Three, Count 'em, Three
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 1/31/2005
This bestseller pundit can't remember when (if ever) there have been three pastors/ preachers on the general nonfiction charts at the same time. Joining Warner Faith's Joel Osteen and Zondervan's Rick Warren is Jim Wallis, a progressive Christian leader who, in 1971, founded the Sojourners—Christians for justice and peace—and serves as editor of the group's eponymous magazine. Wallis's ministry/message/mission has pacifism at its core and alleviating poverty as its most important goal. His first national bestseller, God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It, was originally scheduled for June 2005. Given the results of the election (and the national discussion on faith and politics), Harper San Francisco moved the pub date to January 18, specifically to coincide with the presidential inauguration on January 20. In the last two weeks, Wallis has been doing lots of media appearances and the publisher reports its phones are ringing off the hook. Wallis has become the go-to guy for the Democrats and, earlier this month, was asked to address all the House Democrats. His media appearances have included The O'Reilly Factor, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Hardball with Chris Matthews and Fresh Air with Terry Gross. He was a regular talking head on inauguration coverage and has bookings scheduled through mid-April. Wallis is on a 20-city tour that includes church, bookstore and college events and local media. HSF deputy publisher Mark Tauber noted that at first the house planned only a 15,000-copy printing; that became a 31,000-copy first printing. Now, there are 150,000 copies in print after six trips to press.
Wallis's book-writing career began back in the early '80s with two books for HSF. In the intervening years, he penned several books for other religion and general publishers with mixed success, never quite able to convert his prominent stature in religion activism with success on the bookstore front—that is, until now. So how did he find his way back to HSF? About a year ago, before Tauber rejoined HSF, he had a six-month stint as an agent and sold this Wallis title and one more to Steve Hanselman, former HSF publisher. As publisher, Tauber boasts that this is exactly the kind of book that his house does very well—an author with a platform and a message that can be sold to the general trade and the religious audience.
