The mission of my Prometheus Foundation is to promote Ayn Rand and advance her philosophy of Objectivism. Two of the most effective ways to do this are to inspire people to read Rand’s books, especially The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged—and to promote and deliver Leonard Peikoff’s courses.
Prometheus Foundation is achieving these aims in various ways, one of which is by facilitating creative and principled engagements with organizations that have large audiences who are interested in ideas, and delivering Rand’s ideas to them in ways that connect with their positive, life-serving values. A recent example of this is the funding that Prometheus provided for Objective Standard Institute to sponsor three video productions with PragerU on Rand’s ideas:
- A Dialogue About God and Ayn Rand (a Fireside Chat with Dennis Prager and Craig);
- Understanding Ayn Rand, a video narrated by Gloria Alvarez (co-scripted by OSI’s and PragerU’s writers);
- The Book Club: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (a discussion with Michael Knowles and Eric Daniels).
These videos are extremely high-quality. They present Rand’s ideas accurately and benevolently. And they are reaching many millions of people. As of today, they have more than 7.2 million views. And they are increasing the sales of Rand’s books significantly.
For example, after the Book Club episode on Atlas, sales of the book increased as follows:
- Audio edition sales nearly doubled,
- Kindle edition sales increased threefold,
- Paperback sales increased fourfold.
That makes my heart sing.
The comments about these videos on social media have been overwhelmingly positive, too. And you can see why the book sales are on the rise:
“This [Book Club episode] is one of the best summaries of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand’s views and the philosophy of Objectivism that I have ever heard.”
“Just downloaded [Atlas] from Amazon . . . has to be worth the read. Thanks.”
“I bought Atlas Shrugged for 7€ after watching this video. What a bargain!”
“I just got all of Rand’s books. This school year is going to be great.”
I am delighted with the positive effects that my Prometheus Foundation and its affiliated organizations are having on people’s lives. Rand’s ideas are what this world needs—more urgently now than ever. And we are helping people to discover, understand, and embrace them.
Increasing the sales of Atlas Shrugged is a clear and measurable success in this regard. I look forward to seeing more such measurable successes as the Prometheus Network expands and connects with people in ever-more creative and effective ways.
I welcome your thoughts and suggestions on how best to increase the sales of Ayn Rand’s books and to promote and deliver Leonard Peikoff’s courses.
Very glad to hear that book sales are up! Thanks for your investment in marketing Ayn Rand and her ideas.
Carl… I must have missed where you said how I might obtain copies of these videos. Please resend.
Thanks! Jim Bruck
Jim – the underlined titles are linked above.
I think you and Craig Biddle are about to eclipse ARI!
Looks like your Prometheus Foundation and his Objective Standard Institute may be the wave of the future for Objectivism as a movement!
Wouldn’t be at all surprised to see an eventual merging of all you guys into a more comprehensive organization!
Thanks a million for your investment and advancing of Objectivism!.
I watched the fireside chat and think it is one of Craig’s best interviews and the short Gloria Alvarez video is the simplest and best overview of Ayn Rand’s ideas. Since Ayn Rand was “primarily an advocate of reason” I suggest you do a similar video on Reason. Imagine the public’s reaction to a short and simple video with graphics that clearly explains man’s means of survival.
Yea!
I think the lesson here is somewhat metaphysical. “Something” is better than “nothing”;
You and Craig deserve Kudos for your successful investment and general decision-making, especially vs those carping about how nobody else is good enough to partner with when it comes to helping promote Rand’s ideas (and it’s not like we don’t need the help). Even if it hadn’t been successful, at least you’re willing to try new approaches.
Well said. The “competitor”, the Ayn Rand Institute, needs a lesson in “competition” to say the least.