In 1985, a young minister named Max Lucado wrote On the Anvil. Fast forward 25 years—75 titles and 65 million books sold later—and that same minister, a little older, is getting ready for the publication of Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference (Thomas Nelson, Sept.). Lucado, minister of preaching at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Tex., has something to say, and millions who want to hear it.
Outlive Your Life grew, as do many of Lucado’s books, out of his church work. “As a pastor, I get to hear the questions people are asking,” Lucado tells RBL. “As a church, we were praying about what’s the next step for us, and we kept coming back to being better in the area of compassion.” He is especially pleased that the new book allows him to not only call for greater compassion for the world’s poor but also to be more compassionate himself. “In the last three years I realized I’ve not done much to help the poor,” Lucado says. “My response was, ‘What can I do that’s unique?’ I can write a book about compassion and use the proceeds to be compassionate.” All royalties from the new book will go to two causes he supports, World Vision and the James 1:27 Foundation, a San Antonio group that aids single mothers.
The prolific Lucado publishes three products (usually books) a year: one nonfiction trade title, a devotional or children’s book—his Hermie & Friends books and DVDs have sold more than five million units—and a derivative product developed from something already done. This year Lucado is completing another volume in the Max on Life series, using responses to questions he gets about topics ranging from abortion to politics. Next year Lucado teams up with Randy Frazee, senior minister at Oak Hills and a Zondervan author, to publish a book with Zondervan. “It made sense to do it with him and them,” Lucado explains. “It doesn’t mean I’m leaving Nelson.”
Lucado has seen lots of changes in his 25 years in publishing. “A huge difference now is Christian publishers are more interested in developing the brand of an author than they are in publishing the book,” he says. “I don’t really like the word ‘brand’—it sounds so commercial—but it is what it is.” While he regrets that emphasis makes it harder for new authors to be published, he’s quick to express gratitude for his brand management team at Nelson, which includes such long-time associates as David Moberg. Lucado says he strives for a balance between marketing and creativity. He doesn’t use a ghostwriter, so no one can write his books for him. “Sometimes I have to tell the publisher, ‘I don’t have time to tour.’ The nightmare would be to have a book due and not meet my own deadline.”
