I’ve decided to run 12 days of giveaways, and give away cool and fun things that only a writer could truly appreciate. This is all the stuff I’d like to buy for myself, basically, but I’m giving it away instead. I’m also giving away a bunch of publishing and book design services.
‘Tis the season, after all.
I’ll run the giveaways from December 1st to December 12th (I’ll add links to this page tomorrow). If you want to win any of the following items, click the link and sign up to win. Each contest is a little different, but usually you have to like or tweet or share something, and you get more entries if other people sign up using your link.
PS) Even if you’ve already entered, you can share again.
Most of these giveaways are using “Gleam” – my new favorite giveaway software. Each has several different ways to enter; you don’t have to do all of them. If you “refer friends” you should use the unique link, grab the image and use it to share on Twitter or Facebook directly (if you just press the sharing button, it won’t share the image… you’ll be more successful if you include the visuals).
What you can win
Awesome book shaped lamp
A lamp that glows when you open it.
Glowing Book Lamps
Edgar Allan Poe Lunchbox
I’ll even fill it full of your favorite cookies. Edgar Poe Lunchbox giveaway
Shakespearean Insults 2016 calendar
You’ll get my little book of Intimidations and Ultimatums as well.
Shakespearean Insults 2016 Calendar
Awesome book-pillows!
Win a bookish pillow (Perfect for late night reading)
The Zombie Guide to Good Grammar
This is a side project I’m working on – you can help if you want, I need zombie examples. Or enter to win a free book (it makes a great gift).
The Zombie Guide to Good Grammar
Inflatable wizard hat for cats
(maybe you can make him disappear for awhile so you can type in peace). Wizard hat for cats (and HP stuff)Win and I’ll throw in these two Harry Potter plushies I got from Etsy, and the phoenix feather wand I got when I supported the Harry Potter castle.
Heated gloves that plug into your USB
I LOVE these… so great for typing in winter. Heated gloves that plug into your USB
Writer’s Tears whiskey ($50)
Make some Irish coffee and keep writing. Must be 21 to enter. Writer’s Tears whiskey
Iron cast tea pot set + tea ($75)
These heavy pots are a little impractical, but they’re beautiful enough to make up for it, so I had to include one.
Cast iron tea pot
$150 voucher at CreativeLive
Education is priceless: I got this voucher at a conference but I want to share it; there are some amazing courses on CreativeLive. I recommend Tim Grahl’s course on Selling Your First 1000 books, but there are lots of specific courses on marketing, social media, blogging and business. $150 voucher at Creative Live
Antique Typewriter ($175)
I bought 3 of these for a photo shoot and have given the first two away. Win the last one! I’m not sure that it’s functional, but they are pretty and add great ambiance. Win a typewriter. Put some style in your writing.
My course on book marketing ($197)
After writing a few books on the subject, I decided it’s much easier to show people how to do stuff online with video tutorials. This course is a guided walk through to making a stable book marketing platform that sells books on autopilot.
Free book formatting ($349)
I’ll format your book for mobi and epub, and your print book with InDesign to make it look amazing and professional. Free book formatting
Free ebook cover design ($629)
I’ll make you a simple (but awesome) ebook cover that will sell the book. I won’t give you total freedom, because authors very rarely understand what needs to be on the cover to attract the right readers. Here are some of the covers I’ve made for my own books.
Free ebook cover design
Free full-print book cover design ($829)
Same thing but customized for print (Createspace or Ingram Spark). I’ll take care of spine width, back cover copy, barcode, and everything else. If you’re entering for both the ebook and print book, and want to do the “write a blog post” option, you can just write one blog post, link to both diybookcovers.com and bookcovers.creativindie.com, then use your same post to enter both. Free print book cover design
Author Platform review and marketing plan ($2500)
I’ll review your platform, books and Amazon pages and suggest fixes and upgrades. I won’t do everything for you, but it should be enough to double your traffic and email list (and probably sales; but that entirely depends on how readers respond to your books).
Author Platform Makeover
The 2016 Nanowrimo Castle ($5000)
And then there’s this: one month free stay in a castle next November. Should be epic. It’s kind of insane. Click here to enter.
For Grammar Police…
I just added another giveaway on the BookButchers site; you can win some cool grammar mugs and stuff. Check it out.
Happy Holidays!
I’m doing all this for fun, and to thank my followers for an exciting year. If you like it, please share this page with your writer friends, or write a blog post about it, or share some of my free resources. Thanks!
PS) You should totally be running giveways to build your own email list, followers and traffic… I wrote an article about getting started HERE.
115 Comments
Nice Giveaway! If I MUST decide, I think I want the Shakespeare calendar the most!
Oh my gosh. So many epic ones. I think I’m most excited about either the typewriter or the Author Platform review giveaway! 😀
This is really cool stuff!!! *_*
This is so awesome!!!
Oh my… I can’t choose! Right now, the book lamp looks gorgeous, but the book pillow is so clever!
Thank you for wanting to celebrate and share with us! This is an awesome giveaway! I really do like a lot of what you’re giving away.
The lumio lamp!
I want to win the whiskey the most because there’s nothing better than winding down with a glass of whiskey after writing all day.
How to choose?! If it is only one, I would love the whiskey. The CreativeLive voucher is cool too.
Author Platform Review, Cover Design and formatting are awesome! But honestly I would be over the moon to win any of these amazing prizes. These are great Derek!
Been wanting to try the Writer’s Tears for a while now…
Love this!!
I would like to win the whiskey because I dig me some whiskey and I have shed many a tear over my writing, whether recalling emotional stories from my life or fearing I’ll not succeed as a writer.
Thanks for the giveaways!
Very creative and awesome prizes here, Derek!
I would most want to win the book light because it is just so unique and lovely.
Really cool gifts and great ideas. Hmmm glow in the dark lamp book or whiskey? Also, interesting that you did the 12 days of Christmas at the first half of the month. On my website I ran an ugly sweater Christmas contest…won’t spam you here…but thought my idea was hellua-corny- cool.
Wow author platform make over, book cover, course….oh my…..only thing missing is a night in a castle to write…..Wow-za.
Awesome idea
Good luck to the winners 🙂
This is awesome thanks!
Actually all prizes are awesome but I think my favorite is the book lamp.
My, my… These are truly some awesome gifts! Thank you very much Derek!
I entered a few and, if my book was already completed, it would have been great to try also for the bigger prizes, like the formatting and your plan.. I hope these will be won by someone who deserves them!
Wishing luck to everyone! But, mostly, to me 🙂 Hehehe 😉
All are amazing prizes, but the typewriter is something… I won’t say anything more, just that I truly hope to be chosen for that one 🙂
I’d love the antique typewriter or to be able to write IN A FRIGGIN CASTLE. Amazing prizes you’ve put up! Good luck, everyone.
This is a great giveaway Thanks for the opportunity and good luck to anyone that’s entering!
I don’t know if I could call myself a writer yet since I haven’t finished any books. But I do write. These things are heaven for readers & writers! I want to at least receive one for Christmas. 🙂
Oh…I can’t really chose so I’d try for the ones I like the best. You seem to have only stunning ideas!
Thanks for this opportunity!! I would love to win the glowing book lamp thingy the most!
What a fun giveaway! I would love to win any of the prizes, but my first choice would be the heated gloves. They’re just so ridiculously awesome! I live in Taiwan, where winter doesn’t last very long, but the cold weather is intense (because of the humidity) while it’s here. I often wear fingerless gloves when I type, so those would be perfect!
I’d love to have the Shakespearean Insults 2016 calendar and your little book of Intimidations and Ultimatums, because it sounds perfect for my son..
What great gifts. I hope I win something. I’m not a writer, but I’d love the castle stay just to get away from everyone and everything.
The lamp rocks but my most favorite of all is the cast iron tea pot. I really love that… very very very much. . Gosh, I hope Canadians can enter.
Thank you for the gift idea on behalf of my grateful friend 🙂
Thank you for the gift idea on behalf of my grateful tea drinking friend who loves teapots. As for me? I’d like the formatting yes, that would be fantastic.
When I write , I love to fuel with my green smoothie
These prizes are great!
Oh boy gifts custom chosen for writers. I love them!! I’m torn between the book lamp and the book pillow. The pillow I think!! Dear Santa . . . 😎
entered! great, fun gives 🙂
Such awesome prizes!
Thanks for making early December fun for writers!
Well, I sure don’t want the cat’s witches hat, that’s just asking for major medical bills. I really like the book lights which I’ve just started seeing about a month ago. I also like the month in a castle. I’m not a writer, but it would be a neat experience living in Europe for a month and traveling around.
Thanks so much for all of these!
I want the book lamp! It would be perfect for my bedroom!
Happy Holidays! I love these giveaways because they are so neat 🙂
Thank you
What fun gift items! I think I need an hour to explore this site!
I love everything on this list and would be happy to win anything!
That book lamp is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Love it! The book pillows are neat, too, and who wouldn’t want to spend a month writing in a castle? Great giveaways!
So cool! I love them!!
I love the typewriter and the book lamp!
These are all amazing! I’m a Poe fan, so the lunchbox would be my favorite. Happy Holidays to you too!
Which prize do I want most? Honestly, I would be happy with any of them! But most of all, probably the author platform makeover.
This is such a cool idea :3 the book lamp looks awesome!
This is an awesome collection of gifts. I’ve been eyeing that booklight since I saw it on Shark Tank.
Awesome! Really cool gifts and giveaways! Especially love the book lamp! Typewriter! O, you sure know us book nerds! or fans! =) Thanks!
Great gift ideas!
There are so many amazing prizes to be won. Every time I scrolled down, I found a prize that I wanted even more than the previous or conflicted with the previous. I think my favorite is the Glowing Book Lamp though. It would be so lovely to have in my home.
GREAT giveaways!
I love that Shakespearean calendar <3
I’ve been trying to find an antique typewriter for ages. If I don’t win it, I still want to buy one. Where did you get it?
Great giveaway! This is fantastic and generous, with the platform makeover and the writer’s conference trip. Thanks so much for hosting this!
That book lamp is amazing! I love it so much! I can see it on my dresser now! I love the writers tears whiskey, too. So funny!
Amazing prizes for any reader or writer. I want them all, thanks for the links.
Thank you for having these giveaways!
That book lamp is just epic, and the light in my room broke just a couple of days ago, coincidence? I think not.
I’m pretty simple – I’d love those book pillows or even the book lamp! How fun.
The book pillows and book lamp are the most popular, I’m going to give away 3 of each. 🙂
I really like the glowing book lamp! It’s really cool!
I am kind of in love with all of these prizes…how could you not be? But I am probably most excited about the book lamp, book pillow, antique typewriter, the cast iron teapot, the course on book marketing…okay, pretty much everything!
What an amazing giveaway! I love the humor in some of these gifts.
Is it just me or are these the coolest prizes ever? Love these giveaways!
I would most love to win the glowing book lamp!
I love the gifts!!My personal favorite is the book lamp:) You always do the coolest giveaways!
I like it all, lol!
This is a really amazing idea. Thank you so much! I love the whiskey.
This is..so awesome….
Thanks so much for all these epic giveaways! I really appreciate them as a booklover and writer myself. I can imagine myself in that castle, taking a photo of the castle, every room, every ornament that looks cool and all my books in the areas as well. *le sigh*
This is the best giveaway I’ve seen Derek. I just love that book lamp and pillow. Hahaha! Very cool. 🙂
So many amazing items for anyone who loves books!
OMG would love to win all of them!
I would love the book shaped lamp. It is pretty awesome!
I don’t write but I love my coffee when I read.
So I feel like I should want the higher value stuff, but I’m in the mood for something less practical that instead I can use as inspiration to get writing. Also, I’m a serious HP fan, so I want the wand, plushies, and cat wizard hat the most, followed by the book lamp and book pillow, because those look delightful.
I love these prizes! If I don’t win any of them they’re definitely going on my Christmas list ^ ^ Great writer presents, that’s for sure 😀
I definiteliy love the book lamps, but my kids would love the Harry Potter items and the usb gloves would be great for my hubby!
Awesome stuff! Thanks for offering all of this!
Awesome Gifts. Thank you very much for the chance to win 🙂
Thank you for being so supportive of the indie author community!
Great idea 🙂 and fun, too…personally, the vintage typewriter had me salivating (sorry for the image!), they are just gorgeous 🙂
what a great giveaway! the book lamp is pure magic!
Super prizes. Best contest I’ve entered.
These are fantastic gifts not only for writers, but for just about anyone with a creative personality! Seriously a great giveaway considering how many personalities it caters to.
I really like the book lamp! My lamp hasn’t been working in ages. This is a great giveaway.
I really like the book shaped pillow 🙂
I’d most like the Book Pillow because I know I would use it every day. And it looks so amazing!
My favorite is the glowing book lamp! It’s so beautiful and creative 🙂
Honestly, I love al of them! The Shakespeare Insult Calendar is definitely one of my favorites.
Definitely the book pillows would be my most wanted item on here!
These gifts are super cool!! I’m loving the book lamp and book pillows <3
I love the Glowing Book Lamp! The Cast Iron Tea Pot comes in at a close second. Beautiful!
What an awesome idea!
Great stuff Derek. Love the videos!
Absolutely awesome and adorable!
Thank you for the giveaway! Happy Holidays – sherry-soule
Love these giveaways! I absolutely love this site. Great resource for writers!
Love these prizes! Would love the book lamp or pillow!
I absolutely LOVE these things, but as a self-published author I think I would love the free book cover best!
Wow. These gifts are fantastic! I’d love the book light , the Poe lunch box, & book formatting the most. Thanks so much:-)
Comment entry..The item in your generous #12DaysOfChristmasGiveaways that I would most enjoy winning, would be the Glowing Book Lamp. So unique and inspiring. #DerekMurphy #Author #BookDesigner @Creativindie
Comment entry.. I’d love to win any of these because they’re cool things that you don’t come across often! Would be lovely gifts for my family and friends.
Comment entry…these are super cool gifts. Anyone who has a creative streak or would love to have one would adore any of these.
You might be one of my new favorite people. Writing in castles? YES! (I just spent October, my birthday month, visiting as many as I could. It helps that I live in Europe, but still). Fun writerly giveaway things? YES! NaNoWriMo? YES!
Fantastic giveaways, Derek! Learning so much from all you share – thank you!
Oustanding giveaway, Derek!
Every gift is unique and special.
The book lamp and the book- pillow are the gifts that I want the most to receive. The first reason- both of them have the word ‘BOOK’ in them!
And the second reason, the book lamp has the meaning of enlightenment that the books give us and for the book- pillow, you can use it for short naps when you’re really tired and you’re writing.
Happy writing!
I’m definitely a morning bird.
First let me say thanks for these wonderful giveaways! Your generosity is so awesome! I would be gifting to my son. I know he would love the book lamp. He is a voracious reader and is growing his own library of books. Thank you again and best of luck to everyone!
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