Blogger: Michelle Ule
Location: Santa Rosa, California, home office
As I write, the number one New York Times best-seller in trade paperback books is Heaven is for Real,by Todd Burpo, who collaborated with someone I know: Lynn Vincent. It’s been on top since March, and in the most recent counting I’ve seen–August 3–it had sold more than 3 million copies.
This is only the most recent heaven-based story that has soared to the top of the charts–90 Minutes in Heaven (Revell, 2004) by Don Piper and Cecil Murphey also has sold millions of books.
Both collaborators, Lynn Vincent and Cec Murphey, are fine, experienced writers who know how to put together a good story and have written other best-selling books. So, is it the author or the subject matter that makes a best-seller? 
Angels in the ER by Dr. Robert Leslie (Harvest House, 2008) has sold more than 200,000 copies. Another top seller from 2010, is The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven by Kevin Malarkey (Tyndale).
These books all appeared on The New York Times list, or the Amazon.com list, which means they likely were purchased by people other than evangelical Christians.
Given the news from the last couple of years, it looks to me as if people are seeking something–reassurance, perhaps–that life is more than junk bonds, failing housing prices and war.
What better place can there be than heaven?
Another sleeper best seller came out in January: Ann Voskamp‘s: One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are (Zondervan). Voskamp’s book deals with gratitude and stopping to really look at life around you: she invites readers to push away from the grim aspects of a harried life and pause to thank God for the many blessings he pours out. Simple, easy, affirming, and something anyone can do.
Some books are always going to sell well: What to Expect When You’re Expecting, for example, or simple baby name books. But others are well-crafted for a certain time. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was famously declared by President Abraham Lincoln as having played a role in starting the Civil War. Every four years we get inundated with books written by prospective candidates.
Other books current on the list include The Help by Kathryn Stockett, a story of the Civil Rights era. The reader can root for the “winning” side. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is another feel-good story from an era during which right and wrong were easy to recognize. The same is true of Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay; we can always feel superior to the Nazis.
What do you think? In uncertain times, what types of stories might appeal to people? What do you think is behind all the heaven best-sellers? Can you think of common themes that always have appeal? What type of book would you like to read? What do you read when you need reassurance? Have you read any of the books in this post, and if so, what was your response to them?
Part 3 is here: Best Sellers: 2 authors weigh in
Part 5 is here: Best sellers: reading when life is tough.
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Excellent post, Michelle. I read a somewhat similar post from another author today, but talking about romance novels.
In times such as these, I think we need an escape more than we did during what they lovingly call the Decade of Greed. Do you remember when your savings account earned 5% interest? I do.
Maybe I’m just more aware than I used to be, but it certainly seems the world is quickly going to hell in a handbasket. Violent crime is everywhere. A 75-year-old Massachusetts based restaurant chain sought Chapter 11 protection and shutterd 63 stores, 30 in MA alone, adding more than 1200 to our bursting unemployment ranks. Catholic churches are closing everywhere you turn. It’s tough. Perhaps people who haven’t considered faith in the past, are starting to wonder if this faith stuff might help them.
I definitely reach for Christian non-fiction that speaks to me when I’m down; but there’s something to be said for Christian fiction that meets people where they are too. Letting us read about someone’s victory–even a ficticious one–gives us hope.
In today’s society, people want proof for everything. These books offer a type of proof to those who need reassurance. Especially when we see the tangible things of this life failing us, jobs, economy,government, etc.
God created us to believe in Him and therefore we seek. Some don’t seek in the right spot, these sale figures show that people are indeed seeking.
Michelle, I believe you nailed it when you concluded that people are seeking reassurance that there’s more to life than the mess we see in daily headlines. Readers unfamiliar with the Bible might hesitate to tackle that obvious sources of answers. However, a book by a fellow human traveler who seems to have some insight might seem less daunting. Still, the subject alone won’t guarantee bestseller status. Normally, a poor manuscript about a good topic will gain few fans, in my opinion.
Sometimes it seems that tapping into the strong emotions that stir readers’ interest is similar to mining for gold: You can waste years digging in the wrong places, but when you hit that rich vein–it’s magic.
The easiest way to find yourself when you get lost is to go back the way you came, hoping to spot something familiar you might recognize. I think it’s that way when times get hard, too. We look back to what we feel are simpler, surer times, in hopes of gleaning a bit of hope or strength from there. If nothing else, a time of refreshing escape to a more ordered world, when so many things in ours seem to make no sense.
I think the amazing interest in the heaven books are humanity’s way of “looking home” on a grand scale. With so many things happening in the world over the last few years that are catastrophic, making it blatantly clear that there are some forces a mere human (no matter how good or bad) could not possibly survive, the thought of heaven is a very appealing light in a dark tunnel. Especially when presented by so many eye-witness accounts.
Personally, I love heaven books and read almost anything on the subject I come across. And while I enjoyed the ones on the bestseller list, I especially liked the several I found written by hospice care nurses who shared large collections of personal glimpses of heaven their patients experienced before they died (WARNING: if you find one of these do not read it in airports). Maybe some topics are more universal than others. The fact that this subject seems to produce fairly consistent bestsellers proves to me that heaven is one of those. So, I vote that it is the topic, linked with eye-witness accounts in this case rather than the authors who make heaven books such a draw to so many.
Oh, yes… and the kind of books I read most when I need reassurance? Memoirs of people who lived through perilous times. Especially heroes. Which come in all ages, race, and gender, I might add. Heroes are pretty universal, too.
You are all so very wise . . . Tomorrow I’ll be talking about the best sellers during difficult times in US history, trying to figure out if there is a thread for current day authors.
You don’t think we should read heaven glimpses books before we get on an airplane, Anne? 🙂 That might be the most encouraging type for some people!
I like Rick’s observation that sometimes the best way to portray the gospel is through personal experience. I think you’re on to something there.
And hope–that’s always a subject I like to both read and write about. Thanks for sharing!
Do trends play a role in there? One great book on heaven will push readers towards others in that vein, right? The challenge is tapping into (or better yet, starting) a trend at the perfect time.
And is it correct to assume that one best-seller often begets another? So authors have something to do with it. 🙂
Relevance is what speaks to me, depending entirely on my stage of life. Love Rick’s comment about digging for gold… so true.
Good question, Diana, and I’ll have to let you know. Once an author appears on the list under their own writing power, shall we say, publisher do pay closer attention when offering contracts. Advances go higher as well.
We always tell writers you want to be on the front of the trend, not on the back–though we usually use a wave image. 🙂
Only because airports are such public places, and I could never get through many pages of those “glimpse books” without crying for happy, or thanking God out loud that He could be so loving to some of the most unloving of us. Sheesh, it was embarrassing.
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