Thank you very much for your interest in helping us to distribute CD and DVDs. This is an important and enjoyable part of the work of Project Gutenberg. Without this valuable service many people would not have access to the EBooks of PG. Here's an overview of how the CD and DVD Project works. We receive a request for either a CD, DVD or both as per the instructions at http://www.gutenberg.org/cdproject/ . After we receive the request, we send a confirmation E-mail to let them know that their request has been received and to give them an idea of how long it will be before their discs are sent. Requests can either come from the web form or directly to cd@pglaf.org. If they come to cd@pglaf.org, they are generally entered into the web form by me so that the automated reply can be generated and so their request can be added to the database kept by the processing script. Each request is then handed out to volunteers, generally in the order they were received (although I have been known to give priority status to teachers, libraries and people who make donations, but such actions are neither advertised nor consistent). To some volunteers I send only requests from certain regions of the world, and others take requests from anywhere. It all depends on the location of the person and what they are interested in helping with. In the past I have sent out as few as ten or as many as 100 requests to a single volunteer, however, I have since reconsidered that position and am now going to encourage volunteers to take only what they feel they can mail in the next 72 hours. The reason is that handing out huge numbers of requests can cause disparity in the queue because some volunteers can understandably take quite some time to get through a large stack of requests. The CD we currently mail is the Project Gutenberg Best Of CD, Aug. 2003 Ed., and the DVD is the PG Dec. 2003 Ed.. Please only burn on dvd-r discs. The DVD+R format has proven to be less than reliable when it comes to compatibility with older drives. We always try to send two discs with each request. which two obviously depends on which they request. If they request a CD, we send two CDs. If they request a DVD, we send a CD and DVD. And if they request two DVDs, then, you guessed it, they get two DVDs. :) The discs are generally sent in simple paper sleeves in a 6" x 9" envelope with a folded insert printed on standard letter-sized paper. To receive a copy of the insert in .rtf or word format, please E-mail me off list. By always sending two discs, we not only give them an extra to give to a friend, but we also simplify things by keeping the weight of each envelope the same. This makes it a lot easier when dealing with postage. In the US, the packages all weigh in at just under 2 ounces. This allows us to send them for $0.60 to anywhere in the US, $0.85 to Canada, and from between $1.55-1.70 to the rest of the world. Postage rates when mailing from other countries will of course vary, but if you are paying substantially more than this for certain countries, you may want to leave those locations to volunteers in the US. When mailing the discs from the US to other countries, you may be told by the post office that you are required to fill out customs forms. This is not correct. Customs forms are only required when mailing packages at or over a pound in weight or when the contents is dutiable. Neither is the case for the discs we send. If they persist, ask the employee to check the International Mail Manual or request to speak with the Postmaster. In general, however, you shouldn't have much trouble. It's also very important to shop around when buying supplies. Prices can vary widely from vender to vender. As a guideline, CDs should cost no more than $0.25 each and DVD-rs should cost no more than $0.50. Anymore than this and it's not worth your money. Remember that you will always save more when you buy in bulk. If you are interested in being reimbursed for some or all of the expenses you incur, you must save and send us all receipts. You can either send them as image files attached to E-mail messages or as photocopies by snailmail. We will reimburse you via paypal, so you'll need an account there. When you ask us to send you a batch of requests, they will come in the following format: (mediatype) E-mail Name Address Address Country If the address is from the US, the country will be omitted. The only other part of this which may require a bit of explaining is the mediatype field. As mentioned previously, we always send two discs. (cd) = 2 CDs (dvd) = 1 DVD and 1 CD (2 dvd) = 2 DVDs. So, a standard request looks like the following: (dvd) cannona@fireantproductions.com Aaron Cannon 521 N Fake ST. APT 111 Davenport IA 52803-1234 After you burn package and mail the requests, the only thing left to do is to notify the requesters that their discs have been mailed. To receive the standard reply that we send, E-mail me off list. Also, please make sure that you CC all E-mails which you send to cd@pglaf.org so we can keep records. After that you can E-mail me to let me know that you've fulfilled your current batch and whether or not you would like more. All in all, it's not terribly complicated. However, if you do have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Otherwise, to get started, drop me a line at cannona@fireantproductions.com and I'll send you a batch. The information in these instructions will be changing soon due to the new automated system I am working on. Most of the sending of confirmations and handing out of batches will be reduced to a few mouse clicks. However, the basics of mailing and package preparation will not change. Stay tuned to this list for updates. Thanks again for your interest and I look forward to working with you. Sincerely Aaron Cannon -- E-mail: cannona@fireantproductions.com Skype: cannona MSN Messenger: cannona@hotmail.com (Do not send E-mail to the hotmail address.)