A Progress Report

"Persist" persists. And I persist in doing what needs to be done. Forgive me for harping on... The work I'm doing to spread the word about the book is also bringing new readers to The Buddha Diaries, which was certainly one of my goals.

I heard yesterday from Paul Gerhards at Parami Press that our Amazon.com sales are perking up. This is a good sign that people other than those I contact directly are hearing about the book, because those I contact directly will either buy their copy from me or order one through Parami Press. The downside to those Amazon orders is that Amazon helps itself to 55% of the gross, no slim picking from an independent publisher.

Still this is not, never has been, about the money. If it were, I guess both Paul and I would be in different businesses. For me, it's about sharing ideas that seem, to me, important, and about inspiring others to discover the path that I have been fortunate enough to discover myself; to "get to the heart of the matter", to dig as deeply as possible into the psyche, to find out more about what it means to be human and where that common humanity lies that we all share. If a part of this work is selling books, so be it. I'll "persist."

Today I go to the Laguna College of Art and Design to meet with students there. It's my first encounter with art school students in this context, and I'm looking forward to finding out how best to speak to them and get them talking. I have always loved art schools, since my days as Dean and Director at what was in those days Otis Art Institute (it's now Otis College of Art and Design.) So that's where I plan to start...