Goodreads Giveaways Part 2

I’ve been away from my home in Melbourne for months, busy helping my daughter in Sydney with her four teenagers, two sets of twins born 14 months apart!

Here we were in Paris together, 4 years ago, before they all shot up to 6ft and more, much taller than their Mum.
I don't show my grandkids' faces on my social media - but I don't have any recent backview shots! 

With a bit of spare time on my hands today, here’s an update on my recent experience with Goodreads, when I gave away 100 free copies of my new release 'Still Waters Run Deep' to American readers. 

Six months later my results out of 100 are:

Three ratings! 

All from women in their mid-forties, fitting  my target readership group, so I give some Brownie points to Goodreads for selecting them as potential readers. 

Two women, who have read 660 books and 760 books respectively, gave me a 5-star rating for 'Still Waters Run Deep', so my book withstood tough scrutiny from these avid readers.

One 3 star rating came from someone who has read 98 books - see her comments below. 

Two reviews! 

‘Thank you Goodreads for this giveaway. This book was a story about love, loyalty and heartache. Sara and Jacks story was beautifully written. This story takes place in New Guinea and Australia. The authors vivid description of the New Guinea landscape was very enjoyable.’ (5 stars)

‘GoodReads giveaway book. This was a sweet star-crossed lovers story. Imagine meeting your soul mate after you both were married to other people and then longing after each other for years. …[Spoiler alert omitted] …. It all comes together nicely. The story is well written and I enjoyed it. My only criticism is the reunion of Sarah and Jack seemed to have stretched on too long. I mean, we all knew it was coming. Why take ten years in the story to do so? All in all, an enjoyable read.’ (3 stars)

Verdict

Maybe I expected too much, but I call that a disappointing outcome for a book sent to 100 people. My Giveaway copies were sent to one reader with 6 books on her TBR (to be read) pile, to one with almost 151,000 books on her TBR pile, and to 98 others in between. Recipients averaged 14,021 books on their TBR pile. Surely the Goodreads algorithm can do better than this! For a start, why does Goodreads allocate a giveaway book to someone with almost 151,000 to-be-reads, even if she has read 1,567 books?

This coming week I’m attending a webinar run by Alessandra Torre - 'Unlock 125M Readers using Goodreads'. Maybe Alessandra will have some answers for me.

Meanwhile I'd love you to read 'Still Waters Run Deep' - a story tapping into that powerful sense of longing for something - or someone - we might want badly, but can't have. It should appeal to anyone who is childless - but not by choice. And to anyone who likes armchair travel to unusual parts of the world.

Goodreads Giveaways

As an avid reader, I’ve belonged to Goodreads for many years. Goodreads promotes itself as the meeting point for the world's readers and I like using the site as a handy way of keeping track of the books I’ve read. Usually I give a rating, and more often than not a few words of review, as feedback for the author concerned. Speaking now as a writer, we crave hearing that our books have not dropped into a black hole - that someone has read them!

Goodreads also runs a Giveaway service. An author can offer free copies to Goodreads members but a condition of entry is that applicants agree, in return, to add the book to their ‘To Be Read’ pile. At present, although the author of a Giveaway does not have to live in the US, only US residents are eligible to win a Giveaway. (There is talk of change to this restriction.) The scheme is meant to be especially useful for authors needing to spread the word about a forthcoming book.

As a resident of Australia I have never entered a Giveaway but, as a newbie novelist, this sounded like a good way of reaching American readers who would otherwise never hear about my new book ‘Still Waters Run Deep’. It was due to be published on 1 May and I decided to offer 100 free digital copies to Goodreads members, the offer running from 4-31 March. 

On opening day 29 people added my book to their 'To Be Read' pile. It seemed like a good start. A further 490 readers entered in the four weeks to come. 

My Giveaway closed at 6pm, 1 April, Australian Eastern Standard Time and Goodreads notified me at 7.43pm that there were 519 entries, with 100 winners (names listed) who had all received a free copy of my book delivered to their Kindle. As a bulk listing, Goodreads had shelved a further 471 as 'Want to Read'.

So far this seemed to offer much better value than Facebook advertising!

I crossed my fingers and hoped for some reader feedback in the month between 31 March and 1 May. 

One reader did respond, bless her heart - on 28 April, with a five-star rating - but no ‘review’. 

There has been nothing since, despite the Goodreads promise to remind entrants about this book on its release day, 1 May. 

This very disappointing result prompted me to analyse the profiles of the winners, using an Excel spreadsheet. 

What a surprise. The average age of those who received a free copy of my book (and stated their age) was 44, the oldest aged 69 and the youngest aged 20. Fair enough. On average the entrants had listed 348 books as 'read', but this covered a range from 0 to 2,439. BUT - the 100 winners had, on average, 14,021 books on their ‘Want to Read’ pile! Some were multiple winners of Giveaways although they’d read very few books. I noticed six who’d won, on average, 566 free books each although they already had thousands of titles on their ‘Want to Read’ list. Surely these people should be excluded as potential winners. 

It fascinated me that the only person who appears to have read and rated my book was aged 45, has read 660 books and has only 6 books on her 'Want to Read' list. As a Gen X reader she suited my target group of Gen X and Boomer readers. She was clearly an avid reader. What’s more, she was likely to read my book because it would not be buried in her huge pile of unread books. People like her are the perfect target for authors offering their work for nothing – if only Goodreads had a better algorithm!

P.S. 'Still Waters Run Deep' is available via this link - https://books2read.com/Still-Waters-Run-Deep and you can dip your toe into these still waters here.

Dipping into 'Still Waters Run Deep'

In ‘Still Waters Run Deep’, two young couples struggle with lives that haven’t gone according to plan.

Sarah and her husband Andrew long for children, but hide their infertility problems.

Jack and his wife Jenny have two small children, Tom and Lottie — whose arrival forced a marriage.

Both couples are living in a Third World country, keenly involved in projects to advance its economy and national development. Sarah works for Jack and, in their small expatriate community, they also cross paths in their social lives. 

In the following scene, Jack and Jenny are driving home, with Tom and Lottie asleep in the back seat of their car. Jenny has just met Sarah for the first time:

Jenny bit her lip. ‘It worries me, that you work all day with Sarah.’

‘Well, it’s not quite like that. She’s one of my staff, working out in the main office among quite a large group of men.’

‘But you’ve never had a dynamic, attractive young woman working for you before.’

‘True, she’s the first female I’ve supervised. Hey, are you jealous of her or something?’ He reached sideways and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

‘Just feeling frumpy. I put on all that weight, having the kids.’

‘Most women do, don’t they? Except those who live on dry crackers and sparkling mineral water.’ She had gained some kgs, but how to be tactful yet truthful was currently eluding him.

For once, she saved him the effort of a suitable white lie. ‘Thanks, Jack. For putting up with me. I know I’m not what you wanted.’

Her gloomy voice frayed his heart strings because he’d grown to love her—but she’d put into words exactly what he knew to be true.

Especially since Sarah had flashed into his world.

‘Hey there, cheer up. Have you ever felt that I don’t love you?’

‘No, you’ve been kind and loyal, loving, but not exactly ‘in love’ with me.’

‘Love grows, you know. And has many shapes and sizes. Passion and drama and purple prose is not compulsory. Have you been reading too many of your Mills and Boon novels?’

She gave him a sheepish grin. ‘Maybe. I should give them a rest.’

He took his eye off the road long enough to lean across and plant a quick peck on her cheek. ‘I don’t regret our uni days, or the decisions we made.’ He spoke staunchly, doing his best to console her. ‘Would your life mean as much without Tom?’

‘Of course not. But you hadn’t sown your wild oats. Nor had I, come to think of it, but I never wanted to, after I met you.’

‘We’ve come through. So far, we’ve survived okay. You may have been my first—and only—proper girlfriend, but I’m not one of those men who feels compelled to play the field.’ He had to reassure her—because he was trying to reassure himself.

This story is full of moral choices. Did Jack succeed? 

Get your copy of 'Still Waters Run Deep' using this link at Amazon, Apple, Kobo or your favourite digital store. The book is also available as a paperback.

To stay in touch, follow Louisa Valentine on Facebook.

Looking for Love in All the Right Places

'Write what you know.' Authors often receive this advice. 

That's why my novels 'Retreat into Paradise', 'Trading Secrets' and 'Still Waters Run Deep', all works of fiction, are based on worlds I have inhabited. A farm outside Melbourne. A foreign exchange trading room in Sydney. A third world country. The clue to each setting comes from the picture at the bottom of each cover. The writer's task of conveying the right ambience, convincingly, seems easier when you've lived in the environment central to your story.

And, like the interesting women I've met in life, my heroines pursue serious careers, are aged around thirty, and fall in love with intelligent men:

• In ‘Retreat into Paradise’, historian Hannah is ‘not yet quite thirty’. The hero, senior bank executive Philip, is ‘late thirty-ish’.
• In ‘Trading Secrets’, risk manager Nicola is ‘late twenties’. The hero, foreign exchange manager Tom, is ‘mid-thirties’.
• In my 'Still Waters Run Deep', economist Sarah meets and bonds with her boss Jack when both are in their mid-twenties and they meet again in their mid-thirties. 

Louisa Valentine Novels

These are romantic stories about marriage, children, divorce, parenting and women in the workforce - in unexpected roles and places. They are believable people living believable lives - yet readers say they can't put these stories down.

I ask myself - where else could I choose as the setting for my next novel? Where would be the right place? 

The City of London and Hong Kong Island are old stomping grounds of mine. I've spent years as a resident of Melbourne, famous for its changeable weather, its coffee culture and for being one of the world's most liveable cities. My long days at the wheel on the Hume Highway, driving between Melbourne and Sydney, might inspire a road trip story.  I frequently spend time with my sisters who live in three widely-scattered country towns in Australia - the basis for another rural romance? The Northern Beaches area of Sydney, where I grew up, is famous for its surfing culture and dare-devil kids.

Board Surfers and Pool Surfers at Dee Why Beach, Sydney

A few ideas are percolating for using one of these locations to generate, I hope, a fourth engaging page-turner.

Meanwhile, why not try my latest book 'Still Waters Run Deep', released on 1 May 2022? More details on my website. Order it here.

Stay in touch by following me on Facebook.

 

The love you can't forget

Ideas for stories come from everywhere. 

 Years ago, a group of young men and women living in the share house next door to me included a pilot - a hunk with his choice of girlfriends. 

(Lacking a photo of him, I've used the next best thing, my mother's hunky pilot cousin Peter Boulton.)

Peter Boulton, RAAF

But one 'ex' had left her mark on my neighbour. 

 An adoring flatmate of his complained to me he was never the same man afterwards, and would (figuratively) bite everyone's head off whenever that girl's name was mentioned. 

He couldn't let go of her memory and couldn't move on - just like Sarah in 'Still Waters Run Deep'.  Her story will be released on 1 May 2022.

Order your copy of the book here https://books2read.com/Still-Waters-Run-Deep.

Follow Louisa Valentine on Facebook or visit the website she shares with her alter ego, Louise Wilson.