Distribution
Since the first issue of The Watchtower in 1879, with 6,000 copies printed, circulation of The Watchtower continued to increase, and the magazine has not missed an issue. The magazine is printed in nineteen different countries; about 25% of the total is printed at one of the organization's printeries in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The monthly Public Edition has an average print run of about 45,000,000 copies, making it the magazine with the largest circulation in the world. The print run of the monthly Study Edition is not stated in the English edition; the Russian edition states a print run of over 14,000,000.
The magazine is distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses, who consider their preaching work to be a public service. Witnesses commonly offer these magazines in the course of their house-to-house ministry. They are also distributed by approaching people in public places, or given informally to doctors, academics, politicians and acquaintances. The Watchtower may also be seen left as reading material in public places, including bus terminals, or laundromats. The Watch Tower Society advises against distribution practices such as mailbox drops and placing large stacks in public places, which they consider to be less effective methods of arousing interest compared to personal presentation of the literature.
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Famous quotes containing the word distribution:
“In this distribution of functions, the scholar is the delegated intellect. In the right state, he is, Man Thinking. In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men’s thinking.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“My topic for Army reunions ... this summer: How to prepare for war in time of peace. Not by fortifications, by navies, or by standing armies. But by policies which will add to the happiness and the comfort of all our people and which will tend to the distribution of intelligence [and] wealth equally among all. Our strength is a contented and intelligent community.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“The question for the country now is how to secure a more equal distribution of property among the people. There can be no republican institutions with vast masses of property permanently in a few hands, and large masses of voters without property.... Let no man get by inheritance, or by will, more than will produce at four per cent interest an income ... of fifteen thousand dollars] per year, or an estate of five hundred thousand dollars.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)