Theos-Talk Archives (February 2011 Message tt00013)

Some thoughts on electronic copies of theosophical materials

As one delves into the advantages of an electronic copies of publications,
everyday, you find additional advantages over the print copies.

Here are some of them:

1. You save trees
2. You save printing overhead, especially with small market.
3. Ease of updating the content. Can be done at any time.
4. Transportation costs of printed books sent around the world.
5. Visually impaired can display the books in large fonts for ease of
readability.
6. Audio conversion software can âreadâ books for the blind. No need for
braille book.
7. Old style Index, if one is there is severely limited. Electronic books
are searchable.
8. Very inexpensive so that all poor theosophists around the world can
access it.
9. Reduced overhead by cutting off the middlemen.
10. Can be printed on demand, if anyone needs a hard copy.
11. One does not have to lug along heavy books while traveling. Can be put
on a thumb drive and read anywhere with any computer.
12. Some translation software can even translate them, even though the
quality is questionable.
13. Easy to quote from the electronic copies.
14. One can easily improve the book by inserting ones comments easily and
end product shared world-wide.
15. References in the book can be easily linked so that the reader can look
up them up.

With todayâs inexpensive scanners, it is very easy and quick to convert hard
copies to pdf files. A classic example was the recent conversion and
uploading of early Theosophist Issues on theosophy.net.

On the Cons side, some of the recent hard copy books of interest to
Theosophists around the world are too pricey for the average theosophist who
has to work for a living. The classic examples of books are: Secret Doctrine
Commentaries, Reflections book on Mahatma Letters etc. One of the classic
books published some time ago, Light of the Sanctuary - the Occult Diary of
Geoffrey Hodson is out of print and copies are currently selling in the
market for as high as US$600.00. There is also the compilation of Hodsonâs
published material which is 1900 pages long and costs US$58.00 with shipping
of US$23 if shipped from the Philippines where it is published. There is
also the book on Judge Case published in Canada, which is again a voluminous
book costing nearly US$70-80.

First and foremost, theosophical books are published to reach those
interested in theosophy, and this market is quite minuscule world-wide. If
only the books are easily accessible to anyone with an interest in
theosophy, it is going to go a long way in furthering the interests of
theosophy and theosophical society.

It is time for the movers and shakers responsible to make policy decisions
in publications, start thinking outside the box by putting aside the
business hat and putting on the theosophical hat so that they can clearly
see what are the opportunities that electronic media presents in todayâs
world to broadcasts theosophy and theosophical publications.

Anyone listening???

MKR


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