Survey Feedback - Giveaway Hops

I've been spending time reading through all the feedback from my Reader's Survey.  1,000 people have filled out the survey so far.

I'm absolutely in awe of how wonderful the readers on my blog are.  I was prepared to have "thick skin" while reading the feedback but unbelievable there have been no negative comments.... NONE!  The feedback I have received has all been positive and constructive. Thank You!!

One area where I received quite a bit of feedback is the Giveaway Hops I host.

I asked the question - Do you participate in the Giveaway Hops I Host?
Here are the responses:

The responses in the "Other" category were most often - sometimes, when the prize appeals to me, I plan to, 1st time visitor or they left specific feedback on the hops.

I honestly appreciate all the feedback.  

Some people love that the hops are so big (there are 370 blogs signed up for the upcoming Spooktacular Hop).
Others are overwhelmed by how big they are.
Some people feel the hops should be limited to only book blogs or that I should put a cap on the number of blogs that are allowed to participate in a hop.
Others want more hops... lots more.
Some people are turned off by the number of hoops some blogs make people jump through to enter their giveaway.
Someone commented that it would be nice to have notice of when the sign ups for hops are going to open.

All very valid points.

I've been thinking about all the feedback and have decided on a few things.

I am going to start hosting more hops.  Please don't ever feel like you need to participate in every hop. If you just want to host a giveaway on your blog a couple times a year that is fabulous.  Or if you can only enter a few of the giveaways each time that is great too.

I know the hops I host are large but I'm not one to exclude people so I will not be putting a cap on the number of blogs who can participate.  I will however be mixing things up.  There will be a gift cards only hop, a hop for just young adult books, one for just children's book, a hop not solely for books, etc.  Some of the hops will only have 1 entry allowed such as the upcoming Gratitude Giveaway, others will only have a couple entries allowed, none of the hops I host will ever have more than 6 total entries possible.  My hope is that by adding more opportunities and more variety I will be able to meet the needs of more people.

I have been opening up sign ups for each hop about 6-8 weeks before the hop starts.  I'm going to shorten that time to 4 to 6 weeks before the hop. I will post the giveaway image and the date the hop opens in my sidebar a few days before I open the linky.

I try to participate and promote blog hops hosted on other sites as well (as long as they are family friendly sites).

I have created a really rough schedule of 2012 Giveaway Hops that I will be hosting: http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/p/giveaway-hop.html