“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Our beloved books began to go out of print, one by one, as sales slowly declined. I thought the letters from readers would also slack off. They did to some extent — but to my surprise and pleasure they continued to arrive at that slower but steady pace. I tried hard to answer each one of them. (I still do, although at this writing I’m far behind. I’ve let answering any but immediate business mail go while Laurel and I worked on the manuscript for The Magical Approach.)

For several years after Jane’s death, I explored possible publishing ventures with old and trusted friends — people who, like Richard Kendall and Suzanne Delisle, sincerely wanted to see Jane’s and my work kept in print. Richard had been a member of Jane’s ESP class in the 1970s. Following her passing, as a paralegal he was also a great help in resolving some old and troublesome publishing hassles. At the same time, I wondered often if it was of any use to try publishing Seth books, old or new — why do so, if sales were falling? Maybe people were tired of the Seth material. Maybe Jane and I had already offered the best we could, for whatever our efforts were worth. The world would certainly go on, regardless.

Our books continued to go out of print, and in 1990 I began working with Anne Marie O’Farrell, a literary agent. She’s married to Rick Stack, a writer, publisher, and lecturer involving things psychic; he too was a member of ESP class. Without Anne Marie’s untiring help, I question whether I’d still be in publishing. For she “found” Janet Mills and Amber-Allen/New World Library. Like Laurel, both women are passionately interested in keeping Jane’s work in print. Janet told me, after publishing the first two reprints, that she “would like to publish all of the books at once.” And added that she was already getting requests to do just that.

For some time now Rick Stack and I have discussed a most intriguing project: the private printing, by Rick, of the complete transcripts of those first 510 sessions that Jane held before the publication of The Seth Material in 1970. This will be a massive job. The set of eight volumes will be called The Early Sessions, and will be sold by subscription only, at least in the beginning.