Tips and experiences ordering recommended books

[thorbiorn]

This post tells, what I got out of writing to the publisher of Cosmic Winter to ask if they would reprint it.

"Will The Cosmic Winter" be reprinted? [this was email subject]

To The Publisher,

The Cosmic Winter by Victor Clube; Bill Napier
Publisher: Oxford, UK ; Cambridge, Mass, USA : B. Blackwell, 1990. ISBN 0631169539 9780631169536
OCLC: 260218755

now costs 240 Pounds!!!! or $ 395 !!!

Is it POSSIBLE to make this important book available for less?

Reviews: _http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0631169539/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 [note I took out the hyperlink by inserting a "_" same done below.]

And if nothing else, what about print on demand technology? _http://www.booksurgepages.com/amzn/outofprint/

Kind regards,

[name]

What did I do wrong? Not clear, too short? Beating around the bush? Well, at least I got a reply from "IND-consumers <consumers(at)wiley.com>"

RE: "Will The Cosmic Winter" be reprinted?[email subject]

Thank you for your inquiry.

The title that you are inquiring about is out of print and there is no other addition available.

If you would like to locate a copy, you can try amazon.com or Book Look at 1-800-223-0540.

Thank you for contacting Wiley.

Does anyone have comments to this outcome?

 

[thorbiorn]

I tried one more time to contact the publisher and got one more reply.

To: IND-consumers
Subject: Re: RE: "Will The Cosmic Winter" be reprinted

To Wiley Consumer Service

Thanks for your reply.

However you suggest that I look at Amazon?

I already did that!

Maybe I was not clear in my first mail.
But those incredible prices of 240 English Pounds or 395 $ that I mentioned, those I found on Amazon!

And there was only one or two left!

So that is why I was thinking it would be reasonable to ask for a reprint of "Cosmic Winter by Victor Clube; Bill Napier". Is that impossible?

Kind regards

[name]

And the reply:

Subject: RE: RE: "Will The Cosmic Winter" be reprinted?

Once a title is out of print, we no longer sale it directly because we are no longer printing it. Therefore, the only way to purchase the title would be from a reseller, such as amazon.com or a local bookstore.

Thank you.

Just checked: Amazon has two copies, (USD 395 and 662) Abebooks one copy, (258 Pounds) Amazon UK one copy, (240 Pounds ), Amazon CA one copy. (1083 Ca$)

 

[RedFox]

After reading your post yesterday, I sent them an email asking about getting copyright permission for making a PDF version available for free (copyright being retained by the publisher/authors).
No reply as of this morning, will keep you posted.

 

[Erna]

thorbiorn, here is SA Exclusive Books pride themselves with finding and ordering any book (that's in print) of which you can supply them with an author and title. They have different shipping methods than an individual for example, and thus, don't charge you for the shipping (it's part of the service), you only pay the price of the book. So it's worthwhile going that route first before going onto Amazon for example (where shipping costs are added). They also don't hold you liable, if they phone you and you tell them you're not interested anymore, they just put the book on the shelf. It usually takes 4 weeks for books to arrive.

I don't know if this goes for all branches, but the ones if tried (Pretoria & Joburg) are pretty effective this regard.

 

[RedFox]

Ok, I have a reply to my email
Anyone got any suggestions as to how I could persue this? Also why it feels like I'm walking across a carefully laid minefield? Feeling kinda out of my depth here.

Dear <snip>

We are unable to grant you free permission to host this title in an online environment. Howver, if you can provide me with further details of your organisation, to whom and how you plan to make the content available to researchers and what password/ID controls you can guarantee I will be happy to provide you with a quote.

I look forward to hearing from you

Jenny Pickles
Associate Director Global Rights UK

-----Original Message-----
From: <snip>
Sent: 28 October 2008 21:26
To: Permission Requests - UK
Subject: The Cosmic Winter by Victor Clube; Bill Napier

The Cosmic Winter by Victor Clube; Bill Napier
Publisher: Oxford, UK ; Cambridge, Mass, USA : B. Blackwell, 1990. ISBN
0631169539 9780631169536
OCLC: 260218755

To The Publisher

I'm seeking permission to make this book available for free in the form
of a PDF. As this book is out of print and the last few books available
are vastly over priced, making it available as a downloadable PDF to
researchers would be very useful.
I understand copyright would be retained by yourselves and the authors.
Would you be able to provide permission to make a PDF of the book
available for free, or could you direct me to anyone who could help?

Thanks for your help

Kind regards

<snip>

 

[thorbiorn]

thorbiorn, here is SA Exclusive Books pride themselves with finding and ordering any book (that's in print) of which you can supply them with an author and title. They have different shipping methods than an individual for example, and thus, don't charge you for the shipping (it's part of the service), you only pay the price of the book. So it's worthwhile going that route first before going onto Amazon for example (where shipping costs are added). They also don't hold you liable, if they phone you and you tell them you're not interested anymore, they just put the book on the shelf. It usually takes 4 weeks for books to arrive.

I don't know if this goes for all branches, but the ones if tried (Pretoria & Joburg) are pretty effective this regard.

Thank you Erna. It is a good idea, as I have paid for making the ordering experiences. Also of the more or less 40 books ordered this time around two have not yet arrived after more than two months. Anyway that is about what I considered possible, when I began, considering that some shops send their books in a rather carefree way. 2 out of 36 packages is 94 % success which is acceptable and who knows, maybe they still come.

In spite of all, there are a couple of titles that I would probably not have got hold of otherwise, i.e. without real efforts.

 

[Erna]

[quote author=thorbiorn]
two have not yet arrived after more than two months.[/quote]

You're lucky that it's only 2 out of the 40 Thorbiorn, with our Post Office's wonderful track record thus far  The South African Post Office was blacklisted by Amazon on the 18th of June 2008 because of continuous theft.

_www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2342428,00.html

Ironically, just after the blacklist they won some or other prize for "Best Company of the Year" or something. 

And I think 2 months is about the new standard these days. All my latest orders took about 2 months to arrive.

EDIT: Oh, and one last thing, Thorbiorn. Always try kalahari.net before you try international retailers, they are local, cheaper sometimes, haven't blacklisted the post office + supporting local business is always a good thing.

 

[thorbiorn]

Thank you Erna for the Kalahari tip. Next time around I shall try to do some genuine SA shopping. :)

[quote author=thorbiorn]
two have not yet arrived after more than two months.

You're lucky that it's only 2 out of the 40 Thorbiorn, with our Post Office's wonderful track record thus far The South African Post Office was blacklisted by Amazon on the 18th of June 2008 because of continuous theft.
[/quote]

I understand the action of Amazon, though when I had to order, I was sad they had taken it. But tell you what; two other books were sent by a friend to my home country, and there the customs charged 35 $ in fees for books that are probably worth much less. Here I pay from nothing to five USD per book, so I should not complain about loosing 50 USD extra on 40 books.

Losses in SA are to be expected although not predictable, which make them a nuisance, it is a kind of forced charity. The books that have not come may still help someone out there. One never knows who might benefit from the content.

 

[Andrew]

Anyone know how long it usually takes for the QFGBookstore to receive they're shipment? I'm interested in purchasing High Strangeness but it's out of stock in North America

 

[Jacques]

Anyone know how long it usually takes for the QFGBookstore to receive they're shipment? I'm interested in purchasing High Strangeness but it's out of stock in North America

Well it does seem available now.

http://redpillpress.com/retail/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=60

 

[Andrew]

Well, I suppose I should have noted the extra links where the book was available. I feel like such a fool

 

[Erna]

Hi thorbiorn, you can try this SA shopping website as well:

_http://www.wantitall.co.za

At a quick glance it looks like they have most titles in the recommended reading list (+ an overall better collection than kalahari.net), which makes me think that they're actually linking to the Amazon database. And with a 7-15 working day delivery it looks like a good bet. The book prices look good as well, and 'to your door delivery' is free  ;)

EDIT: They're definately linking to Amazon, which is cool. All the goodies, without shipping cost and risk of theft!

2nd EDIT: Actually, it looks like they're charging shipping fees, found this in the FAQ section:

8. Do you guys charge a delivery fee and if you do, why isn't it displayed?
We do charge a delivery fee for items. The reason why we don't display it is due to it being calculated partially by the total weight of your order and then the rest is determined by where it has to ship to in South Africa.

And take note of this as well:

14. Why are some of our prices much more expensive than the local stores?
Due to the fact that we import everything from the USA, some items that are available locally may be cheaper due to the high costs associated with importation. If a product is manufactured locally, it will certainly be cheaper to buy it from your local store rather than importing it.

-------------------------------

So basically, now you just have a way to order books from 'Amazon', since they blacklisted us.

 

[thorbiorn]

Hello Erna,

Thanks for this useful research. I actually managed to get almost all the books on the list doing it the hard way. The three or four that as previously mentioned (in another post) did not come after two month have also not come after four, so that loss is confirmed, but a friend managed to get hold of them so they are covered.

 

[thorbiorn]

Update getting the Gnosis trilogy by Mouravieff:

Have been struggling to find Mouravieff's three-part Gnosis. Booktopia doesn't have it. Anybody a good idea where I might find this in Oz?

Pretty hard to come by as I think they're imports, I had to get mine overseas. Adyar has Gnosis I for $82, Gnosis II for $60 and Gnosis III for $55.

I just got all three books for $33.69 on eBay!

At the moment Amazon has all three for USD 91.80. To this one has to add their postage and handling fee which depends on where one is, but can be up to around USD 12 ekstra per book, however to some countries they do not send, like South Africa as previously mentioned.

Another option and maybe cheaper is to get them from the publisher in the UK _http://www.praxisinstitute.net/BOOKSHOP/gnosis_trilogy.htm where the price is USD 89.95 or in British Pounds 69.95 Add to this the postage:

Shipping and handling for: the US add US$ 5.00; UK £3.00 CANADA US$ 22.00; ANYWHERE ELSE US$12.00 for any quantity single order.

Checking the rates at _http://www.xe.com gives that it is better at the moment to pay in USD if that is an option. The above prices were quoted at the time of posting and may change with time.

On a side note the Praxis Institute has a number of other books and pages. A couple of quotes/rumors that I found interesting although they are not related to the theme of this post:

In the 1980's a story was still current in Ouranopolis, the Greek seaside village from which the ferry leaves for Mount Athos every morning, of an old man who travelled round the great monasteries of Athos just after WWII offering the monks new factory-made carpets in exchange for their ancient Turkish equivalent.
[...]
Gurdjieff told the students of his strange system that “this is esoteric (or 'inner') Christianity,"
[...]
Gurdjieff himself confirmed his debt to Christianity when he told his pupils that after his death, then imminent, they should 'make contact with the Inner Tradition on Mount Athos.'

It is also mentioned that former students of Ouspensky worked to translate parts of the Philokalia into English.

 

[nemo]

Another option and maybe cheaper is to get them from the publisher in the UK _http://www.praxisinstitute.net/BOOKSHOP/gnosis_trilogy.htm where the price is USD 89.95

Maybe a little warning is in order. In mid-january i ordered the three Gnosis books from praxisinstitute.
When, after a month I hadn`t heard and received anything I wrote them an e-mail. Answer:

Dear ... We haven't received your order as yet, but now that we know about it, could you please send your details (address, etc.) to this address, and we will dispatch the 3 books.
Sorry for the inconvenience -- our computer plays tricks sometimes. Best wishes, ...

The 110 $ were payed via paypal 2 months ago! Now a month later I haven`t heard or received anything yet .

So much for ordering directly from the publisher. I`ll refrain from that mistake in the future (RPP being the exception of course ;))
When Amazon can`t deliver (which, thanks to the SOTT-booklist happens more and more often) I can recommend Abebooks. No bad experiences at all so far.*
*but do make sure to buy from sellers who are rated *** - ****. Best so far: By The Way - Books.