The Story Behind the Story
Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! If you haven’t read Miracle at Winterville, there are some spoilers ahead that may take some of the fun away from the book. I suggest you read the book first and then continue here for more information.
Miracle at Winterville was the first book I wrote, and the first book I published. It is also, to date, my most popular and best-selling book. It holds a special place in my heart both because of the story it tells and because of the journey I took in publishing it. Herein are the facts leading up to its publication.
I’ve always been an avid reader. My fascination with books began before I started school, with my favorites being those by Dr. Seuss. When I entered first grade, I discovered a treasure chest known as the school library. But, alas, I was still stuck on the Dr. Seuss books and their ilk.
I don’t remember whether I was in first or second grade, but along about that time my teacher introduced me to a series of simple biographies about famous people. Instead of the full-color layouts I had been used to, these new books only had black and white sketches every so many pages. I was skeptical, but I tried them out, and I was hooked. I read every biography in the series and then I searched for other things to satisfy my voracious appetite.
During my grade school years, I went through the entire library, subject by subject, reading everything that struck my interest, both fiction and non-fiction. I didn’t read every book in the library, but I sure made a fair dent in it.
Thus began my lifelong love of reading.
During my teen years, I focused on reading science fiction. Later, as an adult, I still loved fiction, but after dedicating my life to Christ, I began to be more careful about what I read, so I gravitated toward Christian fiction. My favorite author is Frank Peretti, and my favorite book is The Oath. I like fast-paced spiritual thrillers, but I found fewer and fewer books that met my specific tastes. So…
Sometime around 2002, a book title dropped into my head out of nowhere: Wizard of Winterville. Quite the catchy title, if I do say so myself. But what did it mean? I pondered that a short while and then said to my wife, “I think I’m going to write a book.” This, too, came out of nowhere since I’d never written much aside from school essays, a handful of poems, and a couple of simple songs.
The journey began. I sat down at my computer, and with nothing but the title to go on, I started to type. And when I typed, the story flowed. Pictures invaded my mind, and I translated them into words on the page. I wrote until the flow stopped then came back the next day and the same thing happened all over again. I was writing a book, and it poured out of me like water from a vase. It was almost effortless.
About the time I had written perhaps one fourth of the book, I got the idea that I should study the art and craft of writing. I also needed to know how to seek publication once the story was complete. This led to an entirely new set of knowledge for me. Although I’d always received excellent marks in my English classes, I found that the world of professional writing has standards, rules, and expectations an order of magnitude beyond what I had learned in school—including college-level courses. I had much to learn.
From my studies, I began to change my writing style, and I went back and rewrote my earlier words so that they would be more professional. Also from these studies came the springboard that launched me into the publishing world. I read about the very first Jerry Jenkins First Novel contest. I made it my goal to finish my book and enter this contest which, I believe, was sometime in 2003.
To shorten a rather long story, I was notified that I had placed in the top ten entries for the First Novel contest. I was told to prepare a short video in case I made it into the top three. But as I began work on my video, I soon received word that I had not made the top three. My world came crashing down from the height of excitement to the depth of disappointment.
But I didn’t quit. In fact, after submitting my book to the contest, I had already begun work on a second novel. I submitted the first chapter of my new novel for critique by Jerry Jenkins, and I went to the First Novel conference associated with the contest. I got some good feedback on my writing, and I also was able to secure an agent since my book had placed in the top ten. The ball was again rolling, though in a different direction than I had at first expected.
My agent shopped my book to every publishing house in the country that published books similar to what I had written. Several publishers showed interest, but for one reason or another, my book got shot down every single time. Crazy things would happen like having an editor very interested in publishing the book, but that editor left the publisher and his replacement didn’t have the same interest. I could go on and on about how close I came to being published and how some silly thing or the other would knock me out of the running.
During this time, I wrote five other novels and also had my agent start shopping those books around. Same thing, only worse. Nobody wanted to publish my books.
After two or three years, I was emotionally drained from the process. It got to where I couldn’t stand the thought of writing, so I quit. It would be well over a decade before I picked up the “pen” again, and during that time my agent retired and the entire publishing industry made several major shifts in thought and process.
A chance conversation with a friend in 2018 sparked my interest in publishing again. I decided that my book was going to be published no matter what. I tried one time to get another agent and, when that failed, I struck out on my own.
When I first began writing, the self-publishing industry was frowned upon. It had been full of low-quality works and very few people took it seriously. But by 2018, self-publishing had gained more respect, and even some well-known authors had shifted some of their work away from traditional publishing houses and gone the self-publishing route. I jumped on that bandwagon.
After consulting with trusted friends, I decided to change the title of my book from Wizard of Winterville to Miracle at Winterville. Although the wizard legend is a big part of the story, I didn’t want people to be turned off by the book because they thought it was some sort of fantasy with wizards and dragons—which it isn’t.
Miracle at Winterville was published in October 2019 to pretty much zero fanfare. I had no agent, no major publishing house behind me, and no idea how to market a book. But I had determination.
Big book sellers like Barns & Noble weren’t interested in carrying the book or letting me do book signings because I hadn’t come through one of the major publishing houses. I found my only outlets to be small bookstores, country stores, coffee houses, and the like. So I charged into those establishments, all within a thirty mile radius of my home, and began selling books.
Most self-published authors sell no more than a couple of hundred books. Once they’ve exhausted friends and family, they fall flat on their face in trying to find other customers. I’ve been fortunate. Although my sales are nothing to brag about compared to best-selling authors, I’ve sold well over a thousand books as of this writing, and my sales continue to be very slow but very steady. And 99.9% of these sales are in person—I still haven’t figured out how to market my books well enough on Amazon to pull in many customers there.
Those who read Miracle at Winterville came back for my other books. It’s been fun seeing repeat customers who enjoy my writing. It’s also nice to meet those first-time customers, to be able to speak with them in person, and to get to know them and to pray with many of them. I would have missed most of this if I’d gone down the road with one of the big publishing houses. If Miracle at Winterville never takes off and becomes a national best-seller, I’m OK with that. I believe I’m doing just what God wants me to do at the local, personal level. I continue to write and publish. But this journey that began with Miracle at Winterville has already started me down another path that I never would have imagined. I’ve learned how to edit books during my writing journey. And, not only have I become good at editing, I’ve found that I enjoy it more than writing. Recently I earned my certification as an editor through the Christian Editor Connection. I’ve started His Light Editing, which will focus on editing Christian fiction. What an amazing journey. And it all started with the crazy idea that I might be able to write a book.