Transcript
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International Guild of Occult Sciences

College and Research Society

Occult Publishing Guild

IGOS

Copyright © 2012 IGOS Thor Templar [email protected]

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Contents

Chapter One The need for an Occult Publishing Guild 3

Chapter Two Occult Publishing Guild 4

Chapter Three Basic Standards 7

Chapter Four General Information 9

Chapter Five Active Support 10

Chapter Six Copyright Theft 12

Chapter Seven Opportunities Passed 15

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Chapter One

The Need for an Occult Publishing Guild

One of the major problems with occultism in general, is the total lack of interest in working together for mutual benefit. Occult organizations seem hostile to each other. IGOS has always sought contact with other Orders. Occultists in general have a personality that seems to be apart from normal society and society structures. Contact with other organizations can have great benefits, on all kinds of levels. I find a new trend that Occult Orders are willing to share information and have contact with each other. IGOS now has several working relations with other Orders and see more coming. One area of contact that certainly has major benefits for occultists and Orders alike is, Occult Publishing. This is a small “club” of dedicated publishers. There are probably less than ten in the United States and the number worldwide is tiny. Occult Publishers need a Guild of their own, something that sets standards and policies for occult publishers in general. Serious occult publishers should be communicating with each other, sharing information, selling each other’s books, discussing

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possible project co-operation, obtaining rare texts, translating, cost sharing and much more. There are a great many areas of co-operation occult publishers could be involved with. Just the open free flow of information would be a great first step. This would move occult publishing to the Next Level, just as the occult itself needs to do.

Chapter Two

Occult Publishing Standards

There is a great need for standards within occult publishing, because of the massive lack of ancient materials, grimoires and such. There is a lot of repeat publish happening. The same books are being published over and over.

There is also a HUGE problem with limited edition publishing. This practice is hurting occultism in a major way. The problem of obtaining certain texts for study is a major problem. Purchasing limited editions are difficult and very costly, especially after selling out. This Limited Edition practice is no longer necessary. In modern times, this is just a sales trick for getting high prices for a text. There is no reason not to keep a book in print, with modern digital publishing. There are basically no costs involved in doing this and it actually pays to, with the future sales you will be making.

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If a publisher wishes to offer limited editions, this is no problem in general, as long as there is an “in print” version available of some type. This “in print” edition can be priced the same as limited editions, if the publisher feels it will hurt the sales of the limited edition. After selling out of the limited edition, the “in prin”t edition can be reduced in price. If not, this is strictly an abuse of publishing, making huge profits by scaring the occultist into thinking that the limited edition is the only way to obtain the knowledge. This is an old business trick that needs to stop. If publishers want to publish fancy leather bound editions, so let it be. But, there must be other editions kept in print indefinitely. An Occult Publishing Guild would make this happen. I do not see Special Edition sales hurt by doing this. If sales are decreased in the short term, sales in the long term would more than make up for this. There is nothing wrong with Special Limited Editions, there seems to be a buyer for fancy texts but, not only limited editions, especially if this involves a classic grimoire that is in the public domain.

If a publisher offers only limited editions of a public domain text, they can expect others to publish their “version” of this text.

This seems be me, to be a waste of time. There are thousands of texts waiting to be published, both old and from new writers. Yet, it is still difficult to get published and many thousands of classic recent texts, from the last 10 to 50 years, are no longer in print. This is not what the “new age of knowledge” and understanding is all about. It is hurting occultism in a dramatic way. This coupled with silly long term copyright laws, is producing less and less new product.

In the rare case that a publisher wants to print an up-dated version of a classic text, with new insights added. The publisher of the original should welcome this. This would assist occultism greatly. New insights are often gained, years after an original text is published. With this stated, it really needs to have new insights or it is just copyright theft, pure and simple. If a publisher wants to use text from the original book,

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it should ask to do so. In a case like this, publishers need to ask permission to use the original text and credit the original writer. As an occult publisher, you should welcome this. It should create new demand for the original text that you have kept in print. In general, this should rarely be done. To bring occultism to the Next Level, we need new texts, new translations of books never seen before, not a redone version of the same old text.

In regards to public domain books, we see all over the Net now. These are free for any publisher to use as they please. Many publishers are offering these occult public domain texts. I think Occult Publishing Guild Members should do the same. These texts need to be kept in print as well. Who knows what will happen with these texts, even if they are in the public domain. The Occult Publishing Guild should be the organization to make sure these texts are available to the public at low cost or in deluxe editions. Even if the other publishers in the Guild, are publishing it already, it is fine for each publisher to have their own edition of these public domain texts. One may want to offer a deluxe leather edition and the other a simple paperback. I see no problem with this in general.

We do need to stay away from too much repeat publishing here as well. The members of an Occult Publishing Guild should make available ALL occult public domain texts. Whether this is a few publishers that split them up or one or two that publish most.

Trade associations are common in the regular business world. It is time occultism has some too.

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Chapter Three

Basic Standards

The following should be the basic standards an Occult Publishing Guild would offer. I am sure there are more to add to this but, this is a good start.

„ Open communication between publishers is a must.

„ Mutual co-operation on all levels.

„ Publishers agree to keep all texts in print for as long as possible with support of the Guild, if needed. This can be in any fashion best for the publisher but, it must be available to the general public.

„ Publishers agree that “versions” of classic grimoire public domain texts, are good for occultism. These need to have a large amount of original content and not be copies of already published grimoires.

„ Publishers should be willing to sell Guild Members texts and receive the usual profit for doing this. No “one way streets” here. All need to sell each other’s products and the publisher will act as a Drop Shipper for these sales. This makes the entire process easy and only adds profits for both.

„ Publishers should seek out ways of working together and mutually assisting each other.

„ No one will speak badly about the others books. Any problems need to be handled within the Guild law system. Guild Members will

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speak positively of each other’s books and post these positive comments on book sites like Amazon and others.

„ Publishers will assist each other in stopping copyright theft.

„ Regular occult public domain texts are free for all publishers to use as they choose.

These are just basic standards all publishers need to agree to. More can be added or these edited but, this is what is required to assist occultism in the years to come.

The usual tactic of having occult publishers working against each other needs to stop. The mutual benefits and increased profits far outweigh petty infighting.

Publishing Quality

All publishers should try to publish their titles in the highest quality possible. Because occult texts are sought after books for many hundreds of years, providing quality texts is important. These are not requirements of membership but they are goals the Guild would like all members to try and achieve.

All titles should be printed in hard and soft covers.

Electric versions of books should be made of each title for future use if not used as a type of edition in first printing.

Acid free paper should be used whenever possible.

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Chapter Four

General Information

The Publishing Guild is a free service.

A web site will be built for the Guild that will serve as a general meeting place and for spreading the latest information and news.

The Guild is International and we welcome new members from around the world.

Membership is open to all publishers no matter the size of their publishing company. Proof of publishing activities is required.

Members must agree with and comply with Guild Policies and actively support the membership in actions, not only words.

Members not meeting the Guilds standards or not actively working with the Guild will be excommunicated.

Members will sign a Non-disclosure agreement to protect all.

Membership will be open to occult authors that have proof of publishing and distribution. A fee of $20.00 a year is required of individual author members. The policies apply to authors and publishers.

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Chapter Five

Active Support

It is very critical that Members are actively supporting the Guild. This requires very little time but constant involvement. Active support involves lots of simple activities that should be done weekly or may be even daily for a few minutes.

Guild members are required to keep a list of their activities. Activities include the following but limited to these….

Checking book sites for Member books and leaving positive reviews. There are many, many book sites online other than Amazon.

Watching for stolen copyrights.

Checking businesses that claim the right of selling books.

Contact with others Members to assist or to propose a project to work together on.

The passing on of important news.

Assisting other Members in marketing their books.

Listing all Members books on your web site.

Setting up a mutual purchase of a rare book.

Letting Membership know of used booksellers that specialize in occult texts.

Anything that involves working with another Member.

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This is just a basic list. I am sure there is more that can be added. We are all busy but, being in a Guild requires a little bit of time weekly. A Guild has no value if no one in the Guild does anything or if IGOS has to do everything. There will be no “one way streets” in the Guild. Be ready to work together in some manner often or do not get involved.

At the end of the year you should have a list of 24 things that you assisted the Guild with. That is two actions a month, these need to be documented with internet addresses, if that applies.

IGOS will only be involved with a serious Guild. We see no need for an organization, in name only. The Guild must be active and the Membership working together.

One of the main activities is the watching for copyright theft.

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Chapter Six

Copyright Theft or Infringement

With the vastness of the Internet, copyright theft is a serious problem. On one site alone, I found over 50 Llewellyn titles. There even is a business that takes new and old occult books and resells them. I am not talking about old classic texts that have been forgotten. I am talking about new texts. This is not right and needs to be stopped.

Guild members need to be on the lookout for these types of businesses and other postings of texts in general. When found, the Guild will contact the offending business and tell them to remove the text. If they do not comply, ALL members need to e-mail the offender and tell them to remove the text. Group pressure will be very effective here. We need to post online their criminal activities and inform the entire occult world.

Other steps need to be done as well, including contacting their ISP, Domain name provider, their local BBB, State Attorney General, FBI and lots more. Details on this entire process will be given to Members. This is where I see a Guild making a big difference for its membership and how the membership can show active support.

If there is a dispute over ownership of a text, the Guild will not get involved in this process. This would not be copyright theft and the two parties need to resolve the dispute legally. If one party is a Guild member, the Guild will assist as best as it can. But the membership cannot be involved in this process directly. There is plenty of direct theft to deal with. I would think disputes will be rare.

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The Guild would also like to share legal costs with the membership or start a legal fund to cut individual fees by 50 to 80 percent. Copyright thieves tend to steal all publishers books, as such, books from all members will be violated at times. By working together here actual compensation from thieves can be obtained, instead just getting books removed from sites. This is the type of strong action a Guild can offer. The Guild is not just seeking removal of texts but compensation for profits lost. His would certainly stop further copyright abuse in the future. Even further, the Guild would seek criminal charges against abusers as well. There are criminal penalties for copyright theft in all states and most international countries.

When your home is robbed or you are robbed on the streets, this rarely happens again. In Copyright thief, you are robbed over and over, day after day, year after years, it never ends and the losses continue to build. Those smaller presses that do not organize to protect their products will soon find themselves out of business. Copyright thief is just that, thief. No matter what the ”legal“ definition is, it is thief and there are criminal charges that can be sought against those involved in these practices.

Copyright Protection and Removal Service

Because the Guild does not charge membership fees, it will offer one service for a very small monthly fee, to members that want to take advantage of this service.

While the Guild monitors members copyrights on the web in general. Those members that want to pay a fee and appoint the Guild as their “agent,” can benefit from the Guild contacting the offender, hosting service and filing the all-important notice, or DMCA. This will save the

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member a great deal of time. This is usually a simple process but it has excellent basic results.

This is in no way a legal service and those wanting greater measures taken against an offender needs to seek legal guidance. In a normal case, the Guild would just notify the Member of the copyright problem and then assist with general contact with the rest of the Membership. This service gets the Guild to directly contact the person or hosting service with the basic proper action. It is limited to filing the DMCA and basic follow-up. A Member can notify the Guild of a problem and request we do this process or the Guild will do this automatically, if the Member is paying for the service. These books include past and present titles offered.

Small Publisher 1-30 Books $5.00 per month

Medium Publisher 31-70 Books $10.00 per month

Large Publisher 71-150 Books $25.00 per month

Over 150 books $100.00 per month

This is a general service it is not fulltime copyright theft service. As we generally check all the common offending places, we will watch for Guild member books as well.

This is a good way to support the Guild and get a great service as well.

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Chapter Seven

Opportunities Passed

I opened this booklet with the statement about lack of co-operation in occultism and occult businesses. Let it be further understood, those that pass up free membership in the Guild for any reason whatsoever, will be seen as an “outsider,” a business that is not interested in mutual communication and is just interested in making money, plain and simple. The Guild only assists members and only communicates with members. Once you pass this opportunity by, do not come to the Guild and seek help with any matter and want membership then, you will be refused. A Guild is about good times and bad times, about mutual support of the members only.

Not being a member means worthless communication on a low level or none at all. It means no sharing or selling each other’s products, no co-operation whatsoever on any level. IGOS likes to give people a chance to do the “right thing.” After that chance is refused, it is back to normal business practices.

This makes you nothing but competition.

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In Closing

This is a general outline of the Guild’s objectives. These can be modified at any time and new guidelines added.

All serious industries have Trade Associations. Occult book publishing is unique and requires a specific Guild to act on its behalf.

Those publishers not involved with the Publishing Guild are guaranteed other publishers will publish their own versions of public domain grimoires and public domain occult books in general.

Those interested in joining the Occult Publishing Guild should contact

[email protected]


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