© 1981 Urantia Foundation
Our thirty-first year, now coming to a close, has been one of progress in which we can all take pride.
One of the biggest events of this year was the publication of the Seventh Printing of The URANTIA Book which numbers some twenty-three thousand copies. This means there are now about 135,000 copies in print, with more than 112,000 copies sold. This year sales are anticipated to be approximately 10% over last year. It would appear that The URANTIA Book can be considered a confirmed best seller. However, unlike most best sellers which come and go, The URANTIA Book promises a sustained increasing popularity both in the United States and abroad in English, and in other languages as authorized translations become available. The inherent worth of the teachings of The URANTIA Book have been and will continue to be its best recommender with no need for advertising or other attention-getting methods of sale. The person-to-person spread of The URANTIA Book continues to be the most productive means of its dissemination.
This does not mean, however, that we should not reassess our methods of distribution so as to make The URANTIA Book as widely available as possible. It appears that the entire book publishing industry is going through significant if not fundamental changes and two committees of URANTIA Brotherhood are looking into the impact on the distribution of The URANTIA Book. It will take some time for a full assessment to be made and a program to be proposed. If you have comments or suggestions, please write them to us.
To assist in realizing the sustained availability of The URANTIA Book, URANTIA Brotherhood undertook an international fund raising campaign to provide contributions for a perpetual book fund, described in previous issues of our newsletter. The fund basically provides that as each copy of the book is sold, a certain amount will be set aside to insure readily available funds for future printings of The URANTIA Book. Originally, we sought $210,000 for twenty-five thousand copies but as the press run was only a little over twenty-three thousand copies, our need was $177,000. To date we have received ninety-seven percent of our revised goal. Many, many of you assisted us in reaching this figure and the significance of your efforts is highlighted by the generally difficult world economic conditions. In addition, thanks to those who volunteered their services, our actual fund raising costs amounted to about two percent of the amount raised–a highly respectable figure.
One of our most important desires is to make translations of The URANTIA Book available. We are currently concerned with making the teachings available in French, Finnish and Spanish. Special funds have been established for translations. Currently the accounts are about $7,000 for translations in general and about $3,000 for a Spanish version.
Funds will obviously be necessary in the near future to realize French, Finnish and Spanish language translations in final form. Already there has been promising discussion among a number of interested readers as to how we can begin raising the money. We would very much appreciate both your suggestions and donations to this important work. Again, please feel free to write us with your comments.
URANTIA Foundation and URANTIA Brotherhood are assessing computer applications to our operations and some readers have offered their suggestions and comments. There are promising possibilities in the areas of word processing and data management but nothing definite has been decided.
URANTIA Foundation, in cooperation with URANTIA Brotherhood, is reviewing the copyright permissions policy especially as it deals with the use of small amounts of material from The URANTIA Book. We hope to conclude our reassessment within six or seven months at the very latest. In the meantime, if you have questions or comments, please let us hear from you.
URANTIA Foundation continues to be vigilant over the use of its registered marks, as well as over its copyrighted material, and we have been successful this year in ending several unauthorized uses. Many situations have been brought to our attention by interested readers and we continue to be indebted to all of you for your support and encouragement in carrying out our responsibilities in these areas.
A few of the Trustees and/or Staff have been able to attend a number of conferences and have very much enjoyed meeting so many of you and sharing common concerns as well as hopes and aspirations. It is, of course, more and more difficult to be present at the burgeoning number of meetings, but we will make every effort to send someone if you would like that and give us sufficient notice. In any event, we will be happy to send you information concerning conference copyright and trademark usages.
“Words fail me to express the fullfilment the The URANTIA Book has brought to my life. Currently I am striving for spirit dominance in my daily life, and I am trying to effect a better cooperation with my Thought Adjuster”
“I started reading the Book the night I wrote this in a diary ledger I I keep: ‘The URANTIA Book, could this be the answer I’ve been looking for?’ That was March 11, 1979. Well, I’m still with the Book and as I know and you know, it certainly was the answer I was looking for and everybody else is looking for, whether or not they know it. It is the literal ”Keys to Heaven."
“Few persons live up to the faith which they really have. Unreasoned fear is a master intellectual fraud practiced upon the evolving mortal soul.” UB 48:7.4