Media personality Mark Joseph has signed a distribution deal with Midpoint to release titles from his newly formed imprint, Bully! Pulpit Books. Joseph, who's worked as a Chrisitan media consultant in Hollywood--he worked on the marketing campaign for Passion of the Christ and consulted for Walden Media--is also an author and columnist. He blogs for The Huffington Post and Foxnews.com and has written two books, 1999's The Rock & Roll Rebellion and 2003's Faith, God & Rock 'n' Roll. His new imprint, like the record label he established in 2008, is spun off from his website of the same name, which features guest bloggers, news tidbits and Internet radio feeds; Bully! Pulpit's first book, Pop Goes Religion, was released independently and written by Scripps-Howard columnist Terry Mattingly.
The deal with Midpoint is for four books a year and the first title, by Joseph, is Wild Card: The Promise & Peril of Sarah Palin, which will be published by Beaufort Books. That title, slated for January, is a biography of sorts, which examines why Palin has, as a politican and cultural figure, generated "a tremendous amount of passion, negatively and positively." According to Midpoint CEO and Beaufort president, Eric Kampmann, the book delves into the reasons the country is so fascinated with Palin and offers an "even-handed" take on the controversial politician.
Kampmann is planning a 10,000 to 15,000 first printing and is confident that the book can be quickly changed if Palin makes an announcement before January about her political future (since quitting her job as Alaska governor).
