Review & Giveaway: You Can't Win if You Don't Enter

Sweepstakes has a learning curve just like any other hobby. New sweepers often ask the same questions... things like:

• How can I avoid scams?
• How can I enter more sweepstakes, faster?
• Will I have to pay taxes on my prizes?

Carolyn Wilman's book You Can't Win If You Don't Enter attempts to answer all those questions and more. Wilman, also known as "The Contest Queen", is a longtime "sweeper" PLUS her consulting firm helps companies improve their sweepstakes. This experience makes her the ideal person to write about both sides of the sweepstakes business. She answers the types of questions new sweepers ask, plus she also gives insight from the sweepstakes sponsors' standpoint. For example:

• Why do companies run sweepstakes?
• Do sweepstakes sponsors dislike "sweepers," preferring loyal customers win?
• How are winners selected? Do mail-in entries with decorated envelopes really give people better odds?

Wilman does an excellent job of covering all these things. This book is extremely thorough, answering most of the questions newbies have. It also has a place in the more established sweepers' library, primarily because it's inspirational. She includes lots of stories and photos of her own wins, plus stories from other winners... a great reminder that someone out there really *is* winning all these great prizes. In addition to the stories, she has also sprinkled lots of fun quotes throughout the book that can't help but inspire you — for example, this one from Thomas Jefferson:

"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."

Wilman has a very positive approach to entering and winning sweepstakes, and it's obvious throughout the book. I love this:

"The secret to the hobby of sweepstaking is to make it your own. It is meant to be fun, not work. Everyone could use more dreams, fun and excitement in their lives."

Though she covers all types of sweepstakes, the book is primarily focused on online sweepstakes. The frequently-changing online world means the information could easily become outdated, but Wilman has shown a commitment to updating her website with new information as things change. For example, when one of her recommended pieces of software, Roboform Companion, stopped working a few months ago, she quickly posted advice for a workaround.

I only found a few minor things that bothered me about the book:

• In the section on getting started entering online, she recommends using the same password for all your online sweepstakes entries. I cringed a bit at that. An avid sweeper will be setting up lots of accounts, some of them on websites they may end up ordering from or doing other business with. Instead of risking it, find a more secure password option that works for you. Personally I use a combination of Firefox's "password save" option and the free desktop software Password Safe
• She talks about scams and gives links to online checklists to help determine whether a win notification is a scam. Many checklists make a common mistake that I wish she had mentioned, though. The checklists often say not to give out your Social Security number. While that's good advice in general, you will have to fill out a tax form that includes your SSN if you've won a big prize (over $600).
• She has a tendency to quote large multi-page chunks from various sources, and occasionally that makes it hard to tell where the quoted sections begin and end.
• There's a whole chapter on Law of Attraction, which I'm generally a little skeptical about. Still, I do like the last story in that chapter because it emphasizes something I've definitely found is true. It's not just luck that creates wins... it's hard work and consistency.

Overall, I found this book to be a good resource. I liked the section that had questions and answers from sweepstakes sponsors and judges. I like that she covers sweepstakes law and tax implications, things that aren't always discussed. And most of all, I like her sharing attitude. She frequently uses the quote: "You can't lose helping others win." And she puts that into practice here.

This book covers it all. I recommend it for anyone who's new to sweeping, new to online sweeping, or trying to persuade someone new to join the hobby.

Buy You Can't Win If You Don't Enter for $19.95. OR try it out first by downloading a free sample chapter from her website.

Giveaway: Books for Sweepers

We're giving away a signed copy of You Can't Win If You Don't Enter to one lucky winner. We're also going to throw in a copy of another book Wilman mentions a couple of times, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less. To enter, just leave your name and email address in the entry form below. One entry per person. Enter by 11:55 p.m. on May 21, 2009. Open to U.S. residents ages 18 and older. See the “Details” tab for complete rules.