Pros and Cons of Book Giveaway

Things they never tell you.

I thought I'd start out this week with a bang by doing a Goodreads giveaway. Why?
- All the cool writerly kids are doing
   one and I caved to peer pressure
- It's "supposed" to be good for
   marketing.
- May is the last month I can do a
   giveaway on Goodreads because
   they only do new book releases.
- I'm just that awesome.

But alas. Sorrow. Cue the depressing violin music. I followed Goodreads directions step-by-step yet they never sent me the dang stamp of approval. I have no idea why. Maybe I smell funny.

All this hullabaloo makes me wonder, though, if giveaways are even worth it. Oh, no doubt they're valuable to the lucky winner. It's the poor slob of an author who's got to suck up the loss on purchasing and posting the books. Yes, authors have to pay for their own books.

So I decided to do some research (which I probably should've done before simply following the writerly pack of cool kids) to find out the benefits and detriments of doing a giveaway. Here's what I found out . . .

Pros of a Book Giveaway

• Generates interest in your book because who doesn't like to enter a contest? It's just one more format to get your book cover in front of the face of a reader.
• Garners you new reviews.
• Can pique the interest of a reader so much that if they don't win, they'll sprint over to Amazon and snatch up a copy.

Cons of a Book Giveaway

• Your book ends up in the hands of someone who entered without reading what the book was about and hates that genre, which earns you a crappy review.
• The cost to the author.
• Setting it up and monitoring it.

What do you think? Seems kind of either or to me, like the pros and cons balance each other out making it a big, fat whatever. If I hear from Goodreads and they give me the green light, I'll go for it. If not, then I don't think I'll seek them out again. Stay tuned along with me and we'll see what happens together.