As of May 1, International Workers Day, one-half of all Pathfinder Press's books and pamphlets are fully digital. This means they can be printed, and when sold out, reprinted again in a matter of days.
The Pathfinder Reprint Project is an effort by supporters of Pathfinder Press to convert books that heretofore existed on film to compact disks. This measure allows Pathfinder to take advantage of leading-edge technology to publish titles cheaper, faster, and with less skill-intensive labor. This is crucial for a revolutionary publishing house that needs to respond quickly to developments in the class struggle.
The project is composed of about some 200 volunteers--150 are active in any given month--in seven countries who devote many hours each week to scanning, proofreading, and formatting text, and preparing book covers and photos.
The work is done to professional standards so that each title maintains the high quality that Pathfinder Press sets and the working-class readers of its books deserve. In most cases the newly digital titles have more attractive and easier to read text and sharper and more detailed photographs than in earlier editions.
Several months ago Pathfinder directors proposed to the reprint project's steering committee that the project take more responsibility for the quality checks previously done by editors in New York. Because the volunteers have developed their computer skills in the course of the work, this new responsibility was accepted by the volunteers with confidence they could take on the additional work. This in turn has freed up the editors to concentrate more of their time on editing and promoting new books.
On-line promotional materials
Achieving the halfway mark allows the project to take on new responsibilities. The project's steering committee is beginning to organize the production of online promotional materials.
Many books are now sold via the Internet. Nearly all the on-line booksellers display miniature covers and have a synopsis of the book. Some allow entire chapters of a book to be online. Others also allow readers to write brief reviews of what they like or don't like about a book.
But up to now, these promotional materials have been lacking for Pathfinder's books sold online. The reprint project will soon turn this around by developing miniature covers and text to each online bookseller's specifications so those looking for books on the Internet can learn more about each of Pathfinder's titles of revolutionary and Marxist literature.
Because of the additional responsibilities for quality control and promotional materials, the steering committee asked Laurel Kelly to become a member of the San Francisco Bay Area-based committee. Other members are Peggy Brundy, Ruth Cheney, Jerry Gardner, and Tom Tomasko. Kelly has been instrumental in leading the indexing team of some 50 volunteers. The steering committee will soon be adopting a new date to have 100 percent of Pathfinder's titles in digital form. If you would like to volunteer for the effort to keep the lessons of the modern working-class movement in print, please write Ruth Cheney at: ruthchen@pacbell.net.