“Books Make Booms” is an old adage from L. Ron Hubbard covered in numerous policy letters.
Of course, because Hubbard said it, this is absolute fact in the minds of true believers.
Never mind we are in the digital age.
Never mind they forget all about this when proclaiming the virtues of ScientologyTV as the most magnificent dissemination tool ever.
When they are reminded Hubbard said this about books, they jump to attention, mind salute and roll out the Tone 40 intention to hit the streets and sell copies of Dianetics to the uninformed.
They held a massive, international Book-A-Thon in all orgs around the world on 22 – 29 August (a completely random date…)
Now, we are seeing some results come in. This from Durban in South Africa where they have been promoting that they are “going ideal” now for 15 years and have an empty lot to show for it.
As you can read here, they proudly announce they had 11 people involved in their huge dissemination effort.
And the result: 3 paperback Dianetics and 3 DVDs sold.
Yes, 3 over 7 days.
These guys ARE Clearing the Planet. Just ask them. They will tell you it’s true.
It’s gotta be a real bitch to try an sell anything regarding Scientology these days…..
I think that’s part of why they’re putting the new “ideal” orgs away from public areas, so that the staff don’t have to face the sort of constant rejection by the public that they get nowadays. There seems to be very little “body routing” except around Big Blue in LA where I’ve read it’s part of a training program, and sporadic attempts in other large cities like London, mostly just consisting of trying to hand out flyers and tickets than actually engage people. The guy recently featured at the Underground Bunker for getting ripped off, reported being put on the street to body route when he was at AOLA, as a sort of punishment.
Some places they seem to like to have members do sporadic attempts at these “stress test” type efforts that seem to be pretty low key, mostly just waiting for people to come to them. I’d think even that would run the risk of confronting members with how little interest there is in Scientology, but it’s similar to what groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses do – they’re now moving to street corner information racks rather than knocking on doors, perhaps because of a similar problem of increasing outright rejection. Proselytizing is typically used by groups to build comradery and reinforce a sort of us-against-them-loyalty, though the approach seems to be faltering as modern society becomes less open to those sort of pitches or even openly hostile.
There were some pictures recently of someone who was setting up a table by the edge of the sidewalk, I think in LA, and then just getting back in their van while it sat there – possibly even going to sleep. That sounded like someone just going through the motions of getting a “stat” for having the table out, and not even bothering to try to interact with the real word.
I can’t figure out why their smiling…. their asses are going to the RPF when Captain Dave sees those stats.
I get a sick feeling remembering that line knowing it just meant longer hours more pressure and no days off. It was OUR fault. Yuck. Ugh. 😐😔
Selling 3 books in seven days is actually quite impressive, knowing that the whole world is aware of the scientology con.
Ridiculous. But they are winning!
When I was in I asked why DMSMH wasn’t being sold in the major bookstores. Wouldn’t these venues be better than street fairs and so forth? After all, people DO go into BOOKstores to buy BOOKS. I asked several people a few times; never got a straight answer. One staff member mumbled something not very unintelligible about book stores being “suppressive”. I wasn’t in the mood to pursue it so I dropped the subject.
This book made a BOOM on enlightening the world on their dark secret places
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/troublemaker-leah-remini/1122718910/2662067011627?st=PLA&sid=BNB_ADL+Marketplace+Good+New+Books+-+Desktop+Low&sourceId=PLAGoNA&dpid=tdtve346c&2sid=Google_c&gclid=Cj0KCQjwwb3rBRDrARIsALR3XeYMa_eBEHxEy7tnFS4J318Fdq0CAICJQAIh5tCnOlPuPtFb4yQKPZkaAnZuEALw_wcB
Books make libraries.
“ScientologyTV as the most magnificent dissemination tool ever.”
THANKS for the chuckle. Sadly there might be one who believes it to be true. The “kid” never was the brightest bulb in the pack.
I’m not the sharpest knife in the chandelier.
Thank you for the laugh, Mixed Metaphor Man.
If softcover (paperback?) books sell for $5 each and DVDs sell for $15 each, then that means they brought in a whopping $60. And it was all NEW/extra/free money (cha-ching). No wonder they’re over the moon with excitement, and it only took a week to accumulate such a vast sum. (Also, they got to play “wolf in sheep’s clothing” dress-up by wearing their Dianetics T-shirts.)
And if someone knows how much the 6 course completions cost we can guesstimate how much they brought in during August.
But Phillip, that would mean that the people both paid for and started and completed in August. Highly unlikely. OTVII takes years with the mandatory 6 month sec checks, Drug Rundown probably is more than a month long and Auditor Level 1 may take more than a month, so the 3 correspondence courses may have been started and completed in August. May have.
Here in the US a paperback copy of DMSMH sells for about $25.00. It’s not a small book but rather the size of a hardcover novel. The DVDs sell for about the same price.
It is stated that 82 people sat to take the”stress test”, but I wonder how many “finished” the test or dropped the cans and left right after the first intrusive question was asked?
11 people worked for 8 days to sell 3 books, and 3 DVDs? Woof!
That’s actually great for them. I mean 3 books & 3 DVDs is probably one of there best days ever.
And that’s saying something!
They probably dropped the cans after glancing at a copy of DMSMH on the table and said “Hey, wait a minute! Aren’t you people from Scientology?”
Just for comparison, here is what it takes to make the Wall Street Journal or New York Times Bestseller list: Note this a weeks’ worth of sales – the 7 days where these people sold 3 books.
To ensure a spot on The Wall Street Journal’s Bestseller list, you need to sell about 3000 books in the first week and to hit gold and the New York Times Bestseller list, you’ll need 9,000 copies sold in the first week.
These are print copies of the books. I very seldom buy print copies of any books these days, though I spend hundreds of dollars a month on iBooks or Kindle books. Perhaps if they offered them for download? Oh I forgot, downloadable books weren’t available in the 1950’s so it can’t be done.
And p.s. who has blu-ray any more? Isn’t everything streaming? I think our blu-ray player went to the basement to gather dust 3 or 4 tvs ago.
I have a blu-ray to stream to my dumb TV.
I’m very much a physical-media guy, mostly because what I want to watch (old movies, obscure TV shows) aren’t available on streaming.
Two Words Pluto TV
It amazes me that they can’t see the irony in the fact that 11 people only sold 3 books in 7 days. That would mean 1 book sold less than every other day by all 11 people. If we add the 3 blu rays in, that would mean at least they made .85 sales per day. Eleven people blanketing an area can’t even make a sale per day? I would say the interest is less than zero.
If you take the 82 stress tests performed, that means that each of the 11 people “blanketing the area” performed 1.06 stress tests per day, so they got 11.66 people to not run away from them each day. They each managed to engage a person per day. How is that a boom? Sheesh. I talk to more than one person a day and I’m not trying to sell anything (oh hey, maybe that’s why they talk to me).
When I was in I asked why DMSMH wasn’t being sold in the major bookstores. Wouldn’t these venues be better than street fairs and so forth? After all, people DO go into BOOKstores to buy BOOKS. I asked several people a few times; never got a straight answer. One staff member mumbled something not very unintelligible about book stores being “suppressive”. I wasn’t in the mood to pursue it so I dropped the subject.
Edit: “…something unintelligible…”
That’s me!
Is it almost time for the IAS to start asking for donations for the VM’s after Dorian hits the Carolinas?
I had that thought this morning. shhhhh
WHAT! WHAT? Can you hear me? Hello!
No, the VMs will start their collection only a couple of days AFTER Dorian has smacked any particular area.Hey, they have to know they’re desperately needed first, don’t they?
I think there used to be some truth to the DMSMH adage. It was once one of the entry points for new public. A “book buyer” was considered a category of COS public. A basic rudimentary sort of public, to be sure, but a public nonetheless. Book buyers were part of our central files, and they would get mailers geared specifically for them. That, and an occasional phone call. But that was then–before the COS had risen to full-blown WTF status.
Mass media communication technology has changed radically since 1950. Scn technology has not and cannot. The closest thing the COS has to modern marketing is their Scn TV. But it’s too little too late. And their websites are nothing but flimsy facades that get no traffic. Their org policies don’t include online interaction, which is so commonplace for most other businesses. Like the Amish, it’s just not their way.
The COS is forever stuck in the Fifties and Sixties. In spite of today’s marketing technology that anyone can acquire and use, the church will never be capable of using it to their full advantage. Imagine Facebook, or Google run by the Amish, and well, you get the idea. And no disrespect to the Amish. At least they’re honest and up front about their aversion to modern technology. Scn can’t be honest about most anything.
Chris, EVERYONE who ever bought ANYthing from the organization was supposed to be kept in Central Files, to languish there forever (unless they made a sufficient nuisance of themselves to get them dead-filed) When I was at Flag, I didn’t know the Dead-file PL existed, and I was pretty up-to-date on all things CF since that’s what I did for some years.
Books Make Boobs…I mean Booms.
OSD:”Books Make Boobs…I mean Booms.”
From my experience and stories I heard, “Boobs sell books.”
ROTFLMFAO!!! Now THATS some funny shit! Well done, jere lull!!! I was doing it all wrong! BOOBS do sell books! I’m still laughing!
Hey David,
A book, isn’t that a thing where you, like, have pages and can turn them to read what’s on?
https://vinaire.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/1950-dianetics-the-modern-science-of-mental-health.pdf
(Prepare for rage attack.)
TrevAnon, thanks for pointing to the unexpected PDF of “Dianetics”, though I still remember the drivel and didn’t particularly need the restimulation. It’s a shame that I ever — not precisely ‘believed’ the stuff, but accepted it as a working hypothesis, just in case it might have value even if the premises were completely off-base(which they were.). As I reviewed it just now, I find it was SO completely useless that I’m not upset that I broke a long-standing family rule and THREW OUT a book, perhaps the second time I’ve done do in my life. The OEC volumes would have been the first.
I’m astounded scn allows that copy of their “scripture” to remain FREE to read in that high-quality version, almost as if the site had gotten hold of the original electronic text of the book, no evidence that someone scanned it then OCRed that (UNLESS they were seriously OCD, that is, and spent months getting a good “dup”.) copyright violation only BEGINS to describe the violation because, AFAICT, it’s an exact copy 175 pdf ppg long. Would I inform scn of the copyright violation? Not a chance; if they don’t search for these things regularly, it’s their own ineptitude showing, and evidence that they could lose the copyright from their inaction/apathy.But maybe someone SHOULD, to keep that free copy from luring ANYone into DM’s little cult.
That didn’t stop me from grabbing a copy, though, just as something to help me get some sleep at night, of course. I hope it doesn’t give me nightmares to “hear” the old man’s “writer’s voice” again after all these years.
To: TrevAnon
From: David Miscavige COB RTC
Re: Books Make Booms
LISTEN HERE, YOU! BOOKS ARE THE MOST EFFECTIVE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION! WHY? BECAUSE I SAY SO! FUCK THE INTERNET! FUCK KINDLE! FUCK E-BOOKS! NOTHING BEATS GOOD OLD PRINTED AND BOUND PAPER! I DON’T GIVE A SHIT HOW MANY FORESTS ARE SACRIFICED! I OWN THEM ANYWAY! SO GET YOUR ASS OUT THERE AND START SELLING BOOKS LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SOLD THEM BEFORE OR ELSE I WILL SHIP YOUR ASS TO THE FREEWINDS AND MAKE YOU CLEAN THE COAL SCUTTLE! YES, THE COAL SCUTTLE! FUEL GOT TOO EXPENSIVE SO WE HAD TO CONVERT THE SHIP TO COAL. DAMN VENEZUELA!
ML
Dave
Wait, they sold 6 books in 8 days? Things really are heating up in Durban. They will have the planet cleared in no time!
FMFH, those 6 books were likely DOUBLE the number that they’d unloaded all last year.
When I was in, I would go on my org’s bookselling jaunts. We’d set up shop in various places. I didn’t sell a book every time we went out. This would depress me. I shared this with PES. She said to me, “Selling a book is a very big deal!” I didn’t believe her and my sceptical expression must have communicated this because she fixed me with a squinty-eyed, Clint Eastwood/Dirty Harry type look, held my gaze and repeated, “A VERY big deal!k” Well, I felt better then. It wasn’t my reality but… how selling one DMSMH was doing ANYTHING of import was beyond my comprehension BUT my PES was telling me it was amazing, so…OK, who was I to disagree, LOL?
TODAY, I realize she was completely full of shit and intent on ensuring that I would not cease volunteering to sell books due to a “failed purpose.” To this end she drove home the message: it was AMAZING. I was AMAZING. Well, OKaaaay.
So I’ll end by opining what I truly think IS amazing, which is, how totally but totally full of shit the staff were, and how convincing they were when they were convincing you they were telling you the absolute truth. OR, how simply dumb and gullible I was. Hopefully a combination of both 🙂
Aqua, I can remember when I ran a stress test booth at the local mall. All the drilling, positive postulating and enthusiasm didn’t do jack shit. I would often ask myself in frustration why can’t people see this? I was put through a confessional for not being ‘on purpose’. They never could figure it out.
Here’s how I see it. Back in LRH days people actually got wins and the church actually grew. Back then, books actually did make booms. Then Miscavige came along and fucked up everything.
Amazing how delusional they are spouting about what a massive accomplishment it is to sell 3 books and 3 DVDs over an 8 day period. They probably put in at least 8 hours a day and crickets. I would bet most of the people who took the stress test did it for fun, not because they were interested in $ci.
I would bet most of them were both bored and curious, but immediately switched off when they found out it was scientology
Gordon Weir:”I would bet most of the people who took the stress test did it for fun, not because they were interested in $ci.”
How cute WAS the girl giving the stress tests? Was she dressed sexy?
I wonder: Does South Africa have an equivalent of “Hurricane Leah”? Probably not needed as scn has a LONG history there, including Tubby’s ‘personal touch’ back in the ’60s
So in South Af it took 77 man days to sell 6 books. That equates to about 1 person selling one book every 8 days of full time work.
F’ing brilliant and obviously a successful way to “get the word out” about scamology…
Wynski:”So in South Af it took 77 man days to sell 6 books. That equates to about 1 person selling one book every 8 days of full time work.”
That seems about right, since many people browse the book before giving in to the sales pressure.
I recently ran across an account from Scientology’s heyday, of someone who bought a book just as away to get away from the pressure, after being lured in to a mission with an enthusiastic pitch.
They of course got his contact info, and then had a woman call him so incessantly that he returned when he had an errand nearby, but then had an awful hard sell experience that he reacted to so badly that they took him off their lists.
The guy in the pic looks like he needs a free stress test! 😂😂😂
Perhaps a touch assist or that back rub sort of thing Davey added to the assist line-up.[Nerve assist??]
That was dangerous to do on a woman!
Very impressive numbers.
“Very impressive numbers”. I can never figure out what number to take.
Wow, I would have expected them to cover up those miniscule book sales with weasel-wording, or by citing cumulative totals going back to some point in time. 3 book and 3 DVD sales by 4 people backed up by 7 others, over 8 days and at 2 locations, is so far from a “boom” that it boggles my mind that they can use the term in the same paragraph as such dismal numbers.
It’s interesting to see that they got even close to 100 people to sit down for stress tests, I wonder how many people were “curious” to get a safe little taste of what the cult is about versus how many didn’t even realize what it was – note that all the branding visible is Dianetics, not Scientology. But their conversion rate to book sales is very low, with apparently none at all going on to do services.
Very interesting statistics. August was a boom month for selling copies of “Lucifer’s Bridge”, the most anti-Scientology book imaginable. Miscavige you are so deluded. Who wants to read a book written in the early 1950’s?
The Scientology game is over. They would sell Dianetics and then move people slowly up the bridge. Now it is possible to get OT VIII material with the click of a button. Why waste your time in Scientology? There is no more mystery.
And that’s because it’s all MAKE BELIEVE!!! Imagine all these cult members doing the Purif, Student Hat & Survival Rundown…over, and over and over, again. I guess that’s all they have left.
OSD:”Imagine all these cult members doing the Purif, Student Hat & Survival Rundown…over, and over and over, again. I guess that’s all they have left.
”
AND they have no other life; certainly nothing as life-affirming as surfing yo fill their empty days. ; -)
And they didn’t get and KEEP the gains their first time through? OH, I FORGOT: they must be up to GAT III, by now, and Tubby DID say something like”The number of times through equals certainty.” or some such drivel, didn’t he?
He certainly did! Over & over again.
OSD:”Imagine all these cult members doing the Purif, Student Hat & Survival Rundown…over, and over and over, again. I guess that’s all they have left.
”
AND they have no other life; certainly nothing as life-affirming as surfing to fill their empty days. ; -)
And they didn’t get and KEEP the gains their first time through? OH, I FORGOT: they must be up to GAT III, by now, and Tubby DID say something like”The number of times through equals certainty.” or some such drivel, didn’t he?
If it’s The Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit 451, Strangers on a Train, Invisible Man, The Fellowship of the Ring, or many other classic or simply enjoyable books? Plenty of people do. I’m re-reading a book published in 1815 right now. The date has nothing to do with it. Dianetics was always bad on every level.
I just read a book published in 214 A.D so I guess the date is unimportant. I should have said :
Who wants to read a book by Hubbard published in the early 50’s?
Hey George, was “Lucifer’s Bridge” yours under a different nom de plume?
When I googled it, the author’s story at Amazon sounded a bit familiar.
When I first joined Scientology, my name was Witek which is a Polish name. So when I wrote Lucifer’s Bridge, I wrote it under that name. After OT VIII I changed my name to White due to a variety of factors. We had a lot of family issues which I do not want to get into. Also, after OT VIII, I was a strange dude having lost 10-15 points of IQ and a very good job. My head was full of Marcabian agents.
George – “My head was full of Marcabian agents.” That actually made me laugh.
Explanation – Sometimes the total absurdity of things makes me laugh. Life has it’s absurdities. Maybe I have an odd sense of humor but I know a couple of other people who think likewise. My wife would say, “That’s just stupid.”
In AA and in other Twelve Step programs when someone goes on a rant about what “He/she did to me” an ” Old Timer ” might suggest “They’re renting space in your head.”
Losing a few IQ points and having a few Marcabians renting space in your head would be less serious than going totally bonkers. I’m glad you evicted the renters and your IQ seems to have recovered nicely, George. Very Well Done.
Typo
Booms Make Booms
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Can you hear it?
Hi Mike, a little typo snuck in there.
Your first sentence should read “Books Make Booms”.
In my experience none of the books caused any booms after 1950. The tech is simply not delivering what it claims. On top of that, most of the books, are very hard to get through. This is again a case where Scientology isn’t able to change due to flawed 1950-ties strategies of LRH.
It was probably more that the personal interaction of book sales provided an opportunity to recruit people, than the actual material. But high control groups or cults are virtually based on all sorts of mis-attribution of cause, and effect.
However, there are accounts that in the old days, some people did come across the books, read them, and then get involved in Dianetics and Scientology, probably a phenomenon mostly limited to the era of the baby boomer “seekers.” There is a recent thread with accounts of that over at ESMB:
What Scn book snagged you?
https://exscn.net/forum/threads/what-scn-book-snagged-you.50623/
The works were shoddy and popularized in a way tailored to a particular era, so they are becoming increasingly dated, and virtually made obsolete by advances in health care and science, and their prospects are only dimming.
Exactly my thoughts, 11 people, 3 Books sold. At this rate the Boom will never happen.
Add to the above the 5 completions they had, which include ONE lecture and ONE book.
Books Make BOOMS
That’s funny. Book have gas?! 🙂
My book does. There’s lots of gas on page 65.
I should have known Old Surfer Dude – you know all that secret stuff!
I even know your secrets, Peggy.
It may have been true at one time, decades ago. Like Mike indicates, the printed-book era is over.
And out of the 3 books sold, what are the odds that they are read? Even if 1 book was read, what are the odds that the drivel is understood?
It’s never been understood, including by Hubbard, because it’s nonsense.
As I’ve been saying for the last four decades!
It would be funnier to get random people off the street and have them read History Of Man
Time to “Hold Your Cans” DM, Judgement for you is very near.
DM don’t hold no stinkin’ cans. Scientology’s dirty secret: Defendant Miscavige isn’t a real Scientologist.
@graham: The fact that miscavige is not a real scientologist is only a secret to bubble dwelling scientologists. The rest of us know it.
He’s going to need a very good shrink! One that hasn’t been tainted by the CCHR ‘Psych-Busters’
Your right, Graham! He’s a Johoveh’s Witness. It’s true because I witnessed it.
I think Jesse said DM hasn’t held the cans since the early 80s, likely around the time of Mission Corporate Category Sort Out, maybe 1982-ish. (Mike probably knows the year and maybe the month, exactly when it last happened).
COB is above being audited. That tech is for plebes. It is not needed a big being like DM.
I left my cans at home! Damn it!