In 1990, when Quaker pastor Philip Gulley was writing short stories for the church newsletter of his 12-person Indiana congregation, if you had told him he'd be a bestselling author someday, he'd have thought you were telling a pretty tall tale. Fourteen years and almost a million book sales later, Gulley has become one of faith fiction's most beloved—and controversial—writers.
It took a miracle of sorts for him to be discovered. Paul Harvey Jr., the son of popular radio host Paul Harvey, visited Irvington Friends church and received the newsletter with Gulley's short vignettes on small-town life. Impressed, he passed it to his father, who recommended that Vision House publisher John Van Diest check out Gulley. Van Diest contracted to publish the stories as Front Porch Tales in 1996. Before the book could go to press, Vision House was sold to Multnomah, but president and publisher Don Jacobson read Gulley's manuscript and loved it: "He had a unique voice—folksy, whimsical, witty and charming." V-p and COO Kevin Marks recalls, "We decided to position Gulley as a Christian market Garrison Keillor."
Front Porch Tales took off in January 1997, with a 20,000 first printing, a second printing of 26,000 a month later, then 24,000 more the next month, Marks says. On-air recommendations from the senior Harvey sparked sales, and, says Marks, "gave us instant positioning in the general market." Most of Gulley's readers are men and women 35—55, from "middle America;" half buy him in general market venues, half in CBA stores, Marks says. Multnomah also struck a deal with Avon, which Marks says sold 70,000 copies of Gulley's books through its direct-marketing catalogues. Gulley did book signings and radio interviews and some television appearances.
Front Porch Tales went on to sell 311,512 copies for Multnomah (12,575 in audio). Gulley followed up with Hometown Tales in 1998 (83,661 copies, 8,796 audio) and For Everything a Season in 1999(41,023 copies, 4,414 audio). While writing For Everything a Season, Gulley came to a watershed decision. "Everyone in my small town wanted me to write about them," Gulley says. "When a man showed up on my back porch at 7 a.m. with a beautiful basket of tomatoes, and told me, 'you know, there is a story about these tomatoes,' it became clear to me I needed to switch to fiction."
Then, just as Multnomah launched Gulley as a novelist with Home to Harmony in 2000 (which garnered a PW starred review), his writing career took an unexpected detour. Gulley sold a nonfiction book, If Grace Is True, to Harper San Francisco, and because the theology expressed in the book differed sharply from Multnomah's (Gulley believes that ultimately all people, regardless of their beliefs, will be saved from damnation) Multnomah relinquished its publishing rights to Gulley in 2001. Harper San Francisco bought all of Gulley's backlist, and immediately re-released the first three nonfiction books. "We were convinced this was a great opportunity to introduce Phil to a whole new general-market audience," says Roger Freet, then associate director of marketing and publicity (now senior editor). "Our first mission was to build that readership before the Grace book came out [in 2003]." Home to Harmony was re-published under the Harper imprint on March 1, 2002, concurrent with the publication of the second novel in the series, Just Shy of Harmony.
HSF has dubbed the current season "The Summer of Harmony," giving Life Goes On and the release of the previous Harmony novels in paperback promotional emphasis this fall. Gulley will tour more than a dozen states, reading and signing at libraries (including the National Church and Synagogue Librarian Association conference), bookstores and churches along the way. "In fiction, it's all about building that word of mouth, that buzz, that energy that good fiction generates," Freet notes.
At events, Gulley signs up readers for the monthly Harmony Herald e-newspaper, launched online in March at www.harmonyherald.com. Margery Buchanan says HSF is supplying retailers with full-color shelf-talkers, and promoting the Web site by blowing in bookmarks in four Harmony novels. The site links to www.philipgulleybooks.com, which offers information about Gulley, including an invitation for book clubs to correspond with him by e-mail. Plans also call for reader's guides to be available on the site.
Recent media coverage has been extensive. Gulley has made several television appearances in support of Life Goes On, including a CBS affiliate in Greensboro, N.C., and a Fox weekday morning show in Nashville. Publicist Laina Adler's most recent brainchild was to have Gulley do a pilot program reading from Life Goes On for WFYI-FM in Indianapolis, slotted after Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion this Fourth of July. And Gulley's agent, Steve Green of Anvil Management, says there is a growing interest from TV in the Harmony books because of the success of faith-based programs such as Joan of Arcadia and Seventh Heaven.
Retailer support has been strong. Barnes & Noble is featuring Gulley's four full-length Harmony novels nationally in a floor display in the front of stores, and Gulley's books are now in Wal-Mart and Kroger supermarkets, according to Buchanan. Although HSF doesn't release specifics, Freet says that B&N's starting order quantity for Life Goes On is 500% higher than it was for Home to Harmony; Borders has raised starting quantities 400%, and independents are taking an average of 100% more.
Although some CBA retailers have refused to carry Gulley's books since the publication of If Grace Is True, HSF senior v-p and publisher Stephen Hanselman notes that his market has "only grown" since coming to Harper. "He has gained a far wider distribution, and we know that many of his previously established Christian fans are still buying, reading, and recommending the books," says Hanselman. Harper has five more books under contract with Gulley, including another theology title, If God Is Love (Nov.). His popularity has led to discussions about a series for younger readers. "We get more fan mail for Phil than for any other author," Hanselman says. Gulley tells PW he answers every letter. "My mom told me, 'when someone writes you a letter, you write them back.' "
