03/22/98 - 1708

Notice To All Authors

USA (VNN) - by Dhruva Maharaja Dasa

Dear Prabhus,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! For several years my lifestyle has been one that’s brought me back and forth to India. I spent seven years going back and forth to Vrndavana, three or four to Mayapur, and the last three or four to Jagannatha Puri. When we travel to India, it’s not only for a few days but usually to remain there for several months. This constantly puts me into a dilemma of deciding what books to bring with me, or put into storage, whatever the case may be.

I am now embarking on a new project that will relieve that burden, and will no doubt be of interest to many devotees. I want to put as many books as possible on a CD ROM so that devotees can take bundles of books with them when they travel, what to speak of having access to all that information literally at your finger tips wherever you are. To do this I need the consent of various authors, and will require each author’s permission as well as computer disks, so I don’t have to scan each and every book page by page.

I plan to gather as many books as possible by various Vaisnava authors, beginning with those from our own branch of Gaudiya Vaisnavas, and, if possible, add more from other branches of Vaisnavism as we go along. What do you get? First of all exposure of your message and/or realizations, which is the main reason that any Vaisnava would print a book in the first place. Please consider seriously for a moment just how many devotees will read your message in this format. Secondly, depending on how many kilobytes each author’s works takes up, we will give a percentage of the profit from sales of the CD. Yes, you will profit! I’ll also assure each writer that we will not use any books that have been in print for less than one year. That way each author can spread his or her message through published books on paper, and then continue to spread their message to a further audience through publication on CD ROM.

Considering the fact that most purchases of any given book usually occur within the first six to eight months, this will give authors ample time to sell whatever books they’ve published, and then extend their message even further into the reading world. Some readers, no doubt, will even purchase the "hard copy" when they become enlivened by the book on CD ROM. And because there won’t be any art or graphics on this CD, books published with art in them will inspire further purchases of the "hard copy".

If you like the idea of getting your book(s) published on this unique CD, please send me a letter stating that you give me permission to include it, along with floppy or ZIP disks in any format your book is presently in. Also note that this is a rather large project that may require many months, if not a year or two, to complete. I will do my best to keep track of each author’s whereabouts, and contact you if we have questions or payment due to you.

Your servant,
Dhruva Maharaja Dasa
General Delivery
West Tisbury, Ma.02575
dhruva@gis.net
508-696-3757