Sounds True spreads spiritual wisdom to Web

LOUISVILLE – The world’s most “enduring wisdom” will now be even more so since Louisville-based Sounds True launched a new interactive Web site with an online institute.

After 15 years of producing and distributing audiotapes of ancient and contemporary spirituality through mail order, Founder and President Tami Simon hired a Web team last year to develop the Sounds True Online Institute, an Internet-based forum where students can participate in classes offered by some of Sounds True 300-plus authors.

“Never before has there been a way for the people who purchased the programs to sort of ‘raise their hand’ in class to ask a question of the teacher,´ said Simon. “The Web site gives our customers a chance to make it a dialogue and get relevant feedback.”

Though Sounds True has had a low-key Web site for nearly two years, the new, interactive site has a number of expanded features. In addition to offering a series of iCourses providing in-depth interactivity with the authors, Sounds True is looking to expand its presence on the Web by establishing links with other sites.

Visitors to the site can browse through 400 spoken word audio “clips” and 25 spiritual music titles. And, of course, they can order tapes proffering enlightenment. Simon said the new Web site is especially exciting because it increases Sounds True’s capacity to disseminate the philosophical thought it has been providing via audiotape for years.

“We think of ourselves as a perennial philosophy company representing the best of enduring wisdom,´ said Simon, who started the company in Boulder as a way to learn as much as she could about all the world’s spiritual philosophies. Today, she heads a 75-employee company that is looking to multiply its sales and draw in customers who are interested in spiritual topics.

“I think it’s fair to say it started as a one-person company,” she said. “Originally, it was a matter of just pursuing my own education and as a service to make these things available to others.”

Simon had to hire four new Web people to get the site up and running, but said it was a worthwhile investment. “Now you can hear a sample before you make a purchase,” she said. “And if you can hear a person speaking for five minutes you know if they’re the kind of teacher you would like to hear for nine hours.”

Sounds True’s spoken word audiotapes range from three to nine hours and cost about $25. The Online Institute’s iCourses provide about eight hours of interactive study. Each course includes a workbook and online class transcripts. They cost about $250 each.

Sounds True recently completed its third online class with author Carolyn Myss, author of “The Anatomy of the Spirit.” About 200 people already have signed up.

“I’ve never seen anything quite like it before,´ said Sounds True Web Designer Steve Luiting. “When you see it all there in one spot, and it’s all spiritually based, it’s pretty interesting. You can get a lot of information – a lot of wisdom – just browsing.”

It remains to be seen whether a class of 200 can become a class of 20,000, but, according to Simon, that’s what the company is hoping to accomplish.

Sanjai Bhagat, a business professor at the University of Colorado, said it will be interesting to see just how big a market there is for spiritual teachings. “It sounds like an interesting idea,” he said. “My sense is that it is a niche market. They’ll have to do the kind of marketing Amazon.com does if they want to become that big.”

Sounds True hopes to build its customer base by getting on as many different sites of related interest as possible -between 800 and 1,000 – by year end. “The real secret to success is to market the classes online,´ said Simon. “We need to learn how to reach the online audience. That’s what we’re committed to now.

“I think having a strong Web presence is particularly crucial because the future will be in downloads instead of buying it at the store or even through a catalog,” she said.

Even though the company is focused on building business online, Sounds True will continue to publish five mail-order catalogs each year. As for the wide-market salience of the company’s niche, Simon is even more confident.

“It’s not books on tape. Our authors don’t read, they teach. The power of that is that you hear someone in an alive and dynamic way presenting their learned wisdom.”

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