You know, you are a nobody in publishing until spiritual authors start lining up to debunk you. Thanks to the huge success of Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret, not surprisingly (if you work within the book business, that is, as imitators abound), there a few authors lining up to disrepute the books claims.
Much like the months leading up to the release of the movie version of The Da Vinci Code, where there were more than 35 titles in the stores (and most from evangelical Christian and Catholic publishing houses), these new books are designed to discredit Byrne’s The Secret.
Publisher Thomas Nelson will release a title by Ed Gungor called There is More to “The Secret”, which its publisher says it was not written to attack the book, but rather “correct their misguided advice.”
okey dokie...
Then there will be The Secret Revealed: Exposing the Truth About the Law of Attraction, by Jim Garlow and Rick Marcshall. Galrow -along with co-author Peter Jones - wrote Cracking The Da Vinci Code, which turned out to be the most successful of the Da Vinci response titles. The idea of this book is to discuss the “Law of Attraction” as something “typical of many false religions and movements throughout the centuries.”
Righty...
There is bound to be others, as the gravy train that is The Secret continues. However, I’m unsure what the purpose of all of this is, beyond the money that is. Religion has always found itself threatened by anyone who tries something “different.” And for some reason they think by responding to it like this - by releasing debunking books (the same way they did with The Da Vinci Code) is some how going to damage The Secret’s sales and the credibility of its author.
It never works, really. If anything, it helps the book gain even larger audience. Dan Brown’s sales did not shrink due to the many tomes that came out about The Da Vinci Code, and the movie version did well by most standards, but was really hurt by its one trick pony plot line than by anything else. And there are many who are waiting for his long awaited follow-up, The Solomon Keys, due this winter.
I’ve been in the book business way to long to be impressed by the lemming attitudes of people who think The Secret offers them a chance at happiness. And give it another month or two, and the general public will have moved on to something else -like Harry Potter 7.
So, really, it seems that most of this debunking is really about how much money you can make riding the coattails of something -for what ever reason - that makes you feel threatened.
Much like the months leading up to the release of the movie version of The Da Vinci Code, where there were more than 35 titles in the stores (and most from evangelical Christian and Catholic publishing houses), these new books are designed to discredit Byrne’s The Secret.
Publisher Thomas Nelson will release a title by Ed Gungor called There is More to “The Secret”, which its publisher says it was not written to attack the book, but rather “correct their misguided advice.”
okey dokie...
Then there will be The Secret Revealed: Exposing the Truth About the Law of Attraction, by Jim Garlow and Rick Marcshall. Galrow -along with co-author Peter Jones - wrote Cracking The Da Vinci Code, which turned out to be the most successful of the Da Vinci response titles. The idea of this book is to discuss the “Law of Attraction” as something “typical of many false religions and movements throughout the centuries.”
Righty...
There is bound to be others, as the gravy train that is The Secret continues. However, I’m unsure what the purpose of all of this is, beyond the money that is. Religion has always found itself threatened by anyone who tries something “different.” And for some reason they think by responding to it like this - by releasing debunking books (the same way they did with The Da Vinci Code) is some how going to damage The Secret’s sales and the credibility of its author.
It never works, really. If anything, it helps the book gain even larger audience. Dan Brown’s sales did not shrink due to the many tomes that came out about The Da Vinci Code, and the movie version did well by most standards, but was really hurt by its one trick pony plot line than by anything else. And there are many who are waiting for his long awaited follow-up, The Solomon Keys, due this winter.
I’ve been in the book business way to long to be impressed by the lemming attitudes of people who think The Secret offers them a chance at happiness. And give it another month or two, and the general public will have moved on to something else -like Harry Potter 7.
So, really, it seems that most of this debunking is really about how much money you can make riding the coattails of something -for what ever reason - that makes you feel threatened.
David,
ReplyDeleteI'm the CEO of Thomas Nelson. We published Breaking the Da Vinci code, which was actually the biggest book debunking The Da Vinci Code. It was on the New York Times list for several weeks.
I don't really think these books are published in order to hurt the sales of The Secret or The Da Vinci Code. I've read The Secret and watched the DVD several times. I gave a copy to all of my executive staff. However, the real purpose is to answer questions that Christians—our core audience—have about these books and how the philsophy integrates into their own.
One of the first questions that was asked of The Secret panel of experts on the follow-up show Oprah did was from a Christian woman who didn't quite understand how it fit with her faith. If you visit the Secret’s Discussion Forum, you’ll also see lots of questions from Christians who are struggling with the same thing.
I can’t speak for the author publishers, but I have read the manuscript to There’s More to the Secret. I would not describe it as a debunking book at all. It's more of a here’s-what-is congruent-with-our-faith and here’s-what’s-not kind of book.
Thanks,
Mike Hyatt
www.michaelhyatt.com