Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 16 Feb 2013 03:14

I ordered that book. Amazon says it was delivered last week... need to check with postal service who/why they stole my book

Misraji · Post by **Misraji** » 16 Feb 2013 03:28

^^^
Awesome. Viva Amazon Prime !!! ..

@Vivek_Ahuja:

Vivek Saar, since you are an aerospace engineer, could you ping me a (hello dot misraji at gmail dot com).
I really needed some advice about aerospace engineering.

--Ashish

Shyam_K · Post by **Shyam_K** » 16 Feb 2013 06:09

vivek_ahuja wrote:
narmad wrote:Who is this guy ?
That would be me.

Yes, this is the amazon site for the book undergoing tests for proof-reading etc.

Folks in Europe and US etc will be able to order it from here. You can order it now too if you want, but it might have some minor editing errors.

It should be done and dusted this weekend for Amazon. The Indian release is still undergoing the painstaking work via publishers.

-Vivek

Any plans to publish it as a kindle ebook?

disha · Post by **disha** » 16 Feb 2013 08:12

^^ You have to request the publisher to put it as kindle ebook. There is a revenue sharing agreement with Amazon that some publishers do not like.

I placed my order.

Vivek Ahujaji, Once your India release is done., please go on a book signing tour. Use BRF Jirgas in various places. As I said the goal should be to collect at least 50 book sales (autographed) from each jirga center. 10 of that will yield you 500 books but the marketing opportunity is immense. Ask if the BRF Jirga can sponsor your trip to that center.

For that *you* have to step up, see if you can identify urban centers with significant desi population (Eg., Houston (2 areas), Dallas, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles (3 stops), SF Bay area (3 stops), Portland, Seattle, Detroit, Washington/Virginia, NJ, NY - that itself is some 17 stops!). The goal is for you to now sell/sell/sell. Your second installment can wait.

Bala Vignesh · Post by **Bala Vignesh** » 16 Feb 2013 14:25

While I hate to agree with disha sir since it means missing my hit of the scenarios, he is right.. You need to achieve commercial success to be taken seriously in the publishing circle.. Do a couple of tours in US and a tour in India, this might boost the numbers of the physical copies that are sold, which directly reflects in measure of clout vis a cis your publisher...

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 16 Feb 2013 14:50

vivek_ahuja wrote:
narmad wrote:Who is this guy ?
That would be me.

Yes, this is the amazon site for the book undergoing tests for proof-reading etc.

Folks in Europe and US etc will be able to order it from here. You can order it now too if you want, but it might have some minor editing errors.

It should be done and dusted this weekend for Amazon. The Indian release is still undergoing the painstaking work via publishers.

-Vivek

Congratulations Vivek
I see that you have still kept the same name . Are you still planning to change of select a new name from the list here.
Do name the winner.
Let me know when it is made available in India. I will see if some 500 copies are bought by concerned agencies.

member_20645 · Post by **member_20645** » 16 Feb 2013 17:58

Dear Vivek-ji
A brilliant book has been written. I ordered it from Amazon last night and cannot wait till I receive it.
I will be happy to buy a few extra copies and have them donated to our defense forces institutions as this would be great reading for all
Thanks for all your hard work and the openness with which you have accepted views from BRF members.

member_20067 · Post by **member_20067** » 16 Feb 2013 19:02

vivek_ahuja wrote:
narmad wrote:Who is this guy ?
That would be me.

Yes, this is the amazon site for the book undergoing tests for proof-reading etc.

Folks in Europe and US etc will be able to order it from here. You can order it now too if you want, but it might have some minor editing errors.

It should be done and dusted this weekend for Amazon. The Indian release is still undergoing the painstaking work via publishers.

-Vivek

Thanks ... just placed an order..

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 16 Feb 2013 23:30

RamaY wrote:I ordered that book. Amazon says it was delivered last week... need to check with postal service who/why they stole my book

I ordered a few copies to give to some reviewers here in the US and the books arrived within two days. You might want to check what happened!

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 16 Feb 2013 23:31

Misraji wrote:Vivek Saar, since you are an aerospace engineer, could you ping me a (hello dot misraji at gmail dot com).
I really needed some advice about aerospace engineering.

--Ashish

Sent a ping. Pliss to check.

-Vivek

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 16 Feb 2013 23:32

Shyam_K wrote:Any plans to publish it as a kindle ebook?

As soon as the Indian hard copy publication hits the stores, the next item is to make it available as eBook as well. But hard-copies will come first.

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 16 Feb 2013 23:42

disha wrote:Once your India release is done., please go on a book signing tour. Use BRF Jirgas in various places. As I said the goal should be to collect at least 50 book sales (autographed) from each jirga center. 10 of that will yield you 500 books but the marketing opportunity is immense. Ask if the BRF Jirga can sponsor your trip to that center.

For that *you* have to step up, see if you can identify urban centers with significant desi population (Eg., Houston (2 areas), Dallas, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles (3 stops), SF Bay area (3 stops), Portland, Seattle, Detroit, Washington/Virginia, NJ, NY - that itself is some 17 stops!). The goal is for you to now sell/sell/sell. Your second installment can wait.

Bala Vignesh wrote:While I hate to agree with disha sir since it means missing my hit of the scenarios, he is right.. You need to achieve commercial success to be taken seriously in the publishing circle.. Do a couple of tours in US and a tour in India, this might boost the numbers of the physical copies that are sold, which directly reflects in measure of clout vis a cis your publisher...

Disha, Bala,

I agree completely. However, it remains to be seen exactly how much effort I can manage out of the publishers/distributors in India for a book of this kind. GoVasool.com is surging ahead with a lot of energy on this, partly because some of their top people are readers of the scenario and know the level of interest here to see it reach a wider audience in India.

So some of the things they are working on include:

a) A pre-order site on their page for the book for Indian buyers.
b) A Face-book page linking the website to FB. This page/site-link is what I can then request for folks here to forward to their colleagues who might be interested and spread the word.
c) I have some contacts with various defense Magazines in India who have agreed to do articles on the book when it comes out.
d) The BRF jirga here in the US is already sending emails to one another and others forwarding the Amazon link for the book and encouraging them to buy.
e) I am myself planning to attend upcoming jirgas to promote the book and interact with BRF members to help spread the word. This will include trips to India as well. I am looking to arrange a UK jirga in March since I am there anyway for two weeks, so will start there.
f) Some other misc. promotions.

That said, you might be surprised on the lead times involved and also the lead time required for second installment to get written (as you can imagine, it takes some time for the analysis to be done and for stuff to be written down). So while I wait for the publishers/distributors to get their side of the work done, I would want to continue writing the second installment.

Its like juggling numerous balls in the air at the same time!

-Vivek

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 16 Feb 2013 23:45

chaanakya wrote:I see that you have still kept the same name . Are you still planning to change of select a new name from the list here. Do name the winner.
Let me know when it is made available in India. I will see if some 500 copies are bought by concerned agencies.

So the working title continues into publication here in the US. Waiting for the Indian publishers to come forward with their list of issues/concerns on the book this week (they got their hard copies in print last week). Will raise the title issue then and see what they have to say.

Don't worry, once GoVasool has put up their pre-order page and facebook page for this book, I will create a BRF temporary sticky page (with admin blessing) as well so that the BRF jirga can see the details.

-Vivek

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 16 Feb 2013 23:52

Thanks a lot

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 16 Feb 2013 23:57

Actually, this reminds me:

To all BRF members who have already purchased the book from Amazon, please don't forget to add some reviews on the amazon page. Turns out its pretty important to push the page up Amazon's ranking (which in turn makes it available to a wider audience browsing through that website for military techno-thriller genre novels).

A few good reviews can help. But even if you have issues etc you want to complain about, please do comment so that at least Amazon knows the novel is being viewed.

Thanks in advance!

-Vivek

mdhoat · Post by **mdhoat** » 17 Feb 2013 04:49

Thanks Vivek, ... just placed an order on Amazon and will leave 5 star feedback as soon as I am allowed.

Been waiting for this book for few years now since the day you first mentioned about your desire to write this book on Bharat Rakshak...

Misraji · Post by **Misraji** » 17 Feb 2013 07:24

vivek_ahuja wrote:Sent a ping. Pliss to check.
-Vivek

Responded. Appreciate that.

--Ashish

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 17 Feb 2013 09:32

vivek_ahuja wrote:Actually, this reminds me:

To all BRF members who have already purchased the book from Amazon, please don't forget to add some reviews on the amazon page. Turns out its pretty important to push the page up Amazon's ranking (which in turn makes it available to a wider audience browsing through that website for military techno-thriller genre novels).

A few good reviews can help. But even if you have issues etc you want to complain about, please do comment so that at least Amazon knows the novel is being viewed.

Thanks in advance!

-Vivek

Actually I tried to place order on Amazon.com. Total cost comes to less than 25 USD incl shipping and import duties. Time to delivery is 10-12 days.They also offer 10 USD as gift if I register for Amazon Card. That is nothing but I am more worried about credit card fraud which might happen.

On search of Chimera (book) I got 1314 results. Adn Vivek your book was on third page with one 5star rating and one review. That support is essential to make it to first page and top searched book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Impossible to put down, February 16, 2013
By
Hemant (Richardson, TX) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Chimera (Paperback)
A wonderful book that is impossible to put down this thriller, once you start. It has been a long time coming to print.

No doubt true blue blooded BRFite. and a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer working out of his SOHO looking out of his windows to a Wooded estate . could be in Midland

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 17 Feb 2013 09:45

chaanakya wrote:Actually I tried to place order on Amazon.com. Total cost comes to less than 25 USD incl shipping and import duties. Time to delivery is 10-12 days.They also offer 10 USD as gift if I register for Amazon Card. That is nothing but I am more worried about credit card fraud which might happen.

So this is why I am making it available as a print book in India to lower the reader costs. Aim is to get it around the typical Tom Clancy margin (but might be higher because my book will be published in much lesser quantities). 10-12 days is actually good, I thought it was 30 days!

GoVasool folks tell me its going to be about 7 days for their side from purchasing the book to it arriving on your doorstep.

But the book quality is definitely going to be better (read page quality) in the amazon version than the Indian one based on what the publisher is telling me. They got themselves an amazon copy too for review purposes!

In any case, just hold on a few more days for the readers in India. Your patience is appreciated.

chaanakya wrote:On search of Chimera (book) I got 1314 results. Adn Vivek your book was on third page with one 5star rating and one review. That support is essential to make it to first page and top searched book.

This is why I am hoping more people (BRF regulars, lurkers or others) will put their reviews on that page to bring the book up.

-Vivek

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 17 Feb 2013 10:37

My Draft Review

India and China went to war in the year 1962. Since then there has been underlying tension between two global powerhouse of economy and emerging superpowers.

The situation , both politically and militarily , has since changed dramatically. While China has been on a very ambitious militarisation program commensurate to its growing economic might India has not been lagging behind either. Her Armed forces have been now better organised and equipped to answer any aggressive intent of its hostile neighbours.

The unresolved border disputes with its neighbours including China might act as a potential trigger point for War, if either of them perceive her to be weak. The unstable situation in Tibet and continued oppressive occupation of Tibetan Autonomous Region and Xinxiagn-Uighur Region might prompt China to blame India given her long History of Support to Tibetan Struggle and Tibetan Exiles and Dalai Lama the Politico-Spiritual Leader of Tibetan.

Tibetan Government in exile poses continued threat to legitimacy of Chinese occupation. Coupled with unrest in Tibet, protest from masses and self immolation by scores of Monks and media clampdown puts Chinese Politico-Military Authority in a very delicate and vulnerable position.

In such an explosive mix they might conclude that a WAR on its Southern Border could serve a useful diversion. to deflect attention of domestic politics from the atrocities and media censorship and de-facto dictatorship of CCPC and PLA Then they would not hesitate to plunge into this headlong. Recent flexing of its military muscles against its neighbours including Japan and South Korea and pinpricks on borders along India, raising Arunachal Issue and Passport issues indicate that China is intent upon testing the resolve of its neighbours ever growing confident in its own undestructiveness and military prowess. They realise the fallacy of their ideas though at much higher cost.

This book demonstrates one such idea when China launches massive Missile attack on India unprovoked and causes takes the world to the brink of Nuclear war . This book is about the might of Chinese Army ranged against the Indian Military might engaged in saving its national pride. The outcome is interesting and unexpected. The Author gives graphic accounts of key battles fought. Technical descriptions are realistic portrayal of the existing ORBAT of both Armies.

Its too tempting Vivek.

I have crossed my fingers and placed the order. Delivery to India is scheduled by 7th March 2013. Will wait.

Thank you, your order has been placed.
An email confirmation has been sent to you.
Order Number: 1XX-76XXXXX-75XXXXX

1 item will be shipped to XXXXX by Amazon.com. Estimated delivery: Mar. 4, 2013 - Mar. 7, 2013

Review or edit your recent orders

Enabled.

(Learn More)
Items: INR 866.10
Shipping & handling: INR 576.24
Total before tax: INR 1,442.34
Estimated tax to be collected: INR 0.00
Import Fees Deposit INR 144.35
Order total: INR 1,586.69

landed cost would be 1587 INR Very affordable even with import.

How can I get your Autograph on the Book?? One for me and one for the Winner of Title Contest, if any??

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 17 Feb 2013 10:55

Now book is on Second page.Brfites in USA and other places let us not disappoint Vivek.

We want him to continue to write more such novels giving us unique perspective.

He has been amazingly impartial in his story telling despite him being a Patriotic Indian.

He represents the true essence of Indian thought process in which we praise our enemies for their qualities . Mahabharata in replete with scores of such examples.

member_23360 · Post by **member_23360** » 17 Feb 2013 11:14

m not able to see the book on amazon.ca, is it not available in Canada ?

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 17 Feb 2013 11:20

akshat.kashyap wrote:m not available to see the book on amazon.ca, is it not available in Canada ?

Uh oh. I have had people who have bought it from USA, UK and Europe. Not sure about Canada, to be honest. Let me look into it.

Are you unable to access Amazon.com (.com instead of .ca ) at all?

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 17 Feb 2013 11:23

chaanakya wrote:How can I get your Autograph on the Book?? One for me and one for the Winner of Title Contest, if any??

I am hardly a candidate to sign for anything, but I will if we can find a way for me to do it. Perhaps during my visit to India we can meet up at one of the BRF jirga?

Regards

-Vivek

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 17 Feb 2013 11:57

Thanks , Let me know when you are in India.

Now in overall search Chimera by Vivek is at 113th place on 8th page of search result. ( Search term : chimera)
Two reviews.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 17 Feb 2013 12:07

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Vivek-custom ... ords=vivek

and while reading the Novel use this cup to drink coffee.

Mukesh.Kumar · Post by **Mukesh.Kumar** » 17 Feb 2013 14:37

"Calling Hotel-Six. Our guy's out there in need of some heavy duty reviews. We need to lay down a few salvo's quickly.

Come on jingo's Vivek's book is out on Amazon. Whether you buy or not, those of you who enjoyed his book could at least write a review and rate it. After all the entertainment that the scenario provided us, it's only fair that we push up Vivek's book as far up the charts as we can.
Moreover, we need to promote the book, not only for Vivek, but to increase awareness of the issues we spend endlessly discussing on BRF. This is the perfect platform to getting across our viewpoint bypassing all the DDM's

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 17 Feb 2013 22:35

Mukesh.Kumar wrote:"Calling Hotel-Six. Our guy's out there in need of some heavy duty reviews. We need to lay down a few salvo's quickly.

Come on jingo's Vivek's book is out on Amazon. Whether you buy or not, those of you who enjoyed his book could at least write a review and rate it. After all the entertainment that the scenario provided us, it's only fair that we push up Vivek's book as far up the charts as we can.
Moreover, we need to promote the book, not only for Vivek, but to increase awareness of the issues we spend endlessly discussing on BRF. This is the perfect platform to getting across our viewpoint bypassing all the DDM's

Without buying and shipping completed one can not write review there. So far I noticed 5 reviews and all five have five star ratings. My copy would arrive only by first week of march. So need to wait till then to post review.
I hope members , who have posted so eloquently here, would buy the books especially if they are from US . As I think many are. Then they can write reviews fast. I suggest that those ,who buy from amazon , may announce it here.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 17 Feb 2013 22:38

It is on 16th position on Amazon when searched in book section by name Chimera.. Need to put it on Editors Pick.

Ankit Desai · Post by **Ankit Desai** » 17 Feb 2013 22:49

15th now. One review brought it from page 2 to 1st page.

-Ankit

rudradeep · Post by **rudradeep** » 17 Feb 2013 23:15

3rd now when I searched with 'Chimera' in the Books section.... Just purchased the book and with the std delivery option it is to be delivered in India between the 4th to 7th of March. The price comes close to Rs 1600

member_23360 · Post by **member_23360** » 17 Feb 2013 23:18

vivek_ahuja wrote:
akshat.kashyap wrote:m not available to see the book on amazon.ca, is it not available in Canada ?
Uh oh. I have had people who have bought it from USA, UK and Europe. Not sure about Canada, to be honest. Let me look into it.

Are you unable to access Amazon.com (.com instead of .ca ) at all?

let me try with amazon.com, in past i had difficulty in getting the delivery in Canada from amazon.com.

Mukesh.Kumar · Post by **Mukesh.Kumar** » 17 Feb 2013 23:21

chaanakya wrote: chaanakya

Post subject: Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII Reply with quote
Mukesh.Kumar wrote:
"Calling Hotel-Six. Our guy's out there in need of some heavy duty reviews. We need to lay down a few salvo's quickly.

......

Without buying and shipping completed one can not write review there. So far I noticed 5 reviews and all five have five star ratings. My copy would arrive only by first week of march. So need to wait till then to post review.

I could not buy the book because it is not delivered to my location (Have to find a kabootar willing to ship it from the US), however I could still put up a review. It's worth a try.

On the other hand, pretty disappointing to see only 6 reviews to date.

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 17 Feb 2013 23:33

Mukesh.Kumar wrote:On the other hand, pretty disappointing to see only 6 reviews to date.

So I think that is because the book is still being talked about only on BRF so far, and even then just the US/Eruope based readers. The vast majority of readers from India are only mute observers at this point.

Next week or so when the GoVasool.com folks open up their pre-order page for the Indian publication as well as a facebook page, I will link the amazon link in there as well. And GoVasool will also have a reviews page and will connect all other major media reviews to that page. So for example, a couple of defense magazines are going to review the book when it is out in India, and that should also help bring up interest in the book. A BRF member is also helping me with getting access to a newspaper for an author profile.

And we are also trying to get blogs like Tarmak, Livefist etc to do a review on their pages.

Hopefully that will bring out much larger interest/reviews in the book.

-Vivek

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 18 Feb 2013 00:23

It seems if one has completed one purchase from Amazon then he can write review. Many brfites would have purchased from amazon, surely NRIs one. They can at least write review.

Share on Facebook, twitter and pinterest

7 reviews

All those who buy should give rating and review.

Currently Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,159 in Books for Chimera

Ankit Desai · Post by **Ankit Desai** » 18 Feb 2013 00:41

chaanakya wrote:It seems if one has completed one purchase from Amazon then he can write review.

You can write review without purchase. Ofcourse it is not the review of the book but what you read on BRF if you write without purchase.

-Ankit

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 18 Feb 2013 00:45

Ankit Desai wrote:
chaanakya wrote:It seems if one has completed one purchase from Amazon then he can write review.
You can write review without purchase. Ofcourse it is not the review of the book but what you read on BRF if you write without purchase.

-Ankit

I agree. I would rather wait for the readers to get their hands on the book, read it and then write a review, given that the novel has a very fast paced read to it compared with the BRF stuff and has a lot more details thrown in that were not here during the first draft writing on BRF.

-Vivek

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 18 Feb 2013 00:54

Also, expect some negative reviews to pile in as well. Unlike the Indian publication which is going through the proper routes of Publisher editorial services, distributors etc, the amazon one was basically a one man job from my side. So I am expecting overall slightly better reviews (as far as grammatical stuff is concerned) with the Indian publication.

I am also bracing myself for the inevitable negative reviews by readers who will not feel satisfied with the overall plot and will not be generous in their review as a result of it.

For example, on my blog the other day, one of the Tibetan "rebels" (

) by name of Tashi Delek posted this review of the BRF scenario:

As a Tibetan, I have read the blog enthusiastically and with some anticipation that it would address the central issue of Tibet being a colonized nation. It started with the premise of Tibetans rebelling against the Chinese rule and ends in Bhutan getting nuked and a vague mention of 'there are plans in place for Tibet, Bhutan and Aksai Chin'. What are those plans.

This leaves me high and dry wanting for a permanent resolution on the status of Tibet. How about imagining an end in which Tibet regains her independence and the world does not have to go through another tragedy in the most dangerous nuclear triangle region. There would never have been a common border between India and China if Tibet is not annexed into China in the first place. Perhaps the author is already thinking of a sequel to his novel. Tibet and Tibetan people's struggle is relegated to a cursory mention as a simple plot between the hostilities of two Asian giants. This is yet another novel that plays out Tibet (and also Bhutan) as the archetypical pawn in a remix of 'the Great Game'.

To which I responded thus:

Hi Tashi,

I appreciate the feedback. You will find a lot more material on the Tibetan side of this war and its conclusions in the printed version of the novel.

I agree with you that when I originally started the novel, the premise was to explore the combat scenario between the two nations: India and China. Not so much politically as militarily, if you follow. Hence the relegation to the background of the Tibetan side in the war. The Bhutanese factored in a big way later in the war because of the terrain issues from the military perspective. to both sides. So when I returned to the novel format to edit and rewrite sections within it, I added much more information and context to what was happening in Tibet before and during the war. And you are also correct that I gave myself a starting point for a sequel that will explore much more the minutiae of the Tibetan issue.

Incidentally, this sequel is the one I posted about earlier: "Fenix"
In any case, I appreciate your thoughts and will look to incorporate more in the sequel going forward.

Thanks and regards.

Others will do the same on the amazon page in the coming days/weeks. The point being that it will be impossible to satisfy everybody with the novel. And patriots from Bhutan and Tibet will find my treatment of their cause as unsavory because they are not the focus of the story.

And I can only imagine what the reviews from Chinese folks here in US is going to be!

So while its nice to get good reviews, I am also mentally prepared for the worst to come!

-Vivek

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 18 Feb 2013 19:36

It is on 6th Position in Book search and on second page on overall search. A total of 10 reviews.

When a book is reviewed , there is bound to be some negative and some positive reviews. That shows that readers read and do care about the book.

It is difficult to cover all aspects and some are likely to be less explored. That is why we have concept of series and sequel. Other areas could be elaborated in later works. Even second edition could incorporate some technical improvements.

This is the process of evolution and there is nothing to worry about.

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 18 Feb 2013 20:10

chaanakya wrote:http://www.amazon.com/Love-Vivek-custom ... ords=vivek

and while reading the Novel use this cup to drink coffee.

Dhhhhat teri ki............sara kam bigad diya. Why only for fair sex Hein ji. Why not for straight abduls. It has to be "We respect Vivekuddin bin kitabi" or something like that.