Some JOEY News to Share

Jen Bleakley • October 3, 2018

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I just received word that  JOEY is being reprinted again!!! That makes 4 hardback printings and 6 softcover printings!!! You guys, never (like never ever) could I have imagined I would write those words!!
 
I just need a moment to give praise where praise is due….

Before launching JOEY my greatest fear was that it wouldn’t sell. That only my family would buy copies.

I knew that 20,000 copies sold was a big deal. That was the number needed to call a book a “success.” (Just for some perspective, the average book sells 3,000 copies over its lifetime). I will confess to wishing I had never learned that piece of information because the number 20,000 started to haunt me.
It felt insurmountable.
Lofty.
Unobtainable.

Fear gripped my heart.

I knew I had to stop thinking about that number. I knew God was bigger than any number . He was bigger than any book.
He had led me to this story and asked me to write it.
That was all.

He didn’t ask me to control the results.

He didn’t ask me to obsess about numbers. He didn’t even ask me to be concerned with numbers.
And so, with His help, I surrendered the numbers and sales to Him. I stopped checking.

I exhaled.

And I asked God to redefine success for me. And He did (I’m writing about that topic later this week).  But part of His definition was trusting Him with the results. Doing my part, of course, but trusting Him with the actual results.
And it has been so freeing.
Of course I want JOEY to do well. Of course I would love to see as many people as possible read this story of hope and friendship.

But more than anything I want to trust God.

And so today when I opened up my email and learned there are now more than 31,000 copies of JOEY in this world (that’s 11,000 more than the number I prayed for so many months ago), all I can do is lift up my hands to the One who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.
These certainly aren’t NY Times Bestseller numbers. And there may be no more copies ever sold. Or this may be only the beginning. Or it may be a slow trickle of sales….and to each possibility I say thank you!
Thank you to God for being bigger than numbers and platforms and sales. And thank you to each one who has purchased a copy of JOEY and/or referred it to someone else.
I am so very, very grateful to be a part of this journey and this process.

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