How is Friday #1: How to be a Deft Book Giveaway Hunter

In the realm of book hoarders, one of the most pleasing way to overload your stacks is getting books for free. Recently, for aught one knows, in Indonesia it is in fashion for publishers and/or writers of new-released books to hold blog tours. Blog tour is a kind of virtual tour which involve some bloggers as hosts, for book blog tour, the hosts are mostly book bloggers. A blog tour can lasts for a month or more or even less, depends on the event duration for each host (mostly 3, 5, or 7 days) and the number of the hosts. The event usually covers book review, ask author, and giveaway. Since most blog walkers look forward to the giveaway, it's as if the giveaway is the center of the blog tour. Whatsoever, by giving some books away, the publishers/writers aims to make their new books known by the public.

Not only publishers/writers, but also book blogger his/herself holds independent giveaway for some reasons, usually to celebrate the blog's birthday or other special occasion, to tidy up his/her overloaded stacks, or to raise the blog views. Had I been both a giveaway hunter for almost a year and a book blogger who sometimes holds giveaway, I want to suggest these trifling tips for you, if you wanna be a deft book giveaway hunter:

1.

Follow the social media account of publishers, writers, and book bloggers. Most of them use Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram (but mostly Twitter--in Indonesia) to share information about giveaway. Some Indonesian publishers regularly hold quiz with book as the gift, such as Bentang Pustaka, Gramedia, and DIVA Press.
If you don't know who are book bloggers to follow, you can do the point no. 2 below.

2.

Once you participated in a blog tour's giveaway event, you can mark all of the book bloggers who contribute as host. Follow their social media and blogs (if you are also a blogger). There are many Indonesian book bloggers who very often become blog tour hosts, so I follow them, both on Twitter and Blogger/Wordpress.

3.

Join online bookish forum/group, like Goodreads Indonesia and Blogger Buku Indonesia (if you are also a book blogger). For example, in Goodreads Indonesia forum there is a topic under the discussion board of Agenda Buku & Kabar Buku, entitled "Info Giveaway dan Kuis Buku Lainnya" (Information of Giveaway and Other Book Quiz), in which the book blogger/publisher/writer share the information.

4.

Don't secede from your gadget for days in a row, or you will miss the giveaway of certain book that you really want.

5.

Once you decide to try your luck in a giveaway, follow the instruction carefully or fulfill all the requirements, for example you must follow the blogger's Twitter account, share the giveaway link through your social media, post a comment under her/his certain blog post, and answer a question.

6.

The host is likely to give an open question, so try to be unique than others, but keep your answer concise. The host will read each answer, so it is very possibly, if there are a lot of participants, he/she get tired and reluctant of your long-winded answer. Even, maybe he/she just leave such kind of answer unread. If later you have been an experienced giveaway hunter, who have been accustomed to answer giveaway question and have won many times, you will be able to predict what kind of answer that is likely to be liked by the host.

7.

Some bloggers now bring more creative giveaway system, like asking you to make photoquotes, persuade the book writer via tweets about why you must be the winner, or guess a riddle. If this is the case, you still need to be creative and unique.

8.

Sometimes, when they just ask you to write your name on the comment column, for then the winner will be randomly chosen using random picking device, like random.org or miniwebtool.com. If this is the case, you just need to pray so that you can be fortune enough to win.

9.

If a blog tour gives the book that you very extremely want, you'll have more possibility to win if you participate in the whole tour. If there are 4 blog hosts, and you participate in all the four hosts' giveaway, your possibility to win will be raised to 4 times as compared to if you participate in one host's only. It sure worked on me when I want a free exemplar of Marry Now, Sorry Later novel so badly that I answer each question in each host's giveaway time. I didn't win here, here, here, but then finally I win there.

Do you have experience in hunting free books? Feel free to share in the comment column below! :D