The Audible Giveaway
Posted on July 25, 2012 Posted by John Scalzi 17 Comments
Yes, folks, I am aware that Audible is giving away an audiobook copy of “The Sagan Diary” to some of its members as part of its “Christmas in July” promotion. They asked if they could, and I said, sure, what the hell. Audible and its listeners have been good to me so far; this is a nice way to say thanks. So if you’re an Audible listener who has been given the book as a gift, congrats and enjoy.
If you’re not an Audible listener and are thinking, aw, man, I want a free listen to an audio version of “The Sagan Diary,” too, then go here. It’s a different version (featuring narration by Mary Robinette Kowal, Elizabeth Bear, Ellen Kushner, Karen Meisner, Helen Smith and Cherie Priest) but it is also free. Enjoy!
So, not to be all complainy and everything, but apparently Christmas in July doesn’t apply to Audible listeners in Canada, although I’m actually okay with that because I don’t like Christmas, anyway. And I don’t feel like downloading nine different files because I like my audiobooks in one big chunk, so I’m going to express my displeasure by buying the audiobook from Audible. So, there!
I got this email this morning, and was stoked! Thanks for letting them do this!
Just snagged my copy. :)
Leila: I’m in Canada and I got it. You should’ve received an email from them with a link to it if you’re a member.
It makes me chuckle that so people would be guarding your interests for you. Just dont do a William Shatner “Get a life people!”
I was trying to understand the logic behind this give-away since I saw it this morning , and frankly I still don’t get it.
I mean I get why Audible wanted to give *A* book away, Surprising and delighting your customers is always a good idea, but why this particular book?
When giving away such a book there is always a hope that a certain percentage of the readers would decide they like the book and move on to other books by the writer.
However , The Sagan diary is very different from the vast majority of John’s work.Which is fine. A writer need not be a one trick pony. But it also means that liking/disliking the Sagan diary is not a good predictor for liking/disliking the rest of of John’s work.
this would mean that :
a)Many people who would buy one of the other books based on their like of The Sagan diary would be disappointed.
b)Readers who are prime candidates for enjoying Scalzi may decide to write him off completely.
c)Readers who happen to like The Sagan diary “mode” and also like the OMW “mode” would still be hurt by the spoilerific nature of the former.
Gilles: Still no Sagan Diary love for me from Audible. Maybe only certain types of accounts qualify. That’s okay. I’ll survive. This time. Thanks for the note, though.
Squeee!
Thinks! This is awesome!
Thanks for letting Audible do this and for pointing out that this is a different version than before.
Hmm, I wonder what the ‘ Amazon data miners are up to.
I was offered my choice of these 5:
The Sagan Diary
Dominion
Mistletoe and Margaritas
In Session: Dr. Morgan Snow with Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone, Lee Child’s Jack Reacher & Barry Eisler’s John Rain
The Autobiography of Black Hawk
The Sagan Diary was put forth as the one that I probably wanted based on my prior purchase of SF titles and the others were suggested as alternatives. So did everyone here who got one get the same choice for the other four titles. I wonder how many different titles were offered.
All of the offerings were fairly short.
I got mine. Worked out pretty well, didn’t want to use a credit on such a small book. Figured I would catch it on sale one day, but free will do.
downloaded the freebie files provided, thanks! I concatenated them together with Audacity for ease of stuffing on my iPhone.
might even see if I can get the audible version free too, or just buy it. it’s always interesting to hear multiple interpretations.. :-)
Audible has great content but unfortunately their DRM is a dealbreaker for me. Well I can’t even use it with Linux anyway, even if I didn’t mind the DRM.
John, if you had to choose between the two versions (Audible vs. multiple awesome people) which would you recommend?
Wait a minute – having Cherie Priest reading that particular chapter is not going to help cure my Cherie Priest infatuation. You’re an enabler Scalzi. A filthy enabler!
Funny, all of their giveaways were 2 hours or less. I like longer books. I loved Android’s Dream.