Here at Storytellers in Zion, we do a giveaway every month. We offer special promotion to selected sponsors, who give a copy of their book to randomly chosen winners. In our reading challenges, we’ve given away as many as 200 books during the month. In the other giveaways, we give away six books at the end of the month. You can learn more about each of these promotional giveaways by clicking on these links:
- Polar Bear Plunge Reading Challenge (January)
- Summer Book Trek Reading Challenge (July)
- Win These Books! Giveaway (all other months)
The giveaways and reading challenges at StorytellersInZion.com are great ways to get exposure for your book without banging the “Buy My Book” drum. If you’re a little shy, it’s hard to tell others about your book. Some authors almost never mention their books, and that’s just not smart.
On the flip side, we all know authors who seem to talk about their book incessantly, to the point that you just want to unfriend them from every social media site they are on.
Participating as a sponsor on StorytellersInZion.com gives you a legit, no-pressure way to talk about your book with a laid-back, sneak it in the backdoor approach.
Tips to maximize your exposure as a prize sponsor:
1. Spread the Word.
Mention that you are a sponsor on your blog, website, Facebook, Twitter, and any other social media you participate in. If you send out a newsletter to your readers, let them know as well. Encourage your readers to enter to win a copy of your book. This is an indirect way to advertise your book without your friends and readers feeling like it’s a straight-up ad. Plus, your readers will appreciate the opportunity to win a copy of your book.
During our regular monthly giveaways, we post short Tweetables for each individual book in the giveaway. Please tweet for all of the authors in the giveaway, as well as your own.
Feel free to share any posted information and/or images about the giveaways and/or challenges from my website or any of my social media accounts (see links below). Just be sure to link them back to the appropriate page
If you have a street team or fan group, or if you’re part of an author or reader group somewhere, let them know about the giveaway/challenge. You’re just spreading the word. Trust me, they’ll be happy you did.
2. Subscribe to and share the New Releases newsletter.
I send out a New Releases newsletter each week. Included at the end of the newsletter is an image of the sponsoring books and a link to the giveaway spotlight post. Signing up for the newsletter and then forwarding it to interested friends is another way to indirectly spread the word about your book. Subscribe here.
(Be sure to check the Authors & Publishers option also to get notifications of future promotional opportunities.)
3. Follow SIZ on Social Media.
I post book images and invitations to join all of the challenges and giveaways. In the monthly giveaways, all the books are featured each Saturday AND I spotlight each book individually twice during the month on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I will attempt to tag you in these posts. (If I don’t, it’s because I couldn’t find you or your settings won’t allow tagging.* Feel free to tag yourself.) Please like, follow, and/or share these posts.
4. Join SIZ Facebook groups.
I have two Facebook groups: one for authors and one for readers. You’ll want to join both.
Author Group: This is where I post important information, updates, clarifications, and notifications of upcoming promotional giveaways. I post a schedule for the month so you’ll know when the social media promos go out for your book.
Reader Group: During the two reading challenges, we give away a book a day in this group. Readers are asked to comment about books they enjoyed that fit certain criteria. If you’re in the group, you can comment about any of your books that fit (but you won’t earn points for your own book).
Feel free to join in the various conversations, and invite any interested readers to join, too. Some members may ask questions about your book and it would be great if you’d jump in there and answer them yourself.
**Don’t just add people to the group—that’s kind of rude. Invite them from your social media accounts or your newsletter.***
5. Participate yourself!
Yes, sponsors can enter to win in all of the giveaways and challenges. Cross-promote by talking about the books you hope to win. The more you talk about the giveaway itself, the more people will consider checking it out and will see your book as one of the prizes.
Reading Challenge Specific Tips
1. Check your book info.
Once your accepted to one of the reading challenges, you’ll need to go to the Prize Page and make sure your book info is correct. Click all the links. Read the Info. Make sure it shows up under all the applicable tabs. If anything needs to be fixed, let me know ASAP.
In the Facebook games, check your post early in the day and send me an email if something needs to be changed or adjusted.
2. Add your newsletter link.
I have a form for you to enter your newsletter subscribe link. Readers earn points for subscribing to author newsletters. I take the information from that form and post it HERE. You can enter as many pen names as you like, as long as you’re willing to have them identified as an LDS author.
**If you’ve done this pre-2021, you need to do it again. Someone erased all the I info in the Google Form I used to use.
Storytellers in Zion Links
Twitter (@LDSBookGeek)
Instagram (ldsbookgeek)