Uversa Press mid year report 2008

Friday, June 27, 2008 5:25 PM

1. So far this year we are tracking at about 300 books sold per month,
or about 3500 per year. Therefore we pushed back the order for new books
from May to Sept. The new Urantia Books will be the same size for both
the hard back and soft back so we can print them at the same time and
save printing costs and inventory levels to a manageable amount. This
new printing will be 3000 hard cover and 7000 soft cover. This new order
should last us about 2 to 3 years, unless we get a spike in sales.

2. We are still distributing through Baker & Taylor and New Leaf. We
have been calling all the New Leaf stores, having reached over 200 of
the 800 on our list. Most all of them are interested in taking on our
edition and we are offering a ‘buy one get one free’ incentive to get
them to put out two books. Overall the book store business is slow as
evidenced by the fact that Borders Books is up for sale and so far has
no buyers. Therefore all stores are lowering their inventory levels and
only keeping one copy of slow moving books like ours on the shelf and
ordering only when they are out of stock.

3. After having spoken with over 200 independent bookstore owners,
most of whom are familiar with the Urantia Book, it is becoming quite
evident that most people are not going to pick up this 2000 page book
and read it through. If we want to disseminate its teachings we are
going to have to break it up into more targeted stories. And from these
stories more and more people will gradually read the whole book and
embrace its full significance. Uversa Press is looking into what stories
it would like to recommend we start with and what form they will take.

4. As for marketing the Urantia Book, we have so little funds that it
will only be possible to begin a very small campaign in one city. We are
looking into the Denver area to attempt a pilot marketing program.
Denver has more readers than any other metro area and could facilitate
the onset of new study groups. It seems to be panning out that, whether
one believes or not that the midwayers told us to start thousands upon
thousands of study groups; this is a very good way to begin a new
religion without institutionalizing it and keep it personal at the same
time. Just reading the Urantia Book and then putting it aside is only
the first mile, whereas studying it with others year after year builds a
new form of personal religion and takes us the second mile. To this end,
Uversa Press will be working in the Denver area to promote the book and
promote the onset of more and more study groups to foster its acceptance.

See you next week.
John Hay – Chair, Uversa Press