A few months ago I reviewed The Last Israelis by Noah Beck. Noah produced the first draft of his novel in just ten weeks, which is not much time to research, write, and refine a manuscript. So he took advantage of the many months involved in producing a second edition of his book (this time adding paperback and audiobook formats) to make many editorial refinements along the way. Noah also have a wonderful blog in which he writes of his experience in marketing a his book, dealing with publishers and other professionals which makes a fascinating read.
Noah has been kind enough to offer one Audible downloads of the audiobook to three winners (each one is a $20 value) on the condition that the winners will write and post a review.
If you don’t want to wait for the giveaway, you can buy the paper, eBook or audio version today.
Giveaway
Giveaway ends: May 29, 2013
A valid e-mail and Audible.com account is needed
- Winners’ email address will be shared with Mr. Beck for the sole purpose of sending them the free download code
- Winners MUST write and post a review
Congratulations: allibrary@, studying.forensix@, etotschinger@
3 Comments
Thanks for the introduction to a new author. Always looking to read new books.
I subscribe to book review sites because I am looking for something new to read. Nowhere in this giveaway did it require that I provide a POSITIVE review APPROVED BY THE AUTHOR once completing the book. I am happy to win a book, and I provide the same review on 3 websites but never before did I receive a page long diatribe by the author. I typically find something positive to say about a book and if he was concerned about negative reviews he could simply have stated, positive reviews are appreciated. My integrity is worth more than the $6 that I could get this book off kindle for. Offer this giveaway to someone else. Copied and pasted below is his email:
Hi there,
[Zohar] hs informed me that he selected you for a giveaway of the audiobook version of “The Last Israelis.” Congrats on being selected!
Before I give you the download code for the audiobook, I’d like to get your agreement about a few things:
a) I am looking for reviews on Audible, Amazon, Goodreads, Library Thing, and TheReadingRoom.com. It may seem like a lot of work, but this would really just involve copying and pasting your review and rating from Audible to the other four sites.
b) I don’t know how you tend to review books that were given to you for free, so what I’m about to say may not apply, but I’m going to say it just in case…While honesty definitely contributes to the utility of reviews, it’s hard to give away a $20 benefit in exchange for something harmful (a bad review). So if you want the unbridled right to excoriate my work and publish your critique, I think you should take a risk and spend $20 on the audiobook (or $7.49 if you have Audible credits).
If, however, you’d like to save the expense, then I just ask that you extend me the courtesy of avoiding a bad review because I’m not really looking for more of those (14/81 of my reviews are under three stars) and I certainly don’t have to give away my work for free to get those because they show up all on their own. I have approved a few highly critical three star reviews, so I’m not totally averse to negative reviews, although I do ask that you let me decide whether your review and rating will ultimately be posted anywhere.
I hope you can understand where I’m coming from with this approach.
Now, a few caveats to help you decide if you’re even likely to enjoy my novel:
1) while the book falls into the military thriller genre, it also has lots of history, philosophical debate, political discussions, character study, and inter-personal relations throughout. So it will not always be fast-paced and full of action, and the first third of the book has very little action in it.
2) if you are allergic to profanity, please note that this is a story about a submarine crew facing doomsday, so the language gets a bit rough at times.
If I haven’t scared you away yet, and you’d still like to review the book (on the terms outlined above), then I would be happy to give you a download code for the Audible audiobook.
Please let me know either way, and many thanks for your interest.
Best,
Noah
I had no idea the author would send this letter, when he pitched me the giveaway it was in exchange for a “review” which is normal.
Thanks for bringing it to my attention.