Giveaway | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's books

When Amazon giveaways first appeared, back in 2016, I was enthusiastic about them. Within 24 hours, I had gained an amazing 774 new Amazon followers at a cost of $40.

Soon, however, everyone jumped on board. Costs rose, returns declined. My latest giveaway resulted in no winners. So, I stopped using them, thinking them unusable.

Now, it looks like everyone else has reached the same conclusion, including Amazon. About a week ago, it announced that the program is to be discontinued.

If you have credits from previous eBook giveaways, you can use them to create new giveaways until October 10, 2019. Customers can enter giveaways until October 17, 2019.

You can also download any remaining eBook credits as Kindle claim codes from the Amazon Giveaway dashboard. Claim codes do not expire, and can be gifted through social media channels, or directly to fans, followers, friends, or family members.

Any unused credits that are not downloaded as claim codes will be refunded by November 30, 2019.

To find your giveaway credits, look for giveaways with the “Use prizes in a new giveaway” button, under the “Completed” tab on the Host Dashboard.

While the giveaways program is retiring, you can still buy eBooks as a gift to share with your readers at an event, via social media, or through a newsletter.