If You Remember These Days

YOU'RE OLD!!

A few weeks ago I sat in a movie theater, watching a surprise hit, when I realized, I could have—I should have—been a consultant on this movie.

I’m not exaggerating and I’m not making this up!

Fifteen years ago, a book idea hit me that I carried thisclose to the finish line before I stopped. The movie I watched was based on my book idea.

DON'T. LET. THIS. BE. YOU!

Welcome to the Power Writers Report, our weekly update, packed full of powerful writing tips, productivity tools, platform-building strategies, author best practices, resources, and free stuff. 

If you find this useful, forward it to a friend.

Click here to subscribe to the weekly Power Writers Report.

Click here to schedule an author strategy session with me.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

When I was six years old, my family began attending an independent church in north Denver. The year was 1971 (yes, I'm THAT old) and hippies were crawling all over the place. Our church was a religious outgrowth of the Hippie Movement, known today as the Jesus Movement.

Young men with long beards, tie-dyed shirts, raggedy jeans, and sandals showed up whenever the doors were open. Young women in halter tops, short shorts, and oftentimes no shoes, accompanied them.

My parents led a Friday night Bible study, with 70 or 80 young people in attendance. Our living room swarmed with hippies, many of whom didn't believe in wearing anti-perspirant, which left a odorous impression on me for years to come. 

Many times, after waking up on a Saturday morning, I'd walk downstairs to discover someone sleeping on our couch because they got kicked out of their house for “finding Jesus.”

Eventually the Jesus Movement waned, and many of those young Jesus People integrated into churches in the surrounding area.

Write Now

Fast forward to 2008…

One day, while reflecting on those crazy years, I decided to log on to a new website called Amazon and buy a book about it.

That’s when I discovered no book had been written about the movement since 1972.

I could be the first person to write the definitive history of the Jesus Movement.

I knew I was onto a great book idea!

Because I wasn’t a known entity during the movement—heck! I was eight years old when it “jumped the shark” in 1972—I knew I needed to recruit a leader from those heady days. Fortunately, I knew one.

It didn’t take much work to convince the person to be my co-author. He was already a bestselling author and he released one of the first Jesus music albums in 1969. 

I called my agent. He called his agent. Our two agents talked to each other and quickly began generating interest from traditional publishers.

Then I flew out to California to interview Ron Enroth, the author of the 1972 book. My co-author interviewed Randy Stonehill, one of the early Jesus music pioneers. My co-author and I met for lunch near his home in Southern California.

This was going to be so easy!!

My co-author and I began working on our book proposal that our agents would use to pitch the idea to publishing companies. When we were about eight hours away from finishing it, my co-author called.

“Mike, I have bad news," he said. "I need to pull out of this project. I'm broke and I need to do something to bring in some cash flow. I’m sorry, you’re going to need to find someone else to help you write the book.”

“Just hold on,” I told him. “We’re almost finished writing the proposal—then your work is done until we find a publisher. It’ll be worth it.”

“No,” he replied. “I’ve made up my mind. Good luck on the book.”

That’s the last time we spoke.

And I gave up.

In 2013, God’s Forever Family was released, sharing the definitive history of the Jesus Movement for the first time. The book went on to win multiple awards.

Our book would have been released in 2011 or 2012.

This year, The Jesus Revolution, which tells the story of the Jesus Movement, surprised the movie industry by generating over $45 million in ticket sales. 

If I had followed through and written the Jesus Movement book, I would have been considered an authority on the subject and likely would have been invited to consult the directors on the movie.

You always want to be the first on the market with an innovative book idea.

Use It Or Lose It

Here’s my point—and this is important: 

Elizabeth Gilbert, in her book Big Magic, contends that good ideas are “disembodied, energetic life-form(s)” seeking “the most available human collaborator.” If we don’t do something with them when they find us, they’ll move on to the next most available human collaborator.

I totally believe this.

If you have what you think is a good book idea, for heaven’s sake, don’t sit on it! Or it will move on to someone else.

Read that again.

Sitting in that movie theater watching The Jesus Revolution, I grew a bit misty-eyed for sentimental reasons. But I also kicked myself for failing (yes, failing) to cross the finish line with my book idea.

Don’t let your good book idea move on to someone else because you waited too long to do something with it.

We can take your manuscript and transform it into a traditional-quality release in eight to twelve weeks.

If your manuscript is ready to go, it can hit the market this summer!

Schedule a meeting with me today, by clicking here, and let's get moving on your book. 

Let’s bring your book to life!