Readers Could See Significant Drop in Goodreads Giveaways

Reader website Goodreads has just announced they will be charging authors for doing a book giveaway promotion. The giveaway feature allows authors, particularly independent authors and small publishing houses, to get their work in front of readers. The free feature however, will be ending on January 9, 2018.

In an email sent to all author participants at Goodreads, they announced they will be instituting a pricing program.

Here’s how the pricing work according to their release:

The Standard package which costs $119 for up to 100 copies (either Kindle ebook or print book). The new Goodreads Giveaways program, which replaces our current Giveaways program, will go live on January 9, 2018, and will initially be for giveaways open to U.S. residents. 

We’re also introducing a Premium package, offering special “Featured” placement on the highly-trafficked Giveaways page, as well as all the benefits of the Standard Package. The Premium package is $599 and is available for either print books or Kindle ebooks.

This new pricing structure will mean far fewer giveaways for readers, and will close the door to many smaller publishing houses, as well as authors.