Competition terms
Terms for the International Review of Books monthly referral competition. Last updated 5 November 2026.
Promoter
The promoter is Advanced Social Media Services Limited, trading as BooksGoSocial (the International Review of Books is its brand), registered in Ireland, CRO number 552165, registered address Argus House, Malpas Street, Dublin D08 Y273, Ireland (“we”, “us”). Contact: laurence@bgsadmin.com.
Agreement to these terms
By entering, you agree to these terms. They are always available at internationalreviewofbooks.com/competition-terms.
Free to enter
The competition is free. No purchase is necessary, and no payment of any kind is needed to enter, take part or win. The only requirement is a free subscription to our newsletter.
Competition periods
The competition opened on 5 November 2026. Each calendar month is a separate competition. It opens at 00:00 on the first day of the month (for November 2026, on 5 November) and closes at 23:59:59 on the last day of the month, Irish time (Europe/Dublin). Counts reset at the start of each month. The competition continues month by month until we give at least 14 days’ notice on this page that it will end. That notice will not affect a month already in progress.
Who can enter
The competition is open worldwide to people aged 18 or over. It is void where prohibited or restricted by law, and entrants are responsible for making sure that taking part is allowed under the laws where they live. Our employees, contractors and their immediate families, and anyone else professionally connected with running the competition, cannot enter. We may ask for proof of age and eligibility before awarding a prize.
How to enter
Enter on internationalreviewofbooks.com/competition with your first name and email address, confirming that you are 18 or over and accept these terms. Entering also subscribes you to our free weekly newsletter, and your entry only becomes valid once you have confirmed your subscription by clicking the link in our confirmation email (double opt-in). One entry per person, with one email address and one personal link. Entries made in bulk, through third parties or by automated means are invalid.
How the winner is decided
This is not a prize draw, and no element of chance decides the winner. The winner of each month is the eligible entrant whose personal link brought the most counted sign-ups during that month.
How sign-ups are counted
A sign-up counts for you when someone opens your personal link and, within 30 days, subscribes to the newsletter on our site and confirms their subscription by email. Each email address can only be credited once, ever, to one entrant. Your own sign-up doesn’t count for you. A sign-up is credited to the month in which it was made, and the person must still be subscribed and confirmed when we check the results, within 7 days of the month ending. People you invite must sign up themselves. Never submit someone else’s email address.
Fair play, verification and disqualification
Fake, duplicate, disposable or automated (bot) sign-ups, sign-ups made without the person’s knowledge or consent, sign-ups obtained by paying or rewarding people to subscribe, spam, multiple entries, and any other attempt to manipulate the results will lead to disqualification. We may check sign-ups, ask you how they were obtained, remove any we reasonably believe aren’t genuine, and withhold or reclaim a prize won in breach of these terms. Please share only where sharing is allowed, and follow the rules of the platforms you use. Our decision on eligibility is final.
Ties
If two or more entrants have the same number of counted sign-ups, the winner is the one who reached that number first.
If nobody qualifies
If no eligible entrant has at least one counted sign-up in a month, no prize is awarded for that month.
Prize
Each month there is one prize: a $100 (US dollars) Amazon gift card*, or the equivalent in local currency, for the Amazon store in the country where the winner has their Amazon account (for example Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk), delivered by email. Local-currency amounts are based on the exchange rate on the day the card is bought, and may be rounded to the nearest denomination available. If we can’t supply gift cards for that store, we will give an alternative of equal or greater value. There is no cash alternative, and the prize cannot be transferred. Any tax on the prize is the winner’s responsibility.
Notifying the winner and claiming the prize
We will email the winner at the address they entered with, within 7 days of the month ending. The winner must reply within 14 days, confirming their eligibility and which Amazon store they use. If they don’t reply, or are ineligible, the prize goes to the next-placed eligible entrant, who will have 14 days to reply. We will send the prize within 14 days of the winner’s confirmation.
Announcing the winner
After each month, we will publish the winner’s first name, the initial of their surname and their country (for example, “Sarah K., Ireland”) on the competition page, and we will make this information available on request. If you don’t want this published, or want less published, email laurence@bgsadmin.com at any time. We will still have to share the information with an advertising regulator if they ask for it. The live leaderboard shows first names with a short tag only, never email addresses.
Your data
We use your first name, email address, link code and the sign-ups credited to it to run the competition (under these terms) and to prevent fraud. Newsletter emails are sent with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time by unsubscribing. If you’re in the UK or EU, you have rights under data protection law (GDPR). Full details, including how long we keep data, our service providers, your rights and how to complain to the Data Protection Commission, are in our Privacy Policy.
Liability
We are not responsible for entries or sign-ups that are lost, delayed or not credited because of technical faults, email filtering or browser settings (for example, blocked local storage). Nothing in these terms limits any liability that cannot be limited by law, or your statutory rights.
Changes
We may amend, suspend or end the competition where necessary, for example because of fraud or technical problems. Any change will be posted here and won’t affect sign-ups already counted for a month that has ended.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of Ireland, and the Irish courts have jurisdiction. This doesn’t take away any mandatory consumer protections you have under the law of the country where you live.
*Amazon
Amazon is not a sponsor of this promotion. Gift cards for other Amazon stores (such as Amazon.co.uk) are subject to that store’s gift card terms. For Amazon.com Gift Cards: Amazon is not a sponsor of this promotion. Except as required by law, Amazon.com Gift Cards (“GCs”) cannot be transferred for value or redeemed for cash. GCs may be used only for purchases of eligible goods on Amazon.com or certain of its affiliated websites. For complete terms and conditions, see www.amazon.com/gc-legal. GCs are issued by ACI Gift Cards, LLC, a Washington corporation. All Amazon ®, ™ & © are IP of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. No expiration date or service fees.