Book worth buying?

[TheSystem]

  Is the book 'Demystifying Gynecomastia' worth buying? I have considered it but am not sure whether it would be a waste of money or just everything I've read on these boards. And what's the highest I'd have to pay for surgery?

[Grandpa Bambu]

In all honesty, you can get almost as much info here as in the book. However, I bought the book and found it very interesting. There are a few issues discussed in the book that you cannot find on the Site. There is a section on 'Quotes' from Merle's questionaire. I especially enjoyed reading the many quotes by other boys/men with Gynecomastia.

'Demystifying Gynecomastia' is a good read. Geeze, it's only $20. Pocket change!  Another read I'm going to give, yes... mmmmm.....  It's raining out anyways...  

As for 'highest' surgery cost..... that is totally up to the individual surgeon. I've seen as high as $12,000 (USD). However, the usual cost is approx $5000 (USD). It pays to shop around my man!    Wink, wink....

John.

[headheldhigh01]

i thought it was a passable read, i give it credit for being a first.   i remember thinking it might have been slightly light on the psychological disruption/damage side, but should really reread the thing to give it a fair review.  

for prices, look at the low side, not the high.  11k is highway robbery, even in nyc (stay with a friend in boston and save yourself five grand).  4-5 is more common, in very rare cases 2-3, but some of the price is hospital costs and fees beyond the surgeon's fee.  

[merle]

I am curious as to why more are not buying the book. It corrects a lot of mis information that is on the boards messages. It is intended for lay people, it is not a indepth on the psychology. It is an overview and educational piece.

I tried to keep the price low so that it would not break anyone.  If you are on here, you will know a lot of the information, but not all.

Merle

[lopher]

I think the biggest problem with the book and the reason I haven't bought it is that the target group that would most benefit from it are the teens.

Unfortunately the problem is the 13 - 18 year old kids who would really benefit from it don't have access to it. I don't know many 15 year olds with credit cards  :-/ Mom can I borrow your credit card to buy a book about man breasts... hmm... nah that's not going to work!

Also one of the saddest things about gynecomastia is how this condition has been really kept in the dark for so long. Despite the numbers of people it so desperately effects it has an awful taboo, and is very under acknowledged. Not to take away anyones right to profit, but I really think info on gyne should be public domain. The decent caring thing to do would be to have it released as a free downloadable e-book. Perhaps the e-book could have advertising or something on it, so you could still profit and the kids could still benefit.

lopher

[merle]

I don't think that the book is targeted for teens. It certainly covers adolescent onset but I talk as much about adult onset. I think that it covers both pretty well. You can always cover the book cover if you are concerned that someone will see it.

Merle

[carguy]

I got a new job and im making deceny money. wewt! so im buying this book sometime. Hope its good.

[Grandpa Bambu]

Unfortunately the problem is the 13 - 18 year old kids who would really benefit from it don't have access to it. I don't know many 15 year olds with credit cards  :-/ Mom can I borrow your credit card to buy a book about man breasts... hmm... nah that's not going to work!

Yeah, you'r right there dude. The ones who 'need' Merle's book the most are the ones with no easy access to a credit card :-/. Definitely a problem there my man!

On the other hand, most teens have access to the InterWeb and this Site. If the sufferer needs emotional support, he can find it here...

John.  

[Grandpa Bambu]

I don't think that the book is targeted for teens.

Merle....

I see your book being 'most' useful to those who don't suffer from Gynecomastia. The 'non-suffering' reader will have a much better understanding and, be more compassionate of the condition. Is this the demographic that you are targeting?

John.

[Grandpa Bambu]

I am curious as to why more are not buying the book. It corrects a lot of mis information that is on the boards messages.

Merle....

Do you really think that the boards have much 'mis information'? Apart from those who think that (glandular) Gynecomastia can be exercised away, of which gets corrected PDQ, I don't see much mis information floating around.

John.

[lopher]

Merle....

Do you really think that the boards have much 'mis information'? Apart from those who think that (glandular) Gynecomastia can be exercised away, of which gets corrected PDQ, I don't see much mis information floating around.

John.

That's a really good point. I think there's very little mis-information posted on this site in the first place. The collected knowledge of the user base on this forum is outstanding and was after all a large basis for the content of the book. It's also extremely rare for any question to go un-answered.

Any mis-information posted here soon turns into a healthy debate and common sense always seems to prevail. In fact the life and soul of this forum are the dedicated members who have contributed hundreds of hours of their time answering thousands of peoples questions with factual and unbiased information. 89 posts in the entire time you've run this forum and half of them plugging your book... well dosent inspire much confidence in me. Personally i'm happy to be able to help others with any information I can share. And i'm glad so many others do the same. Of course we all make mistakes from time to time, but no bad advice goes undisputed.

I think the best way to publicize gynecomastia is through documentaries on prime time television. Obscure books 99.99999999999999999% of the general population are completely unaware of does so little to benefit the step forward in bringing the problem of gyne into main stream awareness. That's why it's been a failure.

lopher

PS oh god do i have to get banned again for pointing out the blatantly obvious? I've got some rather important threads alive at the moment concerning post surgery healing, and to remove me once again for stating the obvious will do nothing to benefit the members of this board...

[Tim_Hortons_Coffee]

I'm not one to suck up very often but I think Merle and everyone who contributes on the admin/ownership side of this site deserve a bit more credit than they often seem to get from members. I think a lot of us take the site for granted. We have the usual "WOW there are people like me!" reaction, that wears off, then we just sort of expect this free place for us to go and get advice and opinions.

Many of us get at least 95% of our information on Gynecomastia from this site. I know the various members of this site have given me far more useful information than any plastic surgeon trying to sell his procedure, or all the "teen health" sites which offer incredibly basic info on Gynecomastia, ("you have breasts, it's puberty, it will go away" etc).

This site is an invaluable resource because of the members (usually pre-op) who take the time to share their knowledge with each other. But we must remember that we only have use of this resource because of Merle and the people who keep this site running. We know they could cut this at any point and I think we all know this would lead to us tredding water, so to speak, without good information.

I have read the info on the book and it sounds like a good source of information. I have no real need for it personally, in fact I obsess over this condition far too much as it is. I really only want to be seeking info or thinking of it when there's a pressing issue I need to deal with regarding my case, or answering questions. And, as another member pointed out, this isn't exactly the type of book many of us want sitting on our coffee tables with a girl over.

I have said in the past that I would be more than willing to make a small contribution to this site, and to encourage others to do so before they do the usual post-op (successful postop) goodbye. I don't wish to buy this book, but I think it could be useful for some members. I think that members should be encouraged to contribute (if it's withing their means) a little to the people who keep the site up and we should give recognition to how useful this resource is.

Noone should feel an obligation to buy the book if it doesn't seem useful to them, however the ability to make a contribution to this site would be positive in my eyes. That's my two pints.

[merle]

How there are two many posts to respond to but I am delighted that there is a healthy discussion. I agree with a lot of points outside of people how have not read the book telling me what it is about.

If I can ever unload one of my businesses that take all of my time but does not give me income then I will have some more time to market the book.

I do think there is misinformation on the site. I do think that people do there best to correct it for the most part, but that requires that they say tuned and read the whole thing and various parts. The book in part was intended to put it all in one place, the basic facts, about what it is and what can and can not be done about it.

As for donations, it is always great to get some help for the site. Simon has been a gem and is leaving so I am in a bit of a pickle about the site and database. It is a problem I am trying to resolve. Just the tracking of the sites stats cost about 100.00 a month and that is not counting all the hosting fees, and storage, this site takes up a great deal of server space and gets a lot of traffic. We will approach 1.5 million hits this year. We have been averaging 1.2 million and it is going up.

I have hired a publicists to help get out the word. We are negotiating with TV shows, and trying to get newspaper and magazine interviews. I will do radio and anything else that I can to get the word out. We sent out a press release to over 1000 news outlets in the country yesterday. Keep your fingers crossed. If you have contacts with a newspaper, magazine, TV show of documentary maker, please have them contact me. I am the poster boy so we might as well make it really big.

It takes time and money, two things that I do not have a lot of.

One of the places that I am most keen to get the book to is public and school libraries. You could always buy a copy for your local library. That could easily be arranged, as an anonymous gift.

I understand that most of the regulars on the site do not need it. That is fine, but with that much traffic on the site, I am perplexed as to why more new people are not buying.

I can always do pay pal or some have sent me checks, if someone really wants a copy I have done what ever I could to accommodate them.

Also if this edition of the book does not sell, there will not be a second edition. I don't really understand why there is even conversation about it.

Thanks for the feedback it really helps met to understand what is going on and how to address the problems.

I am leaving in a couple of weeks on vacation and when I get back I will be having my second surgery. I understand this from just about all sides.

Thanks,

Merle

[lopher]

Good luck with the second surgery!

From how I understand it your first surgery was quite a few years ago and it seems the gyne operation techniques have really improved over the past few years, so best of luck!

Out of interest what surgical method are you going to be undertaking, excision, lipo etc, the armpit technique or 2cm incision along the bottom of the aerola?

I hope you'll share your experience in full, post before and after pics (as almost all of the dedicated members of this site have done!) and also share the information of which surgeon you are using?

Besides my apprehesions over your book and it's lack of instant access to the main stream, I do wish you all the best. I hope your getting a free surgery for the contributions you've made to running this site!

Best of luck,

Gruff

[Grandpa Bambu]

The book in part was intended to put it all in one place, the basic facts, about what it is and what can and can not be done about it.

Merle...

'Demystifying Gyncomastia' unfortunately, has competition....  Gynecomastia.org and the rest of the InterWeb.

I'm curious tho... How many copies have you sold so far?

John.