The Mustard Seed is More Timely Than Ever

On the back cover of The Mustard Seed, I describe my book as a cross between Catcher in the Rye and Atlas Shrugged. I deliberately made the connection to Atlas Shrugged because, like Ayn Rand’s masterpiece, my book is a “story about the power of ideas – the big, overarching ideas about love and faith, truth and morality.”

The prevailing wisdom in the publishing industry is that books about the “power of ideas” are unprofitable and should be avoided like the plague. They don’t make any money. There’s no audience for them. Of course, history proves them wrong. In 1957, when Atlas Shrugged was first published, it became an unexpected best-seller. And indeed, 52 years later, Atlas Shrugged has one again become a chart-topper.

In the March 31 edition of TIA Daily, I found this interesting nugget…

The biggest under-appreciated political story of this year is the astonishing surge in the sales of Ayn Rand's epic 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged.

In the past week, the ranking page which shows the top sellers among all of the books offered through Amazon.com showed the novel surging into the top 20, climbing as high as #16. Remember that this is a thousand-page-long, 52-year-old novel that is heavy on philosophical content. And those rankings surely understate actual sales, since the novel is listed under at least three separate editions, each showing strong sales in its own right.

Looking at Amazon bestseller lists in narrower categories, Atlas has been steadily in the top ten in Literature & Fiction (briefly hitting #1 during the past week) and has been switching between the #1 and #2 spot in Classics, routinely beating out lesser works like The Federalist Papers, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Heck, the Cliffs Notes to Atlas Shrugged rank in the top 20, outselling The Grapes of Wrath.

Then today, I found this interesting news item…

After decades in development hell, Ayn Rand’s capitalism-minded “Atlas Shrugged” is taking new steps toward the big screen…Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media is circling the Baldwin Entertainment project and could come aboard to finance with Lionsgate, which got involved several years ago.”

“A number of stars have expressed serious interest in playing the lead role of Taggart. Angelina Jolie previously had been reported as a candidate to play the strong female character, but the list is growing and now includes Charlize Theron, Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway. Although it was written a half-century ago, producers say that the book’s themes of individualism resonate in the era of Obama, government bailouts and stimulus packages -- making this the perfect moment to bring the 1,100-page novel to the big screen.”

If the newfound popularity of Atlas Shrugged is any indictation, when The Mustard Seed hits bookshelves in a few months, it will find a very favorable audience.

In fact, The Mustard Seed has never been more timely than today.

-Todd