In full agreement, Jennifer. Thanks for framing this crucial promotion issue in this way.

Another film to add to the list: “The U.S. vs John Lennon”, which opens in NY and LA this Friday 9/15 and goes wider on Friday 9/29. I went to a screening this week among 250 progressive activists, politicians, celebrities and filmmakers, and it’s FANTASTIC!

Beyond just the nostaglia and that it’s an excellent documentary, the parallels to today are remarkable: an unpopular war, growing anti-war activism, government lies, a president “above the law”, and government spying and crackdowns on those who would dare speak out.

Trailer at the film web site here and also at YouTube here.

WOW is right. Just watched that trailer for The U.S. vs. John Lennon. Will definitely make it to The Nix List. Hope and the possibility of the end of this war are exactly the messages we need to be spreading. Do you know the filmmakers? Can they get me a DVD, or set it up so I can watch it online?

No, don’t have my own web site. Think it’s important, for me anyway, to remain part of community like FDL.

Thanks Jennifer, was just wondering if you did so that I could add a link to my sidebar. You are doing such an impressive job and we love having you here indeed.

One thing I did add was one of the banners for 9/11 Press For Truth to my blog. I hope people are doing that, I watched the whole thing last night and it was excellent.

The codes for banners and images, plus other promotional materials can be found at this
link:

http://www.911pressfortruth.com/downloads

I added mine at the beginning of my ‘main content and content-wrapper’ divs in the template before any post entry tags so that it will be up there indefinitely, and fit. I’m hoping they also come up with a smaller square one with code for our sidebars like they have for the My Space one.

well people, it looks like we have a live one.

Pach, Siun, TRex, Valley Girl, Lotus & all you other movers and shakers, What Are We Waiting For?????????

I’m in. Is this something Roots could handle? I can try to get CAP, MediaMatters, FAIR, other blogs and some politicos to sign a letter if we come up with it. But it’s important to get people to watch Press for Truth first, if they haven’t yet. Did you year back from Pach?

Pach, Siun, TRex, Valley Girl, Lotus & all you other movers and shakers, What Are We Waiting For?????????

fahrender @ 151

jennifer;

truly amazing. both the film and what you have done and are doing. i just watched “press for truth” and passed all the earlier comments to ask one question (which of course may have already been asked above). i don’t know if the film makers or the families group which were so integral to the film would allow it, or even be interested in it but i wonder if ABC should be presented with the opportunity to air the film? their response, negative or weasely would certainly be interesting.

the work you are doing: brilliant!

i totally agree with this idea. i have suggested it to some activists and the filmmakers, but don’t know that anyone has acted upon it. i thought that a letter to Iger, jointly signed by all the groups, blogs, politicos, historians, etc. that rallied against Path to 9/11, suggesting that they air Press for Truth and follow it up with a Town Hall meeting, could be a good idea.

Speaking as an Executive Producer on behalf of the entire team behind 9/11″Press for Truth, I’d like to thank everyone at FDL for all your hard work, enthusiasm and support thus far, as we continue to try to support the 9/11 families in their quest to get to the truth of what happened by pushing for a new and NON-partisan investigation, as well as trying to obtain more distribution of the film.

So far it has been doing amazingly well on a grassroots basis, with theatres in both Oakland and Indianapolis now saying they will hold it over for a second week, and dozens of other screenings still slated. But YES! we do need your continuing help–and we fully support the idea of the community getting together and trying to persuade Bob Iger and ABC/Disney to do the right thing and broadcast our ‘reality-based’ documentary as a counterpoint to their abysmal and rightfully maligned ‘faith-based’ docudrama ‘The Path to 911.’

Ask your library to purchase the book, then promote it. Less sales but remember that libraries have policies about what they will or won’t put on their shelves – your donation may get pitched, but a request to purchase has to be considered as its part of their mission to buy what we want to see. I suspect the FDL imprint can kick the Regnery imprint’s arse down the block and back again here in terms of quality and likelihood to actually get added. Plus if they have one copy and there’s more demand they’ll buy more.

If your library can’t afford it go ahead and donate of course, but remember there are other places to donate – aftermarket shops, charity places like prison book clubs, shelters, churches, community centers, etc. I know, that works at odds with selling new copies but gets the message out, and may drive sales (if you hear buzz about something but can’t find it used you need to buy it new).

Target or create book clubs, as you mention – everyone usually wants their own copy. Then you get message plus sales in one fell swoop. Perhaps ethically see about getting into school curriculums – this is especially helpful if the books function as good reference works rather than just essays/opinion pieces. As someone mentioned before its absolutely critical to have a good index in this regard.

Make sure your books have content scanned in at places like Amazon – way increases the likelihood of someone stumbling across it in Google. And driving traffic someplace where its easy to buy has big advantages. Let them find it, don’t just wave it in their face (good for all us passive-aggressives out there ;-). Table of contents and index are key here.

BTW, I agree with the comment disagreeing that progressives don’t buy books. I buy lots, and recommend lots. I used to have that anti-capitalist streak but its largely gone. I tend to think of myself as a library and want to have stuff to turn people on to. I’ve cheerfully bought multiple copies of things I lend, happy to know that at least there are more copies floating around out there even if I didn’t get mine back from the last person I lent it to. I think progressives may just have less money or do things like borrow or get things from the library (you know, those cooperative, trust-based methods). Sorry to say I tend not to buy as many things that I’d consider more “essay” stuff I’m not likely to read over and over like a good story or a reference work – and more likely to let it go once done with it if I do. I think the buzz factor here is more important than the sales factor initially – create the demand by getting the message out that something’s available and good. Sales are king in some areas but buzz tops even sales (look at YouTube). And if its got useful information on top of opinion its shelf life will be much longer – also crucial for increased sales over time.

p.s. sorry this is so long!

jennifer;

truly amazing. both the film and what you have done and are doing. i just watched “press for truth” and passed all the earlier comments to ask one question (which of course may have already been asked above). i don’t know if the film makers or the families group which were so integral to the film would allow it, or even be interested in it but i wonder if ABC should be presented with the opportunity to air the film? their response, negative or weasely would certainly be interesting.

the work you are doing: brilliant!

i totally agree with this idea. i have suggested it to some activists and the filmmakers, but don’t know that anyone has acted upon it. i thought that a letter to Iger, jointly signed by all the groups, blogs, politicos, historians, etc. that rallied against Path to 9/11, suggesting that they air Press for Truth and follow it up with a Town Hall meeting, could be a good idea.

Another film to add to the list: “The U.S. vs John Lennon”, which opens in NY and LA this Friday 9/15 and goes wider on Friday 9/29. I went to a screening this week among 250 progressive activists, politicians, celebrities and filmmakers, and it’s FANTASTIC!

Beyond just the nostaglia and that it’s an excellent documentary, the parallels to today are remarkable: an unpopular war, growing anti-war activism, government lies, a president “above the law”, and government spying and crackdowns on those who would dare speak out.

Trailer at the film web site here and also at YouTube here.