Let’s start with the free stuff.
I have joined other fellow steamy writers, to bring you hundreds (167, to be exact) of samples, excerpts, and free romance stories. I’ve scheduled this newsletter with Canada Day and the 4th of July weekend for the Americans and Canadians among us, who will now be able to celebrate with some steamy reads.
Last week, here in Israel, a big financial scandal broke: 120 million NIS (that’s around $35 million), had gone down the drain and into the pockets of scammers. My first thought was: Oh, I want to use this story in one of my books!
Then I shook my head in frustration. The story was too out there - my readers would think I lost it and that I’m just making up fantastic stuff now.
Read on and see if you agree.
This scam was instigated by Adi Cohen, a materials engineer by training, a big man with a confident manner. He claimed to have access to an innovative metal - a Japanese magical powder which would enable the auto industry to produce lighter cars, and battery manufacturers to make batteries run for more time.
Totally plausible, right?
Cohen prepared pretty-looking PowerPoints, and showed potential investors term sheets for multi-billion dollars deals with Toyota and Sony. He had brokered them, he said, through a Japanese middleman named Suzuki. (I’m not making this up, I swear).
And, amazingly, it worked. Adi Cohen convinced a long and illustrious list of venture capitalists and high-tech angels to give him millions of dollars.
What made these seasoned investors give him, and not another entrepreneur, their money?
Cohen used ‘marquee names’, distinguished personas with gravitas who generated trust. Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes, recently convicted of investor fraud, had people such as George Shultz and Henry Kissinger on her board. Cohen, too, recruited Israeli royalty, and partnered with a legendary Israeli Chief of General Staff.
Is there a cautionary tale here? of course there is.
No matter how confident the entrepreneur is, or how respectable his supporters are, everyone assuring you of riches just waiting to be ploughed. You should remember that Start-ups are the riskiest, most illiquid investment there is. Years pass by before a return is made.
If you decide to invest, do so with money you can bear to lose in its entirety, and more importantly - don’t invest it all in one company. Diverse!
And on that cheery note–here again is the link to a diverse selection (see what I did there?) of steamy stories – well worth the investment of your time.
Enjoy!
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