Originally reviewed on February 22nd, 2008.

When I was married, my husband bought me copies of every book on sweepstakes and contesting he could find. I now have an entire shelf of them dating as far back as 1932. It has been very interesting to read books from different eras, from different perspectives and see how the hobby has evolved and changed over the decades.

The first book I will re-review is The Prize Winners Handbook by Jeffrey Feinman published in 1980. It is currently out of print, but you can find used copies online.

(NOTE: I have been buying used sweepstakes books on Thrift Books. If you wish to do the same, please use my referral link.)

What makes this book a very interesting read is that Jeffrey was the President of Ventura Associates. I was lucky enough to interview Al Wester, the current General Manager, for the American Edition of my book so it was really neat to glance backwards and see how they used to run sweepstakes vs. how they run them now.

I really like the fact this book was written from the perspective of a seasoned marketer. Someone who had created and managed sweepstakes for years. Here are Jeffrey’s tips to the Secrets of Winning:

1) Enter often.

2) Follow the rules.

3) Know where to spend your time, money, effort and postage.

4) Judges are human.

5) Be on the lookout for sweepstakes.

6) Set aside a certain amount of time each day to enter.

7) Read the rules.

Some points may not make too much sense in this shortlist, but he does go into greater detail in the book. Jeffrey’s full explanation of tip #4, Judges are human, I think is the most fascinating because he describes what entrants can do to increase their chances of winning including using colourful, decorated envelopes as the judges can be swayed!

I was also lucky enough to meet Jeffery at the 2008 Annual National Sweepstakes Convention as he was a speaker and had him autograph my copy.

Jeffery wrote a previous book in 1976 called How To Win! Sweepstakes, Contests, Lotteries and Bingo, then wrote a new book in 2017 called The Expert Guide to Winning Sweepstakes. I have yet to read either but promise to review them in future posts.

Have you read any of Jeffery Feinman’s books?