to share - I’m sorry about that.

Funny that our responses are all so different. If I was goodreads I would have a standard response so all complainants got the same answer. here is mine:

"Thanks for writing in, although I’m very sorry you’re disappointed with our new Giveaways program. Our team is focused on our mission of helping readers find and share books they love. We’ve continued to introduce improvements this year, including the ability to track rereading (one of the most popular member requests), cover scanners on our free apps, and the ability to share your Kindle notes and highlights with your Goodreads friends. At the same time, we have an opportunity to help authors and publishers drive discovery, ratings, and reviews for their books.

I understand that these features don't replace giveaways for you as a reader, but we hope you will take advantage of the many other ways to connect on Goodreads."

they just sent me a survey on how happy I was with my goodreads customer service response... 1 star

Perhaps they don't know themselves where they are going with this? The word *initially* in the response I got makes me think that they will continue to tweak the Giveaways program so maybe if we keep writing in, they will do something for Canadians, eventually.

In another group that I am a member of, we have a monthly giveaway within the group from authors that are a member of the group, and only members of the group eligible to enter.
I am sure this would work as a way of this group helping out Canadian authors who want to reach Canadian Readers (and other supporters of Can Lit).

Nicole Lundrigan has giveaways on her Facebook page.

Heather(Gibby) wrote: "In another group that I am a member of, we have a monthly giveaway within the group from authors that are a member of the group, and only members of the group eligible to enter.
I am sure this wou..."

This is a great idea!

I am confused, if it is open to US residents, how come you ca still enter new giveaways?

Not in effect yet and giveaways that were opened prior to the date are exempt. The big Cdn publishers opened theirs in advance. You can see them but can't enter yet.

I emailed goodreads and got a crap reply also. Basically sorry that you're disappointed but too bad so sad.

@Kim - i think that anything that had been submitted prior to the deadline can still be entered but any new books as of a certain date will be US only

@Shannon - goodreads has ignored my tweets.

My publisher Dundurn Press is giving away three copies of my new novel Wildwood, about a single mother from the city who inherits an abandoned farmhouse in northern Alberta on condition that she lives off the grid for one year.

Visit their website to enter before March 18, 2018. https://www.dundurn.com/news/Win-copy...

Thanks Elinor!

I’ll bring my giveaway straight to the group!

With summer vacation approaching, I am offering the group a free copy of my travel book, Dust in My Pack, to inspire your next trip with destination ideas and tips to get there. It covers all seven continents and captures the best of twenty years of travelling.

Where: Go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

Coupon Code: JB78B

This offer expires May 1, 2018

For more on the book, go to:
My Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/bynancyohare
My website: http://www.bynancyohare.com/dust-in-m...

I would also be grateful for your feedback in a book review.

Not that I want to decrease my chances... lol, but there is a giveaway for Craig Davidson's latest book!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

I am very happy to say that I was a winner for Craig Davidson's latest book! Looking forward to this!

@Wnada - you are so lucky!! I had my fingers crossed for that one. Congrats!

Exciting! Congrats, Wanda!

Congratulations Wanda!

It looks like the Goodreads giveaways open exclusively to Canadian residents have finally dropped into nothingness....

Yeah, definitely been pretty shabby pickings for a while too. Too bad, I have always made it a priority to review anything I win. I know there are giveaways on other sites but I am not sure where and don't exactly have time to go to a bunch of different pages so this is a sad loss.

I've been quite lucky with getting approved for ebook ARCs from Netgalley and Edelweiss in case you want to try those. I got over 20 ebooks last year. This year, I haven't requested as many but have received about 60% of what I requested.

https://www.netgalley.com/

https://www.edelweiss.plus/

I got a goodreads survey request and gave it a 7 and said its because its marketed to be international site but only giveaways are to US residents. Shabby.

I would like to again express my displeasure at this goodreads decision. I have emailed them and received a crappy response that basically said too bad, so sad.

Apparently no amount of money is enough for Goodreads' owner, Jeff Bezos. In spite of this:

"Amazon founder and world’s richest man Jeff Bezos revealed a relatable problem: He has so much money he can’t think of what to do with it. “The only way that I can see to deploy this much financial resource is by converting my Amazon winnings into space travel...”

Some other ideas offered here...
https://electricliterature.com/give-y...

Sigh.

Sad...

So I've had a NetGalley account for a couple of years, but I've never really used it. After your comment yesterday @Storyheart, I upped the ante, improving my profile and requesting books from Canadian publishers. Lo and behold, I was just approved for two doozies: Us Against You and Foe. I absolutely loved every second of reading I'm Thinking of Ending Things, so I'm super excited about Foe! Thanks for the push @Storyheart!!