Hard Listening Sweepstakes
Five people will be chosen at random to receive a poster of Hard Listening autographed by Stephen and the authors of the Rock Bottom Remainders. Seven additional runners-up will be chosen to receive a Rock Bottom Remainders hat.
This sweepstakes is sponsored by Coliloquy and is limited to US residents only. Enter now!
More info
Official Rules
This sweepstakes is sponsored by Coliloquy and is limited to US residents only. Enter now!
More info
Official Rules
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message 1:
by
Asia
(new)
Jan 03, 2014 02:17AM
US only, it's a pity. You have fans all around the world!
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Usually give-a-ways like this are US only because of taxes, import/export customs duties, laws of other countries, and cost of shipping is more costly and complex than the prize is worth. Sad but this is the world we live in.
Many of the Good Reads giveaways are to US & Canada, some worldwide. :)
Correction, MOST of the Good Reads giveaways are for US & Canada, & many to elsewhere in the world. Books don't usually get snagged at customs for duty.
I have to agree with Asia, too bad it's only in the US. My sister, who just wrote a book, shameless plug *The Distracted Yogi, How I regained my Bliss after Brain Injury and Trauma*, was willing to give 5 copies to winners from around the world, on her own dime and she lives on disability.
To be honest, I know how much shipping costs, because I send a lot of postcards around the world, and the difference in is really small if we're talking about stamp and some post-costs.
Yes, sending a couple of postcards or a package here and there can be cheap. But publishers run hundreds of promotions in a year and that adds up. Postage, shipping, promotion, overhead, with all that it might just not be worth it, with the amount of sales the promoted book would see in country X. Plus there is liability, every country is different. Here is an informative article on the subject.
It's a pity... I'm from Chile and have no chance to participate... :(
Look at the bright side, your from Chile, a great place to be from.
I'll also add that sometimes "US Only" stuff also has to do with merchandising. Nick Cave's novel "The Death of Bunny Monroe" had a signed first edition, first printing run in the UK, but they didn't ship it to US readers.For better or for worse, Nick Cave released another printing of the signed edition with the exact same design (casing, cover, extras, and all)- but the US publisher of that signed edition was the second country to pick up a signed edition- so the copy I settled on getting direct from the US publisher wasn't technically a "first" edition. (This is why at one point I ordered my signed Joe Hill hardcover from Powell's Books. They know what's up! Everybody goes to them to ask about the provenance of a printing run. Lol!)
Anyway, the issue with the import/export restrictions on the first edition signed "Death of Bunny Monroe" meant that those copies sold like hot-cakes and you'd have to look for that publisher's logo and trademark on the copyright page of the text from a reseller on eBay or elsewhere. Meanwhile, hardly anybody bought the "first" (note the quote-marks) US hardcover/signed edition directly from that publisher and the demand was really sluggish because it wouldn't be as valuable an investment for book collectors like me to keep on their bookshelf- plus, the fact that it was a re-print depreciated the value of the copy, and you'd make a few bucks less from that edition if you had to sell it to a reputable independent or long-term book-dealer in a pinch.
So, yeah, sometimes the "US Only" restrictions are about good marketing tactics by using scarcity- but I can also sympathize with overseas shipping-and-handling costs, too. I shipped an art print or two overseas before and calculating the additional shipping-and-handling was a major hassle. I totally sold an H.R. Giger print I had at a loss about three years ago because I sent it to somebody outside the US. :( Ack.
Disappointed that no other country can enter.... You do have fans in other lands... Good luck usa...
Man that sucks, what about fans from other countries? Oh well:L
