The "Create a Contest" Contest
A little bird reminded me I should be promoting Like a Thief in the Night and letting people know that this red hot futuristic tale of sex, murder, magic and mayhem will be available for sale at Samhain Publishing on January 15, 2008 for the low, low price of $3.50.
But how should I promote the novella? Maybe a contest? I wracked my brain, which took all of 2 seconds, and came up with these ideas:
- The "Guess Bettie's Favorite Color Contest"
- The "Tell Bettie Why You Deserve a Free Book" Contest
- The "Guess How Many Fingers Bettie is Holding Up Behind her Back" Contest.
So, here's the deal. Post your single best idea for a contest in the comments of this post. If I pick that idea, you'll win a free copy of Like a Thief in the Night and I'll hold the contest in February, with a second copy of Like a Thief... as the prize. Entries must be submitted by 6 P.M. Pacific on Monday, January 14, 2008.
11 comments:
HEY! I did this dogs'ages ago. Years, and years in fact.
Everyone wanted something easy to win--no skillz necessary. The contests that do the best in terms of getting publicity are the ones where you give people credits for mentioning you and your book.
Do I win, Do I, huh? DO I?
Easy.
Here's the deal: you call the competition "EVERYONE'S A WINNER" and the hook is, every single person wins a copy of your novella! All entrants have to do is post the name of your new novella ("Like a Thief in The Night") on their blogs under the heading "THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ IS...". Oh and pay an entry fee of 3.50.
Whaddya think?
Kate, I should have guessed you would have done this already. You do some darn good contests. The "Hard Boiled Contest" was kind of inspired by the very fun contest you hid in Revealing Skills.
Each entrant must submit a short entry (200 words), of what kind of thief they'd be in that alternate dimensional world of their heads, and what kind of awesome perks they'd get (glistening sex slaves bathed in baby oil?).
The most fascinating entry, wins. :D
except Tumperkin wins, dammit. Most awesome contest ever.
If I can find a link to my ancient contest, I'll show it to you only because I got some great funny ideas...
Okay, I'm NOT entering this contest because I won your last one, but I have an idea anyways:
What if you had people write in an entertaining anecdote about something they stole, something a friend stole, or something stolen from them. The most entertaining anecdote would win. Maybe readers of this blog could vote!
I would totally write in an anecdote. But NOT entering the contest officially.
I like viral contests that get people talking about you and your book on your blog. I'd invent some kind of meme (or maybe a quiz), and offer some kind of prize that isn't your book. For me, chocolates, bookstore gift certificates and bath sets have been the big crowd pleasers.
See, you want people to buy your book. And if they're waiting to see if they won a copy, maybe they'll hesitate. Give bonus entries if they email you with proof they bought your novella.
Oh, and I don't want to be entered to win anything. Just offering my experience, such as it is.
Hey! It's January 15th. Congratulations on your book coming out!
Not an entry but... just wanted to say I went and posted a review of Ember. I waited until today so I could pimp your new book. Already downloaded it! ;)
I've bought the book so count me out the contest.
Firstly can I just say what type of contest puts me off entering?
I'm relatively new to the world of blogs and don't understand a lot of the jargon used or how it all fits together, it's seems to be a mini world held together by links, links and more links.
Anyway, as I am a reader and not a writer, I find it quite daunting to be asked to write a piece about “X” to enter, even an anecdote is intimidating, especially if it has to be amusing. Yikes.
Yesterday I was looking at a contest that was based on the credits Kate R mentions. The gist of it was the prize/author is to be mentioned on your blog, website and earn credits and so on, it was so complicated my brain farted and I gave up. Maybe I'm just thick or maybe it'll get easier in time. *cough*
Now, I don't have a blog or website or anything like that, but I am a new reader of your books so surely it must be a contest that the likes of me can enter?
Could it be something to do with E books? Maybe something like, How do you read E books? That may or may not include: What equipment do you use/ format do you buy/what reading method works well for you and why/what have you tried that you didn't like and why didn't you like it.
It may have been done a thousand times before, I don't know, it might be too boring, but I make the suggestion because, a comment could be as short as “I love reading on my Palm TX” or it could be something a lot longer. If the contestant is another author or blogger, they themselves made have written an article on E book reading that they could link to, which will give them publicity as well. Links, links and more links.
Now I'm new to E books, what I do know is that I don't like reading them on my desk top PC, but other than that it is a quagmire of formats, reading devices and DRM to wade through. I'm still trying to decide what is the best way for me to read E books, books that I will still be able to re- read in 5 years time! So it would be helpful to read the comments as well. (Dear Author has loads of good stuff on E book reading devices and formats)
The first E book I read was your really wonderful “Ember” on Dionne Galace's website that I found by a link from SBTB website. Thank you ever so for sharing it. Seeing as I enjoyed it so much, and I couldn't buy it, I'm going to buy your new novel, which has started the whole “well how do you comfortably read E books then?” and hence the contest suggestion.
For a non-writer I certainly can ramble on.
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