Basis Of Singaporean Spirit - People Power: Versions Of the Book

Initially, I wanted to focus on the people aspects and the Basis Of Singaporean Spirit (BOSS) for this book. However, it will not help much because it is paramount that I clarify the misconception of leadership first. Therefore, I have extended the book with more useful leadership information as well as additional references and case studies.

However, there is one big problem. How should I price the book? If I priced it too low, leaders will find it derisory and would not even want to read the book, which defeat the purpose of including the Leadership section. But if I priced it too high, the commoners will be priced out and missed out the information to them.

So the solution is to create different versions of the book.


Versions of the Book


Online version - FREE
This ensures that every commoners will have access to the knowledge and information within the book. This version contains approximately 80% of the book. The information that is not included are those that are more academic and technical in nature, which would be too stressful and boring for most people. The tone is also modifed to make is more suitable for blog audience.

The online version will be published either once or twice every month, so that it is evenly spread out towards Singapore's 50th Birthday.

Click Here to go to the Online version.

[Note: I have also created a Kindle version. For those who want the full version of the book but concerned with the price of the printed one, here it is. I am setting it at a very low price of $2.99. Get it early as I will increase the price along the way. I have also enabled "Lending" and "Kindle Unlimited". For those who have purchased the book, I have set this to be free for you.]

[Updates: The book is also available in Google Play / Google Books. Follow the link given or you can simply search for "Basis Of Singaporean Spirit".]

Printed Version - Retail at $60 
The printed version is in full colour. Info of the book is as follows:

Publication Date: Sep 07 2014
ISBN/EAN13: 1500964743 / 9781500964740
Page Count: 216
Binding Type: US Trade Paper
Trim Size: 6" x 9"
Language: English
Color: Full Color with Bleed
Related Categories: Political Science / Political Process / Leadership

Things that are in the printed version but not in the online version include:

1. Endnote at each chapter. True blue Singaporeans who are unhappy with the current state do not need this to understand the context.
2. Academic and technical stuff. Details on academic and technical stuff especially those in section 2 such as 3-Powers and SWOT Analysis are excluded in the online version. Certain academic and technical explanations within other chapters are also removed from the online version. These are the things that will make commoners fall asleep, but important to make the book complete.
3. Straight-forward phrasing. Some stronger phrasing in the book may be mollified for the online version, but kept in the book for academic spirit.

Why $60? Well, this is because, if people want to say it is derisory, whatever amount you set, they can still say so. Therefore, I have used Mr Lee Kuan Yew's books as the benchmark, which averaged below this price. If anyone wanted to say that it is derisory, then they would have to include Mr Lee Kuan Yew too. To add more values to the People, I have decided to print the book in full colour. I believe that this pricing strategy will not be termed as "not so brilliant", or will it?

To buy from Amazon
The book is available at Amazon.com, you can go there by clicking on the following URL:
Amazon: Basis Of Singaporean Spirit - People Power: A Wake-Up Call for Leaders around the World
(Amazon often runs promotion, especially for new book such as this, which includes discount and free shipping. So you may want to check this out first before getting directly from the printer, as shown below.)
Please help to review the book too.

To buy from the Printer
For those who wanted the book, but still find the price high, I am provided a discount. Since this is in tribute of Singapore's 50th Birthday, the discount is set as 50% off. For those who finds that the discount made it derisory, I have a piece of good news for you, you can still buy it at the retail price of $60 by not entering the discount code.

The URL to buy the book at a discount or at the list price of $60 (for those who feel that any form of discounts are derisory) is as follow:
Basis Of Singaporean Spirit - People Power: A Wake-Up Call for Leaders around the World
The discount code: R83BW74X
Note that the discount code for 50% will be removed and replaced with this 45% soon: N8K9ABWK
[Note that the discount code will not stay forever, the discount percentage will decrease as we approach Singapore's 50th Birthday]
[Also note that Amazon often runs promotion for new book such as this, which includes discount and free shipping. Therefore, in certain situation, it may be more cost effective to get from Amazon instead.]

Advisory and Collector Version - $1 million

Why this version?

Well, there are other messages that I want to say to the PAP government but I can’t. When $5000 is considered derisory, what do you think free advices are? Yes, an insult, and Catherine Lim had already demonstrated that for us. Remember Albert Einstein once said:

"Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Since I am not insane, I should not do what Catherine Lim did and expecting a different result. So I will provide consultancy services and advices instead – Through a special edition of the book, with an additional section containing chapters with messages and advices for them.

How should I price that book? First, let’s look at how much was being spent. Using only one minister’s salary for computation, which averaged around 1 million dollars, and with over 10 years of work, that would cost more than 10 million dollars. With 10 million dollars, the advices that we had were cannot expect flood-free Singapore, Singaporeans have higher crime rate, etc., this special edition is worth at least 30 million dollars, isn’t it?

Since it is in tribute of Singapore's 50th Birthday, I shall print only 50 copies of this edition. That would mean that each book will cost $600K. Oops... sorry, I can't sell at that price because $600K is peanuts, if I do, it will make you a monkey*. Rounding it off, each book will be priced at $1 million dollar. Since it is in tribute of Singapore's 50th birthday, and I wish Singapore another 50 more good years, I shall give a 50% + 50% discount. So each book will be priced at $250K. For those who find it too cheap, you can request to pay $1 million for it.

Whether those leaders have the capability to read or willing or not, that is their problems. Quoting from a famous and very responsible politician: "My job is done".

For people looking as a Collector item, note that this will be printed in full colour, and as a hard copy. Please contact the author for pre-order. But before you decide to get this edition, you may wish to get the Printed Version first so as to have a feel of the type of writing styles and thought processes within.

BTW, I will be printing 3 copies for myself. One for me, one for my boy and one for my boy's kid, using this book as a life lesson to teach my boy never to be arrogant, as well as teaching him how to analyse situation to identify who are the good guys and who are the bad guys around him.

Oh, I just realised that after the promotional period, I would be owning an asset of around 3 millions dollars. Hey! Isn't this better than those HDB asset enhancement programs?

Oh, for those who wanted to say bad things, please don’t. This is because PM Lee will be angry with you as he had told us not to envy the rich and successful, instead, you should celebrate their successes.

* From the phrase of "You Pay Peanuts, You Get Monkeys". The meaning of this phrase is that if you do not pay handsomely, you will not get the right talents. Technically, this is right,but the reverse is not true, i.e. if you pay handsomely, it doesn't guarantee that you will not get monkeys. The key of all these is again down to the basis, which is the core focus of this book.
Another key point to note is that if you already had a monkey, giving it more peanuts will not turn it into a human. If you have been to the wild and tried to feed a monkey, you will realise that the more peanuts you feed the monkey, the more monkeys you will get. In the end, you would have the whole tribe of monkeys surrounding you.
Lesson learnt: Never feed a monkey with more peanuts hoping that it will turn into a human, it will not. At the end of the day, you will just get more monkeys. - BOSS

BOSS Wisdom: "It is true that if you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys. But the reverse is not true, i.e. if you pay handsomely, it doesn't guarantee that you will not get monkeys."

BOSS Wisdom: "If there is a monkey in the parliament, feeding it with more peanuts will not turn it into a capable minister, instead, it will lure more monkeys into the parliament. In the end, you will have a parliament full of monkeys."

Should I Buy the Book?

If you are a Singaporean who is unhappy with the current state, the online version is enough for your appreciation of the issues and understanding of the advice within. But if you still want to own the book to read the original phrasing and other academic and technical chapters, please feel free to.

Who Should Buy the Book?

1. Foreigners and those who feel that the sky is still as blue as before. You will not understand and not be able to appreciate what is explained in the online version. The book contains additional footnotes that explained critical points in details.
2. Historian/scholar. If you are a historian/scholar writing about Singapore and have not bought this book, what kind of work have you been doing? Another piece of PLP?
3. Those who typically cannot wait to watch dramas episode by episode on TV, and prefer to get the whole DVD series instead.