Review: Fascinating look into Contests and strategy
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 10, 2014
The “Contest Guru’s Guide To Winning Contests” is an interesting concept for a book. It was originally published as a paperback under the title, “Winning Ways,” and has now been reformatted for Kindle so that it can be kept up to date. What this books aims to do is break down the types of contests, which ones to avoid, which ones to go for, where to find them, and how to protect yourself from scams and law/regulation. For a seemingly simple topic, it is actually rather complicated, and I really appreciate the breakdown of the individual contest types, their sub-types, their drawbacks, and their worth.What I don’t want is for anyone to read this review and to think it is easy. Right off the bat, the author states that people can make a job of entering and winning contests, and in chapter 4, which covers where to find contests, it becomes evident that to really be effective requires a bit of time and effort. You’re essentially playing a game of numbers, whereby the expected value is the weighted average of the probability of winning and value of the prize. The law of large numbers, as any mathematician would know, says in this case, that, the more you play, the more likely it is that your winnings will converge towards the expected value. In other words, it pays to play.On a side note, what becomes even more interesting is that, in actuality, the author is essentially describing an ignored section of the new economy. Contests and promotions are marketing tools, and contestants are the “employees” of this marketing economy. It’s really a fascinating case study of a relatively new economy that has been boosted in recent times by technology and electronic connectivity.Back to the matter at hand, while I have yet to apply any of these tips in real life, I might keep them in mind when I am out and about, or online, and I come across a contest. If I win were to win even one contest using these tips, the book will have paid easily for itself. At the minimum, this book is a very interesting look into real-life probability and psychology, and at the best, it could be your ticket into an untapped economy.