Self-publishing Success Story

What book of Christian fiction:

—hit the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Bestsellers List in March 2008

—edged out Max Lucado's 3:16 for #1 position on the ECPA Bestseller list in April

—continues to hold #1 position on Amazon's bestseller list in Christian fiction

—is #8 overall on the Amazon Bestseller list

—has sold over 400 000 copies

—is published by Windblown Media

—is authored by William P. Young?


No traditional publisher would touch the now best-selling novel The Shack by 53-year-old William Paul Young, but after he self-published it, it rose to and held Amazon.com's No. 1 spot in fiction about religion and spirituality for weeks. The book he wrote for his children has now sold close to 400,000 copies.

The book is a parable in which God is depicted as an overweight African-American woman who is almost constantly at the stove cooking. Churches buy his book by the box.

Young, until his book became a recent phenomenon, had a job as an office manager that also included cleaning toilets at a small sales company in Oregon. Just before he started writing The Shack, he and his wife Kim lost their home to foreclosure, and spent several years living with four of their six children in a 900-square-foot rental.

Young says he wrote the book for his children, at the urging of his wife, and printed a few spiral bound copies to give as gifts during Christmas 2005. He also e-mailed copies to a few friends, who, in turn, e-mailed their friends. Soon, Young was hearing from readers around the country.

In the wake of the publishing house rejections, Young and two friends started a company called Windblown Media to print and sell the book. Their advertising budget was $300.

Excerpt from The Southern Review, May 2008