OPEN
LETTER TO MY READERS
Søren Kierkegaard, in whose footprints I
sometimes
walk, referred to "my reader".
He might have had a particular young woman in mind,
but probably he was thinking of the small group of unknown people
who bought his self-published books in Copenhagen bookshops.
When I think of my readers,
you are very often people whose names I know
because you send e-mails to me before you buy my books.
But, except for the books I sell in classes and workshops,
I have never met my readers face-to-face.
You have found my books on the Internet.
2008 marked the year when about half of my readers
live outside of the United States of America.
In future years, I expect that more than half of you
will be getting your books by air-mail from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This shift from readers in the USA
to readers outside the USA is likely to continue.
In 2009, I began once again to offer face-to-face
classes,
in the Experimental College of the Twin Cities.
This has shifted the readership back toward people whom I have met in
person.
Since my books are all written in English,
almost all of my readers speak English as your primary language.
But some of my readers live in countries
where English is a secondary language.
And I occasionally get requests to translate my works into other
languages.
Arabic and French are two recent examples.
The Internet is the way that my readers have
discovered my works.
It would not be possible to reach you by any means of advertising.
But you search for something on the Internet
that leads you to my books.
And because generous portions of each book
are published free of charge on the Internet,
you can get a good taste of what you might buy
before you consider sending away for some of my books.
Another trend I have noticed is that especially
readers in other lands
often order more than one of my books at a time.
I suppose this means that you have read deeply in each book on the
Internet.
And then you decide that you want to have printed copies
so you can read every page.
My deep thanks for considering my books.
When I sit down to write, I think of you.
I write because I hope that my thoughts will be meaningful
to other thinking people wherever you live on the Earth.
And I do always welcome comments and questions from
you readers.
You can write to me at the address below.
Yours,
James Leonard Park, existential philosopher.
*********************************************************
:) James Park e-mail:
PARKx032@TC.UMN.EDU
1829 Third Avenue South #218
| phone: (612) 871-PARK
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404-2185
Museum: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/
Bookstore: http://www.existentialbooks.com
*********************************************************
If anyone reading this open letter
would like to see a complete list of my books, click here:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/JP-CW.html
Created
December 6, 2008; Revised 3-21-2009