To keep it short and sweet today, there's nothing wrong with doing a book giveaway. There’s also nothing wrong with handing a free book to someone if you really want to. However, nothing gives off the vibe of desperation more than chasing after readers, or even worse, other writers, offering them free books in exchange for reviews. Great things are worth the money and a zero price tag instantly devalues your work. It automatically inserts into the person’s mind “how great could this novel be if the author has to hand it out for free?”
A much better approach is to focus on driving traffic to where your book is sold. Once you get sales, reviews magically take care of themselves. But if you get ahead of yourself and give your book away, you are simply working against what you are hoping to accomplish.
Let’s suppose that people who get free books consistently do the reviews like they’re supposed to–and a lot of times this doesn’t happen. But even if you get 15 or 20 reviews on Amazon or somewhere else by using the “here’s a freebie” method, it won’t automatically translate into sales if no one is clicking on the link to see these great reviews. (And a word to the wise: giving your book away sometimes leads to negative reviews you would not have otherwise received.)
You put a lot of work and effort into the creation of your novel. Don’t tattoo “I’m desperate” on your forehead after all that time and energy. Advertise, do podcasts, schedule book signings, get a good book trailer made and post on social media, but don’t hand away your hard work for free and fool yourself into thinking it will propel you to stardom. It won’t. Write on!