© 2017 Joanne Strobel
© 2017 Urantia Foundation
| Welcome & Contact Details | Volume 11, Issue 3, Oct. 2017 — Index | Noteworthy Decisions from the July 2017 Board of Trustees Meeting |
By Joanne Strobel, Urantia Foundation, Illinois, United States
Urantia Foundation has been providing free electronic downloads of The Urantia Book and its translations for almost eight years, since 2010. The primary reason why we provide them for free is our commitment to dissemination. In Article II of the Foundation’s Declaration of Trust it says:
The concordant objects for which the Foundation is created are to perpetually preserve inviolate the text of The Urantia Book and to disseminate the principles, teachings, and doctrines of The Urantia Book.
Free electronic downloads are now available in eighteen languages and in twenty-six electronic formats. Why so many formats? We constantly strive to accommodate an ever-increasing assortment of devices, the different software on each, and consumer preferences for one electronic format over another. Which format is best for you? Click here.
Another reason for providing free downloads is to increase the availability of the book around the world. You’ve undoubtedly heard that the number of bookstores is rapidly declining. While thousands of new books are published each year, any book published in prior years is considered “backlisted.” That makes The Urantia Book a backlisted book of sixty-two years. The likelihood that a bookstore will stock The Urantia Book is diminishing year by year. And that significantly reduces the chance of someone stumbling across it while browsing bookshelves in a shop.
While Urantia Foundation does its utmost to place the physical book in brick-andmortar bookstores and online retail stores around the world, the challenges are endless. Some corners of the globe present difficulties-if not impossibilities-when attempting to distribute the physical book. But our efforts are rewarded by knowing that, no matter where you call home, whether it be Africa, South America, Asia, or Europe, if you have a Wi-Fi connection, then the book can be downloaded in its entirety. It is comforting to know that neither income levels, nor geographical locations are barriers for obtaining The Urantia Book.
Cesare Nicoletti of Italy wrote, “I discovered The Urantia Book online by searching ‘Religions in Italy.’ How wonderful it was to download the Italian translation from urantia.org. Since then I have been helping Italians find the book online through Wikipedia and my Facebook page. I am confident that soon there will be a reader’s group in Italy.”
The number of downloads from urantia.org continues to increase. When you combine the number of downloads from our website with those of the Apple (iPhone) App, the numbers exceeded 100,000 in 2016 alone.
Richard Jernigan is a fan of the Apple app and wrote, “The Apple app of The Urantia Book is beautifully laid out, closely approximates the print version, and has versatility to fit one’s personal preferences. I use it daily.”
And the App developer writes, useful way to help people “If you have the app, please take a moment in the App Store and write a favorable review. It really makes a difference. Apple uses the number and quality of reviews to decide how often to show an app in search results, among other benefits. A simple yet long-lasting and useful way to help people discover The Urantia Book is to lend your voice by leaving thoughtful online reviews wherever the book is available.”
Make no mistake: We are still selling more than twenty thousand physical books each year. But when you factor in the number of downloads, you can conclude that slowly but surely this revelation is spreading!
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| Welcome & Contact Details | Volume 11, Issue 3, Oct. 2017 — Index | Noteworthy Decisions from the July 2017 Board of Trustees Meeting |