Do Instafreebie Group Giveaways work? And if they do, how so?

I’m part of a “Group Giveaway” through Instafreebie this week. Let’s see how that’s working out for us.

Here’s the deal, at least as far as I understand it:

1. Someone sets up the Group Giveaway with their own book in a certain genre.
2. They let other authors know about it, ask if they want to join. We join.
3. Set dates, upload books, configure how we want to interact with readers (e.g. do we require that they sign up for our mailing list to download the book?), etc.
4. Promote, share, like!

We’re now at step #4 and this is where it gets interesting. How does an author promote all of these other authors? Well, easy! We’re giving away free books and more free books in the same genre.

Many authors giving their books away at the same time? Sounds like a good way to get some attention from readers we might not otherwise reach, right?

So far, that seems like the main benefit: reach to new readers through other authors. I have some email addresses now to add to my mailing list and it’s also exposure to not only other readers, but to other authors in the same genre.

I’ll post back with more updates. Until then, what harm can it do?

Instafreebie is helping promote our Group Giveaway today (March 9, 2018) in their list of Group Giveaways:

Instafreebie Group Giveaway Dashboard

We can see how many “claims” on each book is being downloaded.