Finally...

[cosmic_troll]

After several months of wanting to buy Yogani's books, but not being able to afford them, my boss gave me an Amazon.com gift certificate for Christmas. So of course, I spent it on 3 of Yogani's books (Samyama, Tantra, and Diet). I look forward to reading them and writing reviews on Amazon.

According to their confirmation, I should receive them by Christmas Eve. Which is awesome!

God bless Yogani for these wonderful books, and YOU for your daily practice. You benefit all beings through your AYP practice, whether you're aware of it or not.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, all AYP folks.

Peace out
Cosmic

[NagoyaSea]

Joy to you also Cosmic! I'm so glad you will have these books!

Kathy

[emc]

Have a great holiday, Cosmic! Merry Christmas to you too!

[Jim and His Karma]

No Deep Meditation book? That's one of the best ones!  I bought a bunch of 'em to give away as presents when they first came out, and still have a few, and you're welcome to one. Shoot me your address via email if interested.

Actually, I'll send two or three if you know people who'd want to read it...

[cosmic_troll]

Hi Jim,

Thank you for your kind offer of sending me the books. Actually, I bought Deep Meditation a year ago, but have been unable to buy the following books as I wanted to. I agree it's a great book

Anthem has sent me the books I am missing, in response to this post (Thanks Anthem). And thanks Shanti for also offering to send me books. So thank you Jim, but I now have them covered...

This just tells me that 1.) AYP people are generous and willing to share these lessons and 2.) Therefore the practices must be working

Thank you all for your kindness and generosity.

Kathy and emc, I wish you the best holiday season...

Merry Christmas everyone!

[NagoyaSea]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Cosmic!!!!

What a glorious day!
Light and Love,
Kathy

[Jim and His Karma]

Cosmic, glad to hear it!

Hey, if so many people are willing to send these books around, why don't we institute a buying group? Whoever's interested would commit to buying however many copies of each title, and other people can draw from that stockpile in filling out their collections (maybe some could go to libraries, too). Make sense?

Fortunately, Yogani puts out reasonably priced little booklets, rather than yachts or sports cars, so this might be a viable way to support Yogani's efforts while getting good info out there to readers who otherwise wouldn't own EVERY title (an increasing problem as there are more and more titles!).

Just an idea....

[cosmic_troll]

I think it's a wonderful idea, Jim.

How exactly would it work? Would someone actually hold onto purchased books until they are requested by others? Would it be more like a fund that anyone could tap to purchase the books they need?

I like the idea of sending copies to libraries, too. Prisons, hospitals, and churches may be good candidates as well.

Those of us who've been doing these practices for a while would probably agree that this is something to share with everyone...

[Jim and His Karma]

I think ad-hoc/informal makes the most sense. Just some of us agree to keep on hand extra copies, then we all take an even more generous approach to offering them to forumites who come around, since we know it wouldnt' get out of control and bust any single one of us. We could trade off on who does the sending at any given time. And the offer would be done publicly, rather than back channel (though address would be provided back channel), so that onlookers could see the offer and avail themselves.

It wouldn't "cut into book sales" because, of course, we'd be buying 'em at full price anyway. And if some people who could well afford every book decide to take advantage of the generosity, it's still not the end of the world. Massive abuse of the privilege would be easy to spot.

The nice result is that it'd spur those of us with a general interest in supporting Yogani's efforts AND in getting word out via a specific action to channel those desires. That's more realistic, probably, than a vague request to simply "buy books" or support via PayPal.

There are nine of these little books....I'll buy a set of one of each from Amazon. Total cost, just $100. Anyone else with me on this? The more of us that do it, the more generous we can be in throwing them around to forumites and others. And if they don't move too fast, we can donate them to libraries.

[Shanti]

quote:Originally posted by Jim and His Karma

There are nine of these little books....I'll buy a set of one of each from Amazon. Total cost, just $100. Anyone else with me on this? The more of us that do it, the more generous we can be in throwing them around to forumites and others. And if they don't move too fast, we can donate them to libraries.

I bulk order the the books directly from Yogani Take Advantage of Quantity Discount for AYP Books and have a few sets handy to give out or mail out when required.

[Anthem]

quote:Originally posted by Jim and His Karma

I think ad-hoc/informal makes the most sense. Just some of us agree to keep on hand extra copies, then we all take an even more generous approach to offering them to forumites who come around, since we know it wouldnt' get out of control and bust any single one of us. We could trade off on who does the sending at any given time. And the offer would be done publicly, rather than back channel (though address would be provided back channel), so that onlookers could see the offer and avail themselves.

It wouldn't "cut into book sales" because, of course, we'd be buying 'em at full price anyway. And if some people who could well afford every book decide to take advantage of the generosity, it's still not the end of the world. Massive abuse of the privilege would be easy to spot.

The nice result is that it'd spur those of us with a general interest in supporting Yogani's efforts AND in getting word out via a specific action to channel those desires. That's more realistic, probably, than a vague request to simply "buy books" or support via PayPal.

There are nine of these little books....I'll buy a set of one of each from Amazon. Total cost, just $100. Anyone else with me on this? The more of us that do it, the more generous we can be in throwing them around to forumites and others. And if they don't move too fast, we can donate them to libraries.

Hi Jim,

Great idea, I'm all for it. I'd rather buy the books for whoever wants them right from Amazon and send directly to them, as it saves a step in the shipping process. So if people make their requests and send us their mailing info., one of us who is interested in helping share the books can just go on-line and send them out.

We would just need to communicate who's turn it was or who wanted to do it, so we didn't end up filling the request twice.

A

[Shanti]

If you are ready to spend $100 on a set of books from Amazon + SH.. order 2 sets of books from Yogani at bulk price and ship it to me. I dont mind mailing them as and when required.

[Jim and His Karma]

quote:Originally posted by Shanti

I bulk order the the books directly from Yogani

Shanti, yes, that's what I did with the Meditation book as well. But, per above, if we don't pay full retail, and offer these books to all comers, it will reduce Yogani's income. If we give away lots of books bought at discount price, in other words, that would eat into Yogani's profits whenever we send books to people who'd otherwise have bought the books themselves at full price. I only give my discount bulk books to people I know would not have otherwise found them or bought them themselves. Forumites are the most likely full-retail customers, however.

Anthem, of course you're absolutely right. my way is more laborious and more expensive. Yeah, let's make it an Amazon buying service. BTW, FWIW, I have Amazon Prime, which means I pay $80 per year and get free fast shipping on everything...including sending to third parties. If anyone plans to do a bunch of this...or orders from Amazon a lot, generally, it definitely pays. With no shipping cost to factor in, I buy my toothpaste, et al, from Amazon!

[yogani]

Hi All:

Great idea, and I hope many books are given away. As you know, I did a lot of that in the past myself, but it got to be too much.

Just so you will know, the income here is not eroded by using the AYP quantity discount program referred to by Shanti above. It is 55% off suggested retail, plus shipping. The 55% is what distributors and retailers make in the traditional channels, so giving that for a quantity discount order does not affect revenue here. When Amazon (or anyone) discounts the retail price, it comes out of the 55% and does not affect AYP financially either.  

The 45% publisher share comes here no matter whether the books are sold to a distributor, large retailer, or to someone using the 55% off quantity discount. The 45% covers printing and overhead expenses to run AYP, or it is supposed to -- still not there yet volume-wise. In any case, how the books are obtained has no impact on that. The more volume the better by any channel, including quantity discount.

I greatly appreciate efforts along the lines being explored. The more books we can put out there by any means, the better. Thanks!

The guru is in you.

PS: Jim -- to clarify, the soon-to-be-completed Self-Inquiry book will be #7 of the 9 Enlightenment Series books currently scheduled. The last two (Bhaki/Karma Yoga and Eight Limbs) are planned to be done by next summer. Besides the E-Series, we have the big AYP Easy Lessons Vol 1 textbook and the Secrets of Wilder novel, so there are 9 books (nearly) available so far.

[Jim and His Karma]

Ok, thanks, Yogani, yeah, I didn't stop to consider Amazon's (large) cut.

So the way to do it is either each of us buying bulk, sending to Shanti and letting her serve as  our fulfillment warehouse, or individually ordering for people directly via Amazon. Since the former's certainly cheaper, and Shanti volunteered (thanks, Shanti), then I guess that's better. If Shanti feels overwhelmed at any time by this, we can always try a different method.

I'll start by pitching in to send some $$ to Shanti to cover postage and envelopes (Shanti, can you email me your address?). No reason she should go to the trouble and also bear that expense.