Join my Advance Reader Copy (ARC) team

But before you sign up for your free book, please read these guidelines carefully, so that you understand what to expect from me, and what I hope to get from you.

Picture of the book 'The Foreign Aide', showing the crescent moon and stars in an evening sky above a smoking city landscape. In the foreground is an Arab shisha pipe. The whole scene is framed in an Islamic-style arch. The author's name is Alan Miles, and there's a question beneath his name - 'Who can you trust in love and war?' Underneath the book is a crumpled shirt, bloodied at the left shoulder. And just showing beneath the shirt is a brown manilla envelope. At the top of the picture there's a newsflash: 'Launch-date: June 9, 2026'.
Overview

The idea is simple. You’ve enjoyed reading the opening chapters of ‘The Foreign Aide’, and now you’d like to finish the story. Not waiting till June when the book is published, but right now.

I want readers just like you to discover ‘The Foreign Aide’. Books have a chance of getting noticed if there’s a buzz surrounding them at launch, with plenty of thoughtful, honest reviews — especially on sites such as Amazon and Goodreads.

So our deal is that I send you a free digital copy of the book right now, and you agree to write and post a review at launch-time in early June.

Absolutely not! You will get the book if you sign up to the ARC team, but I recognise that early enthusiasm for a book can wane … or sometimes life just gets in the way. I can’t force anyone to write a review. But it would really help me if you do.

If you haven’t yet read the sample chapters here on the website, then please do. ‘The Foreign Aide’ is a challenging read, dark in places. You may question or disagree with the morality of the characters and the views they express. This is a book about the Middle East, then and now, a region where our prejudices are often hard-wired. So before you sign up, I want you to be sure that this is your kind of book.

I’m not saying this because I only want ‘good’ reviews. Considered criticism is just as important as considered praise. What matters is that potential readers should hear how you reacted to the book. Which characters did you love or loathe, and why? Did the storyline work? What did you learn? — were there any new insights? Does the book still resonate with you, and if so, why? Who should read the book? Who should not?

Not a problem. Your review can be just two or three sentences long. But don’t just write ‘Great book’ — or ‘Terrible book’, for that matter. Give reasons. Say something that shows you’ve actually read the book, something that may pique a potential reader’s interest.

You’ll find a few reader reviews on my Home page, to show you the sort of thing that would be helpful. (You’ll see that one Amazon reviewer really disliked Richard, the narrator, in the first edition of this book. That’s OK — it was still a great review.)

I’ll also be sending the occasional email in the period up to and just after launch, to help you along. I’m not going to tell you what to write, but I will give guidance on where, when and how to place your review.

After you sign up below, you’ll get an email reply from me, usually within a few minutes. (If you don’t see it within an hour, check your spam folder, just in case it landed there. Failing that, contact me.) In the email you’ll have a link to a site hosted by BookFunnel, my trusted partner for delivery of the Advance Reader Copies. On the BookFunnel page you’ll be able to download the full version of my novel. Apart from any small changes or revisions that I may make before my June publication date ( — please let me know if you spot any errors), this is the final, properly formatted and proofed version of the book.

This is why I’m using BookFunnel. Their straightforward instructions allow you to download my book on any device — a dedicated ebook reader, your computer, tablet or mobile phone, and it’ll work perfectly. And if for any reason you run into problems, BookFunnel has an experienced tech team standing by, ready to get you up and running.

If you download it, yes. So that’s why you should download the file, to your e-reader device or to your computer, even if you are just using the ‘Read Now’ button on the BookFunnel page without downloading the book as you get started.

Note that for safety reasons (as a defence against piracy), the link I send you will expire after 14 days, but the book you’ve downloaded will remain readable. If you miss the 14-day deadline, BookFunnel can restore the link, but to save everyone time and trouble, please try to use the link before the expiry date.

I’ll be delighted if you talk about the book with friends, read it together, or let them read for a while on your device. But please, please, don’t share the BookFunnel link I’ve given you with anyone, not even close friends or family members. Of course, when we share a link with a friend, we don’t mean any harm to come of it, but what if they share the link? … and then it gets shared again? … and eventually it lands in the hands of someone who sees an opportunity to make easy money? That’s how piracy can start.

I should tell you that as a precaution to protect their authors, BookFunnel places a secret unique watermark inside each of the digital books they distribute, so that in case of any significant piracy, we’re able to track the problem right back to its source. 

So yes, please do find friends who might like to read ‘The Foreign Aide’, but direct them to the sample chapters here on the website. And then, if they like what they read, perhaps they’ll sign up as ARC team members as well. 

I’m afraid you’ll have to wait till the launch date, June 9th, when ‘The Foreign Aide’ will be available as a paperback, a hardback and an audiobook, as well as the digital version.

But if you’d like to place a pre-order for any of the above, head over to my Miles Posts Bookstore, opening for business from May 1st, where you’ll find all versions listed. Because I’m in control of the Bookstore, I can do anything I want with it. Like discounting orders taken before the publication date. Or offering package deals to customers who want to get all versions or to buy several copies as gifts for friends. Or sending out signed copies. The possibilities are … several!

I hope I’ve covered everything. But if there’s anything that isn’t clear, or something you think I’ve missed, just mail me at alan@milesposts.com.

There’s just one more thing to say. I have two mailing lists. One is for my ARC team, to send you the ARC link and to keep in touch on an occasional basis. The other is for subscribers to my regular fortnightly newsletter. If you’re not already getting the newsletter, you might think about signing up for that as well. It’s where you’ll find links to all my posts in each two-week period — including an upcoming series of articles about the writing of ‘The Foreign Aide’ — as well as all my latest news.

To avoid confusion, the form below is ONLY a request to become a member of the ARC team and to get your free ARC book.

If you’d like to read my latest newsletter and sign up as a subscriber, you’ll find all the details here on the Home Page.