November 5, 2007

This is the most important letter I have written to you to date. If you remember anything about the Kitzmiller vs. Dover lawsuit, or what it did to the Foundation for Thought and Ethics, you will want to read this letter very carefully.

As one of the army of friends that have prayed for us and helped us in a variety of ways, hear at long last my report to you about what you have accomplished! The Design of Life has just been published. As you read this, the very first copies are arriving at our headquarters, and I can assure you even now that this book gives a stunning-even formidable-account of intelligent design and is going to take the national conversation about it to unprecedented levels.

So this moment is unique in all of FTE's history. At this moment, we face both a serious challenge and a breathtaking opportunity. First, the opportunity. We must act now to leverage the impact of this amazing book. The launch of a book is exactly like the launch of a rocket. The distance it will travel is the direct result of the explosive force of the fuel that propels it. In the same way, the distance (in terms of the number of sales) that a book travels, is the direct result of the force of the fuel that launches and propels it. And that fuel is the well-informed and wise use of sufficient marketing funds. If, in addition, the book has a powerful and compelling attraction that wins favor with early readers and reviewers, there will be a halo effect, further accelerating the rate of sales. And we have reasons to expect that this book will have a huge halo effect. I'll explain in a moment.

The challenge that faces us is to generate the resources required to seize the opportunity. Let me give you a long overdue progress report on our fund raising goals to date. As you may remember, our original goal for the production and printing of DOL was $275,000. To date, we have raised $231,500 toward that amount, so we have only $43,500 to go. But the writing, editing, and production work on the book have constituted such an all-consuming avalanche of activity that we have not been able to work on the fundraising since May. As of now, we have paid two thirds of the $89,000 printing bill (for 10,000 copies), and are now down to $53,000 of these funds in the bank, with our third payment of $30,000 to the printer due upon the book's delivery on November 16.

We have solid plans in place to market the book, and pre-publication sales have been going on for several months. Another publisher has made resources available to us to make block sales of the book as soon as it is published. But there is so much more to do! And this is why the need to raise that $43,500 is so urgent and cannot wait until the end of the year. We must pay as we go, and we must "go" now!

Why exactly do we expect a halo effect for DOL? Because of the perfect timing of its release. As if it were an "intelligently designed gift" to us, on Tuesday, November 13, NOVA will broadcast a major, two-hour special on PBS featuring the Kitzmiller vs. Dover trial, tentatively titled "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial." Just as at the trial, Of Pandas and People will be prominent. Because they succeeded in excluding us from the trial and then misrepresented us with impunity in court, look for the militant Darwinists to spike the ball and do quite an end zone dance on the NOVA special. (You may recall that the unfinished and unpublished revision of Pandas, The Design of Life, was seized by the ACLU during the pre-trial period of discovery.)

Four days prior to the NOVA broadcast, however, on November 9, FTE will host a special national teleconference for media representatives. The NOVA broadcast provides the hook to bring media participation, and we will disclose information excluded from the trial and therefore previously unknown to the public. I will summarize that information, and then DOL authors Dr. William Dembski and Dr. Jonathan Wells will discuss DOL and take questions from the media representatives. For an excellent 10-minute legal analysis of some of that information, listen to an interview of Washington attorney Seth Cooper by Discovery Institute's Casey Luskin at the following link: http://www.idthefuture.com/2007/10/was_justice_denied_to_fte_duri.html.

Just days before the teleconference, our marketing campaign kicks off with the mailing of press kits and news releases to key publications and media outlets across the country. Today you can visit our new web site featuring the book, www.thedesignoflife.net. Very soon, the book will go on sale at Amazon.com as well.

What an exciting time this is for FTE, and how grateful we are for the team of faithful supporters who have made it all possible. Please take this next important step with us at this critical moment in our history. Because of extraordinary authorship, we have a highly polished weapon. Now, with your generous help, we can "super-size" its impact. Truly, we will soon celebrate Thanksgiving as never before!

Thank you for your participation.

Sincerely,

Jon Buell