“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

When you publish a paperback of ours, this is like publishing a new book for the first time. I am speaking of our books only—not, for example, of novels or other “occult” tracts.

If you remember, it took a while for The Seth Material, with Prentice, to do well. It was distributed to bookstores and areas specifically involved with the conventional occult field. Even though such people are familiar with the general area of our work, still the book did not fit into a general mold. It took a while, then—though not too long— before the book began to sell well. The other books quickly followed with, to that degree, a now built-in sales advantage.

The general public, however, has been obviously largely ignorant of the books. Publishing them in paperback presents a different picture. Again, they do not fit into the overall occult picture as even the general public understands it. There is no position, no God from the mountain top, and no dumb or docile medium to be taken advantage of by the spirits or otherwise. The work is not simplistic.

The paperbacks are important, regardless of sales values, because they appear in the ordinary marketplace, out of esoteric cubbyholes. You have a loyal core of readers who were already acquainted generally with “occult” books—but to a larger overall extent, that is a steady but dead-end road. It can be counted upon, may grow slightly, but will not affect the overall culture to any considerable degree.

Moreover, from this other general (paperback) market, you will consistently pick up a newer group of readers. To some extent you have been “hitting the underground movements.” Well and good, and important. You are competing now, as you were not before, however, in that general market with all of the conventional cultural goodies. As mentioned, you are not packaging our material either in such a way that it builds upon the cliches of the occult field believed in as the public sees it.

The paperbacks have not cut down the occult market that you had secured. Those people have already read the books, and are waiting for more. There would have been a lag in sales until the next book, which then triggers the loyal to pick up any of the others they might have missed along the way.