What Would You Do

I've been thinking of doing a win-a-book contest for Between Brothers. Depending on how that goes, I'll probably do it with my other books.

I don't have my author copies in hand yet, and only a few are spoken for. The rest...don't know yet.

Scarletpeaches gets a copy of each (since she inspired both, titled one, wrote their synopses/queries, and beta read them). Other than that...no idea.

I'd probably give them away to tt42, Libbie and Perks if they wanted one...the rest? A blog contest maybe, or something here?

popmuze said:

If you had ten extra author copies of your new book

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Jump around in circles screaming, "I'm published! I'm published!!"

send them to prisoners.

scarletpeaches said:

I'd probably give them away to tt42, Libbie and Perks if they wanted one...the rest? A blog contest maybe, or something here?

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EEP! One for Libbie too. How could I forget? (SORRY LIB!)

I'm thinking a contest on my blog, but haven't decided exactly what I want to do.

William Haskins said:

send them to prisoners.

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Haven't they already been punished enough?

Blog and/or Twitter contest. Author copies are great promotional items. You could also send some to the book reviewers/human interest writers for your local area newspapers, if your publicity team isn't already pitching them.

scarletpeaches said:

Haven't they already been punished enough?

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Hah!

In answer to the OP: I just did a book giveaway. Putting your book into the hands of interested people is, I think, rarely a bad idea.

Give one to your local library!

Beyond Katiemac's suggestions (which are all good):

1. Contact a local library that has a book discussion group. Offer to loan the books to the book discussion group and come to the meeting. After you get the books back, rinse and repeat at another library. Keep repeating until you are bored.
2. Offer them at local charity auctions/fund raising drives. Try to connect it to you going to talk to them.
3. Send to your local high school's English department and offer to come in to talk to the senior English class about the angst of being a writer.
4. Send one to the local assisted living/nursing home and again offer to come in and talk about the angst of being a writer.
5. Keep a couple for whenever you do a talk about your book and/or writing. Remember that you're now a published writer and you know about about the publishing industry, at least to those who are still struggling to figure out how to find an agent. Show and tell is important.
6. Save a couple for your children when you get old. Helps remind them when you're drooling over your oatmeal that you were once something.
7. Save one someplace really safe for thirty years from now when you can't find the last book you left out and someone doesn't believe you were a writer.
8. Go through one of them with a highlighter and red pen, marking up the best paragraphs and correcting the crap you ended up with.
9. Take one, cut out the center, and put something really special in it for your significant other, who's been putting up with your crap for years now. The grimace on their face as they see your book one more time and you tell them it's specially for them is priceless.
10. Send one to the Library of Congress, unless you know your publisher sent one.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

I'd send one to my high school lit teacher because she called dibs on the first thing I get published. I'd probably have one stuck in a shadow box so it'll stay pretty. (feel free to laugh). The others, I'm not sure.

Cyia said:

I'd send one to my high school lit teacher because she called dibs on the first thing I get published. I'd probably have one stuck in a shadow box so it'll stay pretty. (feel free to laugh). The others, I'm not sure.

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Make sure the shadow box has glass that will protect it from fading.

Mine was a Romance, so I used the extra copies to enter a contest or two that allowed small-press publications. Didn't win, but it was interesting to discover the copies I'd sent in for sale on half.com afterward.

If anyone was interested in contributing to my main blog's series, "How I Got Published", and would like to give away a copy or two of their books as part of their articles, I'd be very happy to consider them. Just so you know. My blog gets between 10,000 and 15,000 readers each month, according to Google Analytics. And only about 9,500 of those readers are me, frantically refreshing.

I would start with the people who merited a mention on the Acknowledgments page. In that case, I might need more than ten.

The libraries where I went to High School and College. - Maybe your local library.

One goes to the person it's dedicated to.
One goes to my husband.
One goes to my parents, to prove that I wasn't wrong.
Two go to my dearest friends.
The rest? I can't say now, because things might change in the amount of time such a thing would likely take.

I'd take those ten to a local independent bookseller and ask them to sell them.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I'd take those ten to a local independent bookseller and ask them to sell them.

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That's actually Not Cool with publishers.

Twitter contests would be great. If you want help with that, PM me.

I thought the book was really good, and I wish it had gotten more promotion.

I'd bury mine in a time capsule and throw away the map to the burial site.

If I had still been working at my shitty old day job, I'd save one until I had made it big, written, "Consider this my letter of resignation. You have two weeks to find somebody stupid enough to want my job." on the flyleaf, and dropped it on my boss' desk.

After practically peeing my pants I would send a copy to the L.A. teacher that told me I could write.
The librarian who got me into reading ( and painting).
Then to my mother because she read to me as a baby, she never banished my imaginary friends and because she put enough tragedy into my life to make me a writer.

I'd buy another ten and have a whole bookshelf at home dedicated to my book.

You can do what Harlan Ellison does.

He sends a copy of each new book to the teacher who said he couldn't write.

Got one of those in your life??

Harlan's such a sweetie.