Marianne Williamson, the speaker, spiritual leader, and bestselling author of 15 books, has postponed the release of her new book The Mystic Jesus: The Mind of Love, saying, "It might confuse the market” as she pursues her campaign for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination.
This is the second time Williamson, 71, has postponed the same book for the same reason.
She originally signed to do the book with HarperOne in 2019, just before launching her first presidential bid. She then called off releasing it because “a book on Jesus did not seem aligned” with a national political campaign, she told PW in an interview Monday about The Mystic Jesus, which had been planned to be released this September.
When asked about why it's different going forward with The Mystic Jesus now from 2019, she told PW Monday that the “simultaneous phenomenon” of her campaign and the book’s release "is not necessarily a good thing.” She called it “a coincidence of publishing schedules and election seasons,” adding, “It simply is what it is.”
And four days later it simply wasn't.
On Thursday, Gabriella Page-Fort, executive editor for the HarperOne Group, announced, "We have decided to reschedule The Mystic Jesus so we can publish with the full support of the author.” The publisher had ordered a 100,000-copy initial printing of the book, now set for spring 2024. (Williamson ended her previous bid for the Democratic nomination in January 2020).
HarperOne has published six of Williamson’s books, including the 1992 blockbuster A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, which launched Williamson’s national profile after it attracted Oprah Winfrey’s attention. Looking back to her 2019 decision, she told PW, “When I did decide to run. I told Harper, I think we have a bit of a problem. I was about to run for president, and a book on Jesus might confuse the market, as they say.”
Instead, in 2019 she penned A Politics of Love: A Handbook for a New American Revolution (HarperOne) publishing, as many presidential candidates do, a companion book to reinforce the message of her campaign, which includes advocacy for an increased minimum wage, reparations for racial injustice, a more robust response to climate change, and the creation of a “U.S. Department of Peace.”
Though Page-Fort had called The Mystic Jesus, “just the soothing, uplifting read her fans need today,” Williamson has turned to campaigning, inviting political fans to "chats" in South Carolina starting Monday. “I have two conversations that dominate my professional life,” she told PW, “They are very different, and yet they come from the same place within my soul.”
