No problem Urban Scout, sorry, I’m new at this stuff. I just found a pretty funny example of Ishmael distribution I hadn’t heard of:
http://www.readishmael.com/readishoprah.html
Also, the Friends of Ishmael have done some work in this area:
http://www.friendsofishmael.org/tools/promotional_tools.shtml
Hi Brian,
Please let me know if you get a Ishmael book distribution organization or effort going. I have a few friends in mind that I think would be willing to buy books for it. They’ve bought books in the past and handed them out, but never had the time to really set up a well planned out distribution of them.
I wonder if anyone could get a hold of this guy… ;D
http://www.gazette.net/stories/032608/burtnew212253_32361.shtml
Good luck!
Curt
Haha, thanks Curt
Yeah, that’s the difficulty for me, finding a well thought-out plan. Buying books is a good idea, but how do you go about collecting and buying used rewilding-specific books? Even if it were possible to gather every currently unused book in this genre, who is to say that you or I know where to best distribute them? Maybe they’re better off in those bookstores or online sites where an open-minded reader will find them.
I keep picturing my own experience with reading Ishmael. The only coaxing it took for me was:
1). An initial mention from a friend that she was reading it… all she told me about it was the name.
2). A few months later, a coworker told me that he had read it for a college class, and told me that “It basically says humans are at war with the earth”. He was going to practice environmental law because of it.
After hearing that last one, I went out and bought Ishmael for myself the next day. But I would have probably been ready to read and understand the book at least 4 years earlier. And I’ve only heard it mentioned firsthand 2 or 3 times (1 time was negative) in the seven years since I read it… I found out about Derrick Jensen completely “on my own”. Maybe I just need to get out more, and maybe I shouldn’t complain because I probably haven’t done enough to promote the books among my own friends and family.
I just can’t help but think there are more readers out there ready to accept the ideas in rewilder books that will never hear about them through friends and family. The internet and libraries are great tools, but I still think there is a way the books could “jump” at people little more. Maybe viral advertising is a more effective way to go? I still like the idea of free copies of books in hotels, coffeeshops and waiting rooms, though. The biggest obstacle seems to be to try to attain cheap or free books from people who aren’t using them. I can’t think of a systematic way of doing that.
Even if it were possible to gather every currently unused book in this genre, who is to say that you or I know where to best distribute them? Maybe they're better off in those bookstores or online sites where an open-minded reader will find them.
Yes, maybe. I know that I got the idea to read Ishmael similar to how you did, except that I only had it recommended to me once and I jumped at the opportunity. I think that once someone hears about the book enough they will find a way to get their hands on it. In my case the local library where I was living at the time had a nice hard copy available for me to read.
Where I’m living now, I’ve made sure both the libraries within 15 miles of my house had the Ishmael trilogy available to their patrons. I think I ended up buying all three of them for one library and The Story of B for the other. I also made sure that one library had everything that Derrick Jensen has ever written up to Endgame.
Take care,
Curt