Hindsight is Twenty Something

A few days ago I had what I thought was a brilliant idea. Sales for Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort have been good, but reviews were a little light. The reviews the book received were outstanding; there just weren’t that many of them.

So, I thought, why not have a drawing on my Facebook author page? When the number of reviews reached 40, I’d draw a reviewer’s name at random and give away either a Scout’s Honor coffee mug or a signed copy of Mayhem. Cool, huh?

Except I didn’t take into account that many reviewers on Amazon use nicknames or initials instead of their actual names, so for the last couple of days I’ve been trying to figure out who “Keek” is, and who among my readers might be “Amazon Customer.”

Also, and this is both a wonderful thing and an almost impossible impediment, I don’t personally know at least five of the reviewers! How would I contact them if they won?

Sometime this weekend the number of reviews not only reached, but exceeded the 40 mark. I was able to track down all but two reviewers through connections on Facebook and friends of friends, but those two were untraceable. I felt awful, but went ahead with the drawing as promised, and notified the winner.

So, any suggestions for future giveaways are welcome. I believe this was good for book sales and review numbers, but as Mayhem wanders away from my core group of friends and followers, it might be impossible to track down a winner. This one has given me a massive headache. But I’m also smiling!

Peace, people!

Author: nananoyz

I'm a semi-retired crazy person with one husband and two cats.

41 thoughts on “Hindsight is Twenty Something”

  4. Just be careful with giving reviewers stuff. Make sure they say they received a gift but the review was independent if it and everything. People jump on everything lately

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  5. I will echo LA a bit. You do have to be careful of giving something for a review. Amazon will pull authors if they think reviews are paid for or even a review trade (one author reviews the book of another in exchange for a review of their own). You can give books away or even swag like the mug, but it might be better to do so in a way that it isn’t tied to a specific reviewer. You could do a give away similar to this one, as in once you reach X number of reviews, but the recipient isn’t necessarily a reviewer, but maybe someone that commented on a specific blog post and/or made a post about your book on their own blog. The goal of most give aways is to get attention on the book.

    If you are wanting to drum up more reviews, seriously consider looking into BookSirens. There is also a group on Goodreads where you can post your request and those that are interested can let you know, though you do have to provide a review copy for them (probably the only acceptable thing to give in exchange for a review is the book itself).

    I think getting 40 reviews is an amazing thing for your first book! That is quite a feat!

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  6. I love your logo! And I knew when I read your book that you had created your own publishing company because it was called Scout. I said as much to my friend Morgan. If she is one of those you couldn’t find, let me know. She is on FB too. I suggested the book to her and she gave you a review. Looking forward to the second book. 🙂

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      5. I will do that. It may be a while yet. She hasn’t even finished typing in her written notes. A lot of editing to be done once she gets it all in. I had her print what she had and bring it to me at Christmas time. It was a long way from even ready to be edited. 🙂

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      6. Gotta start somewhere! I’ve didn’t the last day and a half restructuring the sequel to mayhem. All of a sudden I have about 800 fewer words. 🤔🤔🤔

        Liked by 1 person

      7. Well, that sometimes happens too. I just decided to make my first book, the second book and decided it is going to be a trilogy. Pre-civil war, civil war and post civil war. The beginning of my book I’m working on now is now going to be the end of my first book to set the tone for the 2nd. I just lost 4000 words in my second book which was my only book. LOL! I’m going back further than my original thoughts instead of writing those memories, I’m actually going to tell the story in the first book. I’m not writing actively right now, but hope to put some time in it soon. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      9. Yes, now I have to get going on the outline and figure out exactly what I’m doing with it. Exciting! 🙂 I might still write the now second book first, but I’m not sure I can do that. I’m a chronological type of gal. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      11. Yeah, her dad’s life is just as compelling as her life so I got the idea while in the shower. I need a waterproof dictation system because that is where a lot of ideas get conjured up. Something about the hot water relaxing the whole body, maybe? 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      15. We are not going now. I’m heading to the emergency room this morning because of pain in my legs. My VA doc told me to go since we don’t have a VA hospital in Jax, I can go anywhere. Can’t just got see another doc. Birding can wait. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      17. I was there all day yesterday. I got the CT scan and I do not have a blood clot. Woohoo! Now I have to see an orthopedic. The pain is just getting worse in my knees and behind them. It sucks getting old! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      19. Me too! I couldn’t get an orthopedic appt. until April 6th. Covid makes it difficult to get any appointments in a reasonable amount of time. In the meantime, heat packs are helping. I don’t know if I need new knees, but anything is better than what I’m dealing with. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

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