The humbling realities of a "bestselling" saga

Over the last three months I’ve devoted a fair amount of my online time to charting The World As I See It “bestseller” saga. I apologize for that, but honestly, I never thought anything like this could happen. Indeed, fearing I had failed God with my book ministry, I prayed that His will be done with the May 10 launch of this trilogy’s first entry, Wondrous Grace. The next morning I went off to church, as I do each Sunday, and when I came home, I found Volume 1 sitting at No. 6 on Amazon’s Motivational & Inspirational Poetry book sales chart.

From May 11, 2025

Imagine… within 24 hours of its debut, my first poetry and photography title cracked a Top 10 sales list with the nation’s largest retailer. That hardcover surely ranked higher when compared only to that chart’s other new titles, but I was so thrilled by the overall marks, I forgot to check out the “new release” lists for a couple of weeks. Volume 2, Love Songs, soon made its June 7 launch, scoring nearly identical successes. The third and final volume, I Stand Amazed, did just as well with its July 1 start.

By then, sadness shadowed my chart-topping thrills, for watching each volume’s yo-yo path taught me several humbling realities.

First off, poetry books in general rarely sell well. I was used to such results, since my Christian fiction titles never ranked above the mid-200s. I held some hopes the plentiful full-color nature photos in Wondrous Grace would change those prospects, for art books often do well with decent market exposure, but since The World As I See It bore my little-known byline and a minuscule ad budget, I held no illusions.

Photography books also bear a tough downside: generally high prices, especially with print-on-demand production methods. Before its three releases, I spent months struggling to keep The World As I See It affordable. I experimented with a two-volume format, then five, in paperback and hardcover, before settling on three full-color poetry/photography hardcovers, each priced $29.99. That still seems too expensive to me, but others considered my caution unreasonable in this inflation-curdled age. One friend laughed at my fears, noting a bucket of theater popcorn could exceed $29.99!

I learned another sobering reality not long after Wondrous Grace became an Amazon bestseller. You see, the slow-selling nature of poetry books actually boosted my bestseller prospects, for it didn’t take many sales to climb a chart dedicated to that genre – and I myself ordered several copies at full price to give away and stock my inventory (I do this with all of my books). Climbing the art book charts offered a bit more satisfaction, for Amazon often included other products in those rankings – for example, its Plant and Animal Photography arena included not just art books, but calendars, painting and coloring products, and other such fare. Nonetheless, all three volumes in The World As I See It hit the Top 50 in those categories, with Top 5 and 10 openings on their “new release” charts. And then there was that treasured moment when all three occupied the top 100 in the  Motivational & Inspirational Poetry book sales chart.

The most humbling lessons came from Amazon itself. While sharing the ever-changing category stats, Amazon also provides overall sales rankings among all books it sells. Seeing that as one way to puncture my pride, I made a point to include those overall marks on my graphics, thus putting the genre charts in perspective. This also reminded me of my true bottom line: my publishing is a ministry. If a title introduces only one reader to Christ, it succeeds. Still, I always pray it will reach more readers… and I hope sales will help keep the ministry alive.    

Thus I turned my spotlight back to the trilogy’s content. My business side downplayed this, arguing what better marketing could I have than titles on bestseller lists. But my heart despaired that I did not devote equal time to what lay inside these hardcovers. So let’s do that now.

For those new to this trilogy, The World As I See It uses two methods to examine how God works in our lives. Its three volumes pair 98 poems I’ve written over the last 14 years (all but one serving as lyrics to my songs) with more than 300 of my nature photos and artworks taken over that period, many occupying a full page, all but two in color.

✦ The poems examine and comment on the six decades I’ve spent living in America’s Great Plains. Many share my trials, joys, and sorrows, the choices I faced and made, and how our Lord worked through them.

✦ The photos capture God at work through His creation, which everyone interacts with. This is important, for as the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:20, nature ever witnesses of our Lord’s activity, creativity, power, grace, and love.

Some of these photos and artworks align symbolically (or comically) with the text, although most do not. But all reflect my heart and my God. I relied on that while mixing my poetry with my photos of flowers, trees, clouds, streams, and other such things.

This two-tiered strategy plays out thus:

★ Volume 1, Wondrous Grace, uses 33 poems with nearly 100 photos to explore the role our Lord played in my life. Sometimes He stood in the background, watching my often-crazy choices unwind, and other times He took a direct hand in guiding, correcting, or comforting me through the resulting chaos.

★ Volume 2, Love Songs, taps 32 of my poems/lyrics and 100+ of my photos/artworks to weigh love, romance, and God’s interests in it all. Many of these poems also drew from my life, as do nearly all my songs.

★ Volume 3, I Stand Amazed, brings the trilogy full circle with 33 verses tied to 100+ photos/artworks, all focused on God and His purpose in our world and lives. I Stand Amazed opens with my personal praise and worship set before closing with appraisals of my life and faith in Jesus Christ, thus bringing the series to a touching conclusion.

I hesitate to say this again – since the last two times I suggested the bestseller saga neared its end, one or more of the books made a surprise upward leap – but with I Stand Amazed about to drop off the new-release charts, and Wondrous Grace about to join the other two outside the top 100 in their best performance category, I suspect the end is truly near. We’ll see.

Several people have asked if I will release paperback or e-versions of The World As I See It. It’s possible, though not on my near horizon. The separate volumes may merge into one….

Thank you for reading this! May our Lord bless you and keep you through all your days!