I want to give away one of Seth's books but how

[kingjacob]

I have had an amazing first week of october already topping last months earnings so I want to celebrate by giving away either the purple cow, the dip or one of his other books. Though Im not sure how I should decide who gets the book. Part of me wants to do it like every other blog contest on the planet and get the links. The other part of me is thinking you hate those blog contests do something creative, so the winner doesnt have to be a blogger.

I guess I could put one of my random email address' in the feed and have people mail in "tickets" but then how would I know if they were duplicates. What do yall think?

[ses5909]

You could always ask people to leave a comment saying what they've done to overcome "the dip" or something related. Whoever leaves the best comment wins the book?

[shyflower]

Oh I hope this isn't a faux pas, but who is Seth and why would I want one of his books?

[kingjacob]

http://www.onedegree.ca/images/posts/SethGodinbyJohnAbbott.jpg
This is seth (http://sethgodin.com/sg/bio.asp)
he founded squidoo.com and you'd want one of his books if you want to run your company better or just want to do better business/marketing in general.

[shyflower]

Okay so now I know. I've probably seen his blog before, but the name just didn't ring a bell. Thanks kingjacob. :)

[Michael Martin]

Well whatever you do, I imagine I'll want to enter. I've never read any of his books, though I'm subscribed to the blog. :D

I like sara's idea. Link bait competitions may not be recommended anymore (David Airey's site was penalized in part because of this), and do less people enter? Asking a good question (And giving the best answer the prize) is more fun because it focuses on your loyal readers in particular, it generates a great discussion, and it's much more interesting to read than a list of "I'm in!"s.

And you'll still get the odd link back I imagine. :) (Especially if people took the time to write really good replies)

[kingjacob]

Well whatever you do, I imagine I'll want to enter. I've never read any of his books, though I'm subscribed to the blog. :D

I like sara's idea. Link bait competitions may not be recommended anymore (David Airey's site was penalized in part because of this), and do less people enter? Asking a good question (And giving the best answer the prize) is more fun because it focuses on your loyal readers in particular, it generates a great discussion, and it's much more interesting to read than a list of "I'm in!"s.

And you'll still get the odd link back I imagine. :) (Especially if people took the time to write really good replies)
Yah, Ive never been a big fan of the whole blog contest thing which is why I was asking, though I think asking a question and whomever gets the answer wins and if more than one person gets the right answer, pick at random from those people, Now to come up with a really good question that cant be googled:-?

[ses5909]

You could make the question subjective rather than a correct or incorrect answer and then you pick the answer that you feel captures it best. If there is a tie you could just link to the other peoples blogs as an honorable mention.

[Dan Grossman]

He's a smart guy and I'd like to read his books. Haven't gotten around to it yet. He did write the foreward for "Word of Mouth Marketing" which I read not too long ago.

[mamab]

I have done contests where you have to type a paragraph and put it on your blog, and then come back and link to my blog. I'm not sure how well they work.

[Michael Martin]

Yah, Ive never been a big fan of the whole blog contest thing which is why I was asking, though I think asking a question and whomever gets the answer wins and if more than one person gets the right answer, pick at random from those people, Now to come up with a really good question that cant be googled:-?

I was thinking of a more debate-like question tbh. You know the sort of thing where answers aren't right or wrong; they're all personal opinion.

Blogging Tips - Blog tips, news, resources & marketing (http://www.bloggingtips.com/) (Down at the minute, or I'd get ya a direct link) do monthly debates, where they ask questions like "What do you think is the future of blogging?" There are no right and wrongs, and because the answers are so open and varied, you get a really good discussion that is really worth reading. :D

For your book, you could even ask something like "If you could read only one tech book, what would it be?" - You'd get a huge variety of answers, and actually end up with a really useful resource (A list of honest recommendations). Just an idea of course. There are loads of others. :)

[kingjacob]

How about, "How do you think the monetisation of the blogosphere has effected the quality of journalism?"

[ses5909]

I like it.