BBT and advertising

Expressions researched:
"BBT" |"Book Fund" |"Book Trust" |"advertise" |"advertisement" |"advertising"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase research query: bbt or "book trust" or "bhaktivedanta trust" or "book fund" or "book funds" and advertis*

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 19, 1976, Mayapura:

Satsvarūpa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, today starts a big international convention for the Association for Asian Studies, and we're there. It's in Toronto. We have an advertisement in this book, with Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, with a quote by that Bruce Long. And we have that big sign at our booth: "The largest publisher and distributor of books on the philosophy, culture and religion of India." This shows also with all the exhibitors, we're listed, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. And this is where we are, this booth here.

Prabhupāda: So who is taking care?

Satsvarūpa: Two of the library men who didn't come, just so they could go to this convention.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Why not spend some money for advertisement? It will be noticed.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We can advertise them in prestigious papers like Reader's Digest or printer's...

Prabhupāda: Nice advertisement. Spend some money.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: That will increase our prestige.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But we should advertise in America as Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, not Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: No, no. As Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Actually, we have to keep ourselves.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Advertise as BBT, because no connection with Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: If you have got excess money, you can advertise. There is no need of keeping money. Spend.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- January 30, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Gargamuni: I think in America that we cannot say that the general public is against us, because the book sales are increasing. It is only when the book sales decrease...

Prabhupāda: No... So how many pages these are?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We plan to print up to at least hundred pages each volume. But this is already about two hundred pages. So we are going to reduce it little bit so that we can print it in next volume.

Prabhupāda: Life From Life, we are already advertising in our BBT list.

Hari-śauri: Yes. It's already listed there.

Room Conversation -- July 27-28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: A lot of people write to BBT for brochure or catalog. So this is costing us only about twenty-five paisa but advertises all your books.

Prabhupāda: Hindi?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: It's in English. Yes. Because a lot of people write to BBT to "Send us your catalog," and if we do a big one, American one, that's very expensive. We can't give it out free. So I wrote a small sixteen... This is for free distribution.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very nice. Yes, it serves the purpose.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: It advertises all your books. Plus, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I had signed a contract with the biggest mail-order house in India, called Mail Order Sales. And this week their full-page advertisement on the Bhagavad-gītā is reaching 25,000 households. Their ad wasn't ready, but they are sending it to me in few days. It's a very beautiful ad. They have a monthly newspaper called Mail Order News, and that they've given a whole page. But they pay for it. We give them a straight commission on sales. Just like in America you have Book of the Month Club and selling books by mail. This is very big. Plus we are now doing the Bhaktivedanta Encyclopedia of Vedic Knowledge. We are preparing a brochure just like this. This is a Brittanica Encyclopedia advertisement. So we're going to have your nineteen or twenty Bhāgavatams here. The artists are working on it and this is going to be sent to about thirty thousand households. These are just for households, not libraries or anyone, just as selling to businessmen and executives.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Who's going to do this?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Mail Order Sales. It's a company that specializes in mail orders. This will be very good.

Visit From Allopathic Doctor -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Brahmānanda: To distribute these books Cyavana Swami is having African devotees distribute them. He is organizing them. Cyavana Swami is good at organizing the Africans. But we are not able to distribute them for what it cost to print.

Prabhupāda: It doesn't matter.

Brahmānanda: What is that?

Hari-śauri: Doesn't matter.

Brahmānanda: Doesn't matter. Yes. Therefore we have to get... I've asked at the BBT that some fund, if we could set up some fund... We have published in the books that "This is donated to the people of Kenya by ISKCON Frankfurt, West Germany." So he is getting a good advertisement also, that he is sending money out of the country for welfare purposes.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Rupanuga -- Honolulu 2 February, 1975:

According to Jayatirtha prabhu, Jagadisa's proposal for BBT loan has already been rejected.

BTG is not meant for advertising ISKCON Food Relief.

Letter to Ramesvara -- Bombay 14 November, 1975:

The report of the BBT Library Party is very encouraging to me that the main library of Harvard told us they would be honored to complete the collection of our books. Just see. This is wonderful. Still University of New Brunswick has ordered our books even though they do not order religious books. This is a success. This quote by the head of their religion department of Oberlin is very important: "I think the best feature of the Hare Krsna Movement is that it is providing scholars with authorized translations of the rarest books on Krsna-bhakti." This should be quoted and printed in a pamphlet. Also the fact that at Colorado Springs Library that 8 volumes of their Bhagavatams had been take out 7 times in the past year. This should be published. You print one poster, big type, and put the quotation of the Oberlin professor. You can title it: How Our Book Are Being Received and have the quotation of the professor, the professor's remarks. This will be a good advertisement for our books.