Divine Collision

There are no coincidences.  That’s the theme running through one of my favorite movies of all time, and the reason the M. Night Shyamalan/Mel Gibson film “Signs” is so high on my list.  I, too, look for God’s hand in events that others may chalk up to chance.  When unexpected events converge in my life, I see a divine collision.

When the Yates and Yates law firm/literary agency agreed to take me on as a client about six months ago, they made clear that the working title of my book, “Throwing Starfish,” wouldn’t  make the cut.  While I had grown fond of the title because of what it represented, I trusted their judgment more than my feelings.  So when we were finalizing the book proposal – the document sent to potential publishers from which they make book contract decisions – we had to come up with something new.

Over the course of a few weeks, we batted around numerous ideas and concepts.  We were looking for something that captured the combination of my story and Henry’s, that recognized God’s hand in the story told in the book, and (importantly) was unique in order to avoid confusion and any copyright issues.  Nothing seemed perfect, but since there absolutely had to be a title, and since they assured me the publisher would later play a significant role in selecting a final title, we settled on something that none of us believed would ultimately stick: “Wrongfully Accused.”  I didn’t like it because it reflected only a piece of Henry’s story, and didn’t reflect much of mine.  It also sounded like a book everyone has already read – innocent person charged with a crime he didn’t commit and struggles to get free.  That narrative is certainly part of my book, but is really only a backdrop of a much larger story.

Over the course of about two months, my agents had numerous conversations with a wide variety of publishers about the book.  Quick aside – for amateur writers to get serious consideration from established publishers without an agent is a steep climb, one I am confident I would not have been able to make.  As the time for making a decision among publishers approached, my agents provided me a status report and some guidance.  They told me that we wanted to go with a publisher who was passionate about telling the story, rather than simply comparing the terms of the offers and choosing what facially appears to be the “best” offer.  Among the important terms are (i) the advance against royalties, (ii) the percentage of the book price paid to the author, (iii) the publication date, (iv) the marketing budget allocated by the publisher to promoting the book, and (v) the number of complimentary copies the author receives.

Most consider the advance against royalties to be the most important number because it represents the minimum payment the author will receive for the book.  Here is how it works: the advance is paid to the author in three installments – 1/3 upon signing the contract, 1/3 upon final delivery of the manuscript by the author to the publisher, and 1/3 upon publication of the book.  The author will get no additional money from the publisher until the publisher recoups the advance through sales.  For example, a typical contract will involve the author getting paid 12% of the retail price of each book sold.  So if the retail price is $20, then the author gets $2.40 for each book sold.  If the advance against royalties is $24,000, then the publisher recoups the advance once sales reach 10,000 copies.  From sale 10,001 forward, the author receives $2.40 per book sold.  But, if sales never reach 10,000, the author still keeps the full $24,000.  Accordingly, the higher the advance, the higher the guaranteed payment the author receives.  But equally important, the advance becomes almost entirely irrelevant (save for the time value of money) if the author sells more books than necessary to recoup – the total royalties end up being the same.

This is why my agents strongly counseled me to go with a publisher who is passionate about telling the story – “total book sales” is ultimately a much more important number than the size of the advance.  And “total book sales” is highly dependent upon the efforts of the publisher – the more passionate the publishing team is about the book, the more books will be sold.

As chance (or something else) would have it, Jeana Ledbetter, an editor at Nashville-based Worthy Publishing, reviewed the book proposal on Worthy’s behalf.  She had previously worked with Yates and Yates at their agency in Southern California.  Fortunately, she was quite moved by it and took it to her publication board with a recommendation that they make an offer.  She later told me that she got emotional during her presentation and had a hard time making it through.

Once again, one might be tempted to chalk up to coincidence the fact that Worthy’s President, Byron Williamson, recognized my name from the several years his son and daughter-in-law had spent at Pepperdine.  Ryan and Sarah Williamson had become dear friends of ours in the late 1990s/early 2000s, and have since moved back to Nashville.  Shortly after the editorial meeting, Worthy made an offer.

A couple weeks later, when I met with my agents to discuss next steps, they suggested that we start by scheduling a phone call with Jeana at Worthy and then move forward from there.  But rather than talking via phone, Jeana asked if she could fly out to Los Angeles to meet in person instead.  That was, of course, a good sign.  Over lunch, Jeana exuded passion and commitment to the book project.  Curtis and Karen Yates peppered her with questions, and Jeana gave all the right answers.  By the end of the lunch, we had decided we were done with the selection process before it really even started.  A couple days later, we had reached a deal on all of the relevant terms.  I am not at liberty to discuss most of them, but I can say that we settled on a publication date of February, 2016, which will coincide with Henry’s three-week break from medical school so he can be out here in the United States for some launch events.

I don’t think it was coincidental that when the contract terms were finalized, I was in Angola State Prison with a delegation of Ugandans.  The staff at Angola was kind enough to print out a copy for me to sign, scan, and then send back.

Because I wanted to do something symbolic in the prison to commemorate the signing of the contract at Angola, I decided to get a tattoo that reflected the miles of razor wire all around me.  The prison tattoo shop was quite accommodating, though they almost ran out of ink due to the girth of my bicep.

Commemorative Tattoo I got at Angola State Prison

I should probably confess to making this part up before my mom has a heart attack.  This is the tattoo I actually got (at least as far as you know):

Over the next few weeks, we continued to bat around book titles.  For a while, we were on Graceful Collision, then we moved to Beautiful Collision, before ultimately settling on Divine Collision.  I am pretty sure that will be the final title.  Like most books, there will also be a subtitle – something like An African Boy, an American Lawyer, and their [adjective] Battle for Freedom.

I am honored that Bob Goff (author of NYT Best-Selling Love Does) will be writing the Forward.  We are now in the process of finalizing all of the details (cover, endorsements, etc.).  I don’t yet know when it will pop up on Amazon for pre-ordering, but I suspect that will be in November or December.  For now, the only way to pre-order the book is to contribute toward the completion of the documentary we are filming about Pepperdine’s work in Ugandan prisons.  Any donation toward the filming completion next month of at least $25 gets a free copy of the book.  A film teaser and several other clips are available at the crowd-funding site.

In other news, Henry continues to excel in medical school, though the family dispute regarding land ownership and occupancy of his family’s home has heated up and is potentially turning south.  I have hired a lawyer in an effort to prevent Henry’s mom and siblings from being forcefully removed from the land they rightfully occupy.  Prayers are welcomed for this situation to stay calm until I get back to Uganda – I am leaving one week from today for trip number 17.