Half-price deals for new Goodreads Giveaways and KDP authors get go-ahead to offer Kindle ebooks in program

Goodreads is offering special 50%-off introductory pricing until the end of January on its new Giveaways program to help authors promote their books to readers.

KDP authors can now give away print or Kindle copies of their books to Goodreads members through either a standard or premium giveaway package.

The new program is initially open only to US residents and is claimed to offer new high-impact features to drive increased book discovery and reader reviews.

Goodreads says authors and publishers have been asking for additional marketing features, including more ways to reach readers, and automatically adding the book to the Want-to-Read lists of anyone entering the giveaway.

For the first time, Kindle Direct Publishing authors can run giveaways for Kindle ebooks, previously only available to traditional publishers.

The new program replaces the current giveaways program and will go live on January 9.

The standard package costs $119 for up to 100 copies (either Kindle ebook or print book).

The premium package costs $599 and offers special ‘Featured’ placement on the highly-trafficked Giveaways page, as well as all the features of the standard package.

Goodreads is offering special introductory pricing of $59 (save 50%) for all standard giveaways and $299 (save 50%) for all premium giveaways created between January 9 and January 31.

The Goodreads Giveaways program was launched nine years ago and traditional publishers have been using them to great effect. Giveways have been credited with being a key factor in helping the massive best-seller The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins break out to early success.


New features of standard giveaways include:

  • Everyone who enters your giveaway automatically adds the book to their Want-to-Read list, promoting your book via updates in their friends’ updates feeds, and building an audience for your title.
  • The author’s followers and anyone who has already added the book to their Want-to-Read list get a notification, letting them know there’s a giveaway starting. This helps generate even more entries, creating more stories in the Goodreads updates feed.

New features of premium giveaways include:

  • Exclusive placements on the Giveaways homepage on Goodreads with tens of millions of visitors each month, giving your giveaway significantly more visibility and more entrants.
  • The premium package also includes the new features of the standard deal shown above.

You can find out more about the Giveaways program on the Goodreads website.

Goodreads is, of course, owned by Amazon which runs its own Amazon Giveaways which are nothing to do with the Goodreads program. You can find out more on the Amazon website.


Goodreads adds Kindle ebooks to giveaway promo deals but the first titles are free already on Kindle Unlimited