“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Prentice knows that the hardcovers will continue to do well over the years. [...] The people who really enjoy these books will buy Prentice editions as their own wear out, using hardcovers to make notations, etc.

If you remember, it took a while for The Seth Material, with Prentice, to do well. [...]

[...] The two Bantam sales, for example, Material and Seth Speaks, served purposes for you and Ruburt, and Prentice as well.

(Then this noon we received from Prentice-Hall copies of the revised index for Volume 1 of “Unknown,” plus new page proofs of the type chosen for Volume 2—a matter we’d thought already settled. [...] After lunch I had her call Ethel Waters at Prentice-Hall to tell her everything was okay, simply to get rid of the worries about the book. [...]

[...] There is nothing wrong or inferior about the people at Prentice, who made the “improper” artistic decision. [...]

[...] The call to Prentice today was an effort to free one area of life. [...]

(A couple of days ago Jane received from Tam a letter written to Tam by Saul Cohen, the editor at Prentice-Hall who’s evidently been assigned to shepherd Jane’s work through production. [Tam is still her regular editor.] In the letter Cohen had good things to say about her work, and the chances that Prentice-Hall will publish Seven III, the first five chapters of which Tam has forwarded to Prentice-Hall. There seems to be a chance also of trying to get Prentice-Hall to publish the three Seven books in simultaneous hardcover and trade paperback editions, if we interpret the letter correctly. [...]

[...] It then became evident that a lot of her poor feelings lately have been connected to worries over work, what Prentice-Hall would or wouldn’t publish, etc.—an old reaction that I should have been more prepared for, I guess, but had lost sight of in our day-to-day hassles. [...]

(Jane had a call from Tam Mossman at Prentice-Hall today, during which we obtained some confirmation on points made by Seth in a recent session. [...]

[...] Today Tam Mossman confirmed that Eve does ride to work at Prentice-Hall with a woman fitting Seth’s description, including the age given; he said eve would ride with him on the specified days in order to alter the probabilities.

[...] Affairs with Prentice are as I expected. [...]

This will also be reflected in your concerns with books and [your publisher] Prentice-Hall — with any of your business concerns. [...]

(I had to stop and think, since I’ve been pretty angry and upset about communications with Prentice-Hall lately. [...]

(The second bit of news is that Rusty met the president of Prentice-Hall recently. [...] After the program Prentice-Hall’s president told Rusty that listening to her had helped him better understand Jane’s own work. But this meeting took place last summer, and we’ve had no feedback from anyone at Prentice-Hall.

[...] Interesting, that this information would come to us just as Jane is preparing her James manuscript for Prentice.

[...] One aspect not covered, and which I forgot to ask about, involved Rusty’s meeting with the president of Prentice-Hall; will try to remember to ask about this next session.

(This afternoon Jane received a royalty check from Prentice-Hall for $819.00, covering sales to June 30 of The Seth Material, hard and soft cover, and the first copies of Seth Speaks. [...]

[...] The publicity department at Prentice-Hall told Jane last week that this program was thinking of asking us to be on the show, and that possibly we’d be contacted this week.

(A note: Publicity at Prentice-Hall also told Jane that Newsweek Magazine might do a story or review re Seth, and that this might take place within two or three weeks, etc. [...]

I was disappointed, naturally, but again I sent the dream manuscript out; this time to Prentice-Hall, on April 2, 1968. On April 12, as I did psy-time, I received a strong impression that Prentice would give me a contract if I revised the book rather drastically. [...]

[...] Angry at having the experience cut short, I dozed off again, once more giving the suggestion that I would learn what was going on at Prentice-Hall.

[...] Then I saw a letter about my book from Prentice. [...]

On April 2, 1968—I sent it to Prentice Hall

I will congratulate you both on your handling of today’s situation and Prentice, and taxes (and sample page proofs for Volume 1 of “Unknown” Reality). [...]

(To me:) For all of your complaints, if you will forgive me, you have exactly what you want from Prentice. [...] You might find yourselves amazingly uncomfortable, despite what you think your reaction would be, if Prentice suddenly began initiating publicity campaigns, ad campaigns.

[...] They are not really the greatest business-oriented house, either—but houses who are would have exerted pressures upon you that would far outstrip or outweigh any disadvantages coming from Prentice.

[...] In a way, Prentice had the good sense to leave you alone. [...]

There is other material pertaining to you and Prentice, and Ruburt has his old habits—but for now we will let it rest. [...]

[...] It means only that our friends in Hollywood and in the subsidiary rights department at Prentice-Hall have agreed upon the terms of the option; a contract has yet to be signed by all of us. [...]

During this session hiatus I’ve been spending much time upon a series of letters to the publishers of Seth Speaks in Switzerland and in the Netherlands, as well as to those in charge at Prentice-Hall.¹ Last Saturday night we had a very interesting meeting with a psychologist from New York City. [...]

As for Ruburt, he became overconcerned about work because of the contracts (for Mass Events and God of Jane, which we have yet to sign with Prentice-Hall), and the foreign hassles. [...]

[...] To some extent then he felt even the safety of your relationship threatened when you became irritated, say, with Prentice. He became frightened in particular when he feared that his relationship with Prentice might make you ill.

[...] The certainty of a more or less dependable environment, and Ruburt therefore valued, and values, the certainty that existed for many years with the Prentice connection. [...]

As far as dilemmas go, he feels one as far as Prentice is concerned, since he sees Prentice as a vehicle (underlined) that moves his work out into the public arena, and he feels that that vehicle is at best presently stalled, while no other one is in immediate practical sight. [...]

[...] She’s managed to get her poetry book out to Prentice, and now is not at work on any writing. [...]

[...] Among them is Jane’s fear of the controversial nature of Seth’s medical material, which led to Prentice-Hall’s installation of the hated disclaimer.

[...] He told me that Prentice had called about a radio-phone show and that I was to return the call. [...]

I hemmed and hawed, decided after talking with Rob that I really didn’t want to do any shows at all, so I wrote one letter so informing Prentice. [...]

[...] In the short run, our troubles with Prentice-Hall lately, especially those revolving around Tam’s decision to leave Prentice full time, have touched off Jane’s latest poor reactions re her hips and legs. At the same time, her body tries desperately to reassert itself, while she feels threatened by the events stemming from Prentice, and so wants to keep clamping down.

(Tomorrow I mail to Prentice-Hall chapters 7 and 8, plus the Intro, for Jane’s Psyche. [...]

(Today we received probably 30 letters from Prentice-Hall, some of which were dated in early October. [...]

[...] He was upset with Prentice on some other matters, and then began to worry that “Unknown” might be too long — might run into difficulties. [...]

[...] At the moment Prentice-Hall is considering a prospectus for this book. [...]

[...] She said that at the end of the session, just before she left trance, she got a message that she would hear from the publisher Prentice-Hall, within three days concerning the prospectus they have for the book on the Seth material.

(But Jane did not receive, or did not retain, any data about the content of any message from Prentice-Hall.)

[...] I for one have long reached the point where I expect little else from Prentice-Hall except shoddy work, and I think that by now Jane more or less agrees. [...]

(“Jane said she picked up from you this morning some things about Prentice-Hall—our troubles with them about cover designs, their attitudes, and so forth.”)

The people at Prentice and generally speaking at any publishing house, live more or less at the level you saw yesterday. [...]