FAQ: The Best Seller Challenge

The Story Shares Best Seller Challenge

FAQ

Q: How does the competition work?

A: All books can be purchased here. Beginning on Nov. 15, any copies sold of your paperback will count towards your overall sales tally. We’ll be doling out prizes as sales hit the benchmarks. (So, once 10 copies of your book have sold, you can already win a bonus graphic and shout out. And if 100 copies sell, you’ll get featured in our magazine + your book will be turned into a hardcover!) If your book is the Best Seller by midnight on Dec. 31, you will win our benchmark prizes AND the grand prize (more details on prizes can be found here).

Q: Why participate?

A: Why not!? But also: 1) share your accomplishments + published paperback with everyone you know! Impress your family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances with the impact you're making in literacy. 2) sell your book! Whether you've chosen to receive royalties or to donate them to SS, your book sales will generate valuable money. 3) win prizes! 4) help SS fulfill our mission by generating energy and funds for this work.

Q: What's the author’s role exactly?

A: You are your book’s #1 advocate! We will the provide materials, and you will reach out to your networks. (We’re creating customized materials for each of you, which you can use as-is or replace with any approach of your own!) Your task is to text your family members, email your friends, post on your FB and Twitter pages… engage all the people who care about you to pitch in and grab a copy of an awesome book! You can be as active as you’d like in the promotion of your story. Just think about how many people would love to spend $10 to support you, to get their own copy of your book, and to support literacy if you simply asked! If you don’t use much social media, or are not comfortable advertising your own work, perhaps you could enlist your son, daughter, sister, or husband to campaign on your behalf!

Q: How can I find out the # of copies I’ve sold?

A: We’ll be keeping track behind the scenes. Because we have a small team, it might be hard for us to accommodate individual update requests throughout the challenge, but we will send you a tally update for your book’s sales at the midpoint and then once more as we approach the end! We will also keep you informed as you reach new benchmarks!

Q: When will the winner be announced?

A: January 8, 2017

Q: Who can I contact with questions?

A: Email Angela or Louise with any questions that come up: angela@storyshares.org & louise@storyshares.org

Q: Why this contest happening instead of the Relevant Reads Story of the Year contest?

A: A couple reasons. The first is that we are excited about this new paperback collection and we want to get the word out about all of the amazing characters and worlds you have created. Since contests are part of our DNA at Story Shares, we thought a bestseller challenge would be just the thing -- creating energy and awareness about your published books! We are also at a key transition point with Story Shares, about to embark on a new and exciting phase. We’ve been focusing the majority of our time and energy gearing up for this, and decided to postpone the annual contest as a result. (The Story of the Year Contest is actually our favorite part of the year, but we want to be sure to do it right!) We will let everyone know once the next one is officially on the calendar.

Q: Where do people go to purchase their copies of my book?

A: All paperbacks can be purchased online at our Relevant Reads Lulu Store, which you can find here: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/StoryShares. Also, we recommend that you find your specific book on that site, so that you can share the direct link to purchase your story. (You’ll notice that there are 6 pages of books, so click through if you don’t see yours right away).

Q: What if one author has multiple books vs. me just having one? How will those totals be judged against each other when determining the winner?

A: We will tally up all book copies sold per author in order to determine the overall winner. For authors who have one book in the store, this means the total # of copies sold of that one book. For authors who have more than one book, this means the total # of copies sold of those books combined. We’ve decided that this is the most fair approach -- whether you have 100 people all buying one book or 50 people buying one book and 50 buying the other, you still have the same grand total of book sales!

Q: Do authors get special discounts for purchasing books? Can we buy a batch ourselves and then sell them to our networks directly?

A: We will be highlighting various discounts throughout the challenge, so that you and/or your networks can try to buy the books with the best deal! If you are interested in buying a large batch of your own book and then selling them directly to the people you know, there are bulk discounts that can be applied on top of any sales currently running. You will find a breakdown of these bulk discounts below.