First and most importantly - Yes, we do have a winner…Congrats to Amanda W. who should be receiving her Kindle in the mail any day now.
Second, there are definitely some lessons we learned from running this contest. We thought we would share just in case anyone else ever considers hosting a similar contest:
1. There are a lot of people interested in winning a Kindle. Over 1,000 people totaling up to over 5,000 entries (based on the entry guidelines).
2. If you are going to run a contest with high interest, consider how difficult it will be for the person(s) who will be selecting the winner.
3. If you haven’t considered how long it will be to go through all the entries, plan on lots and lots of time.
4. If you are sharing this between bloggers, develop a plan for how to select and contact the winner and who is responsible for what.
5. Have a back up plan for when “life happens” so that someone can jump in and help another person.
6. Also, clearly have a agreed upon plan for how long you will wait for a "winner" to respond, just in case your first one or two people don't respond.
Finally, we just would like to express our deepest apologies for how long it took to select and announce a winner. We truly appreciate your patience and understanding.
And once again…congratulations Amanda and happy reading.
- Aly (Kid Lit Frenzy) & Lisa (A Life Bound By Books)