Contests: Love them or leave them?

I have a question for all of you. Do you like contests? I’m not asking if you like winning stuff, because who doesn’t? But do you enjoy entering contests?

I’m asking because I’ve held a few contests that fell flat. I didn’t make it complicated, you know, a comment enters you…but um… nada. I suppose it could be that I don’t promo enough… but I don’t want to be seen as… pushy. yeah I know... I need to get more pushy, aka market savvy and assertive. ; )

I have this awesome prize to give away and I’m SO excited to do so, but I’m not sure which kind of contest to host. To make things a little more complicated, due to regulations, I can’t host a contest in which those who have purchased my book have a greater chance of winning then those who haven’t… hmmm.

Any suggestions? What are your favorite kinds of contests? What would you do to win a Kama Sutra set of chocolate body paints?

2 comments:

Emma Lai said...

I'm no help, Lynne. Sorry. I hate running contests. Like you, I find the turnout is poor. If you can find the right reader's loop to promo on, you'll get some responses, but who knows what the right loop is. I have found it's better to run the contest for more than a week (more entrants), but no more than a month (people forget). Oh, and you might look for a blog that promotes contests...I vaguely remember one somewhere.

Kama Sutra chocolate body paints. Yum.

Shawna Thomas said...

Thank you, Emma! : )

Yeah, sometimes I think some writers just have the knack...

Well, we'll try it anyway. : )