First Puttaparthi shop sale of paperback copy of my book "Who am I? I am I ..."; Three Puttaparthi shops where it can be bought on advance payment
Last updated on 10th Dec. 2018
Shri Venkitachalam Iyer of Puttaparthi is the first person to have bought paperback copy of my book, "Who am I? I am I - Ultimate Existential Reality Answer; Vedanta; God and Science conversation", from a Puttaparthi book shop for Rs. 240. Thank you Venkitachalam Iyer sir. I hope you find the book worth the money you spent purchasing it. Note that I have chosen not to get any royalty money or any sales commission money - so I don't get any money from such sales. But the seller, the self-publishing platform (Pothi.com) and the printer profit from such sales and I am perfectly fine with that.
He picked up his copy from Music Mandir shop around two days back. I had helped set up the transaction which involved Music Mandir shop first placing an order with Pothi.com here: https://pothi.com/pothi/book/ravi-s-iyer-ultimate-existential-reality-answer-vedanta-god-and-science and paying Rs. 159 + shipping cost to Puttaparthi of Rs. 50. If I recall correctly, it took around a week to 10 days for Music Mandir to get the book.
I similarly helped another shopkeeper in Puttaparthi, G. Sainath of Sri Sai Xerox, to go through a similar process of ordering the book.
Note that this book was later put up on amazon.in and flipkart.com [see https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2018/11/my-who-am-i-i-am-i-paperback-book-gets.html for details]. That necessitated a price increase to Rs.199 from Rs.159.
The lowest price of Rs.250 for the book purchase from a shop in Puttaparthi using advance payment is at the amazon.in shop whose details are given later on in the post.
The book can also be ordered in advance at the following two Puttaparthi shops which are nearer to Ganesh Gate. But buyers will have to pay Rs. 280 for the book. Typically buyers will need to make an advance payment of the full Rs. 280 to one of these shops. A week to ten days later they will be able to pick up their copy of the book from the shop where they made the advance payment.
At times, the shop may have a ready copy to sell to them right away. But that would be an exception rather than the norm.
Given below is the contact information for two such Puttaparthi shops close to Ganesh Gate:
1) Music Mandir, Opp. Ganesh Gate, Contact person: Sayiraj, Mobile: 9440221476
[To open pic in higher resolution, right-click on pic followed by open in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]
2) Sri Sai Zerox, #6 Chitravathi Road, Contact person - G. Sainath (also known as Russian Sai), Mobile: 9700878729. The shop is inside one of the buildings on Chitravathi road. The entry to the passage way to the shop is just before Sathya Jyothi Medical shop on Chitravathi road.
Above pic shows the book in Sainath's shop. [Please excuse the quality of this pic. It could be better :-) but I could not get a better pic with my mobile camera. ]
You have to tell the shopkeeper to search for the book title and/or author name in amazon.in, then identify the book as the product to be bought. [Alternatively, you can share this link for the book on amazon.in: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07K7M2963 .] You can pay him the total charge/price of Rs. 250 which is the rounded figure for Rs.199 for the book and Rs.49 for shipping to Puttaparthi, in advance or pay a lesser amount, say Rs.100, in advance and pay the reminder at delivery time, which will typically be a week to 10 days later. When the book gets delivered to the shop, he will call you up to go collect it.
I made, what I am quite sure must be, the first purchase of my book from amazon.in through this shop on 10th Nov. 2018. I paid the shopkeeper Rs.250 for it (full amount in advance). He is supposed to call me when he gets the book.
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Note that alternatively, interested persons could opt to download for ***free*** the ebook version of the same book here: https://pothi.com/pothi/book/ebook-ravi-s-iyer-who-am-i-i-am-i-ultimate-existential-reality-answer-vedanta-god-and-science-c.
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Given below are some comments on one of the associated Facebook posts, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2320123138204250,
Shri Sai Nellore wrote on 24th Oct. 2018 that he had ordered it online and received the copy within 4 days, and that he is reading it now.
My comments in response is given below:
Sai Nellore - Oh! Thank you very much for ordering it. I do hope you too will find the book worth the money you spent on it. Thanks for letting me know. ... Sometimes it gets printed and shipped quickly.
I would be glad to have your frank view of the book after you read it.
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Sai Nellore responded, in part, that he likes the book being small and that the formatting is very readable.
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I responded:
Sai Nellore - It is a compilation of posts on my core understanding of Vedanta based on writings & discourses of Sathya Sai, Ramana Maharishi and others, and some contemplation and intuitive experience of mine, and on God & Science conversation. If some post does not interest you, you can skip that post and move on to the next post without losing any continuity kind-of information as the posts are separate and independent.
The God and Science conversation stuff can be somewhat intense. But I think it gets to the core issues of the day and tackles 'The God Delusion' arguments of atheist preachers like Richard Dawkins, using wise and balanced views of top scientists of 20th century and current day, notably Dr. Francis Collins, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Collins.
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Sai Nellore responded, in part, that he liked my writing style and did not expect any problems with any part of the book.
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Shri Vr Ganti wrote: Venkitachalam Iyer Sir. Will you ever get the kind of expression of gratitude from author of the book you buy? The greatness goes to Ravi S. Iyer Garu
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Ravi S. Iyer wrote: Thank you Vr Ganti sir for your kind encouragement.
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Venkitachalam Iyer wrote: Ravi enakku migavum piditha nanban
Vr Ganti wrote: Venkitachalam Iyer Appadiya
Venkitachalam Iyer wrote a big smiley icon.
Ravi S. Iyer wrote: Venkitachalam Iyer sir, My Tamil is not all that great. I could not make out what you said sir.
Venkitachalam Iyer wrote: I said that you are a lovable friend
Ravi S. Iyer wrote: Venkitachalam Iyer sir - Thank you very much!
Ravi S. Iyer wrote: Venkitachalam Iyer - I also offer you my love and gratitude.
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In response to a comment on one of the associated Facebook posts, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2338117033071527, I wrote (slightly edited):
I am exploring and learning a lot about how to create sales channels for a self-published book (paperback copy) with limited sales potential. These posts share my experience of this exploration and learning. I think it may help others who would like to take the self-publishing route to share their spiritual and religious writings. ... Book promotion and creation of sales channels are absolutely vital. Only self-publishing the book and stopping there may not be doing justice to the hard work done in self-publishing the book.
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An Indian correspondent who has self-published book(s) in India wrote me over email in response to some of the above content of this post (and was OK with public sharing):
Marketing and selling your book is usually the most difficult thing for an author (they certainly were for me!). Publication of your book shows you have skills in writing and the endurance and determination to get it completed -- not to be belittled. But those skills are quite different from what is needed to market your book.
Despite this, you seem to be doing remarkably well! Good luck with your book.
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I (Ravi S. Iyer) wrote back (slightly edited):
Well said --name-snipped-- and thanks for your encouragement.
To be honest, I don't expect much sales of my book as it is on philosophy and God & Science which topics attract only limited number of readers. And me being a kind-of nobody reduces the probability of sales quite drastically.
However, I want to satisfy myself that I have done what I reasonably can to promote the book and to set up sales channels for the book, even if it is largely an advance-payment sort-of sales channel. I also need to put up easily available information for any person who comes to know of my book and wants to know about sales channels for it in Puttaparthi through Google search.
Once that is done then even if there are no sales, I will not feel bad as I would have done what I reasonably could. In particular, I would not have any feeling that I neglected promotion and setting up of sales channels in Puttaparthi for my book.
BTW Google search (from incognito Chrome browser window) for: Puttaparthi shop for Ravi Iyer Who am I? book
lists two of my posts given below as the top two results:
1) First Puttaparthi shop sale of paperback copy of my book "Who am I? I am I ..."; Three Puttaparthi shops where it can be bought on advance payment, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2018/10/first-puttaparthi-shop-sale-of.html [- this post].
2) Where to buy paperback copy of "Who am I? I am I - Ultimate Existential Reality Answer; ..." book for delivery in India, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2018/10/where-to-buy-paperback-copy-of-who-am-i.html
These posts provide up-to-date information of sales channels and mode of payment. So I am satisfied that I have made it easy for interested persons to Google search for such info. and get it.
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