Three Million Love Dares in Print

NASHVILLE—July 10, 2009—In week 40 on the New York Times bestseller list, The Love Dare, introduced in the movie Fireproof, the top-grossing independent film of 2008, has 3 million books in print.

The Love Dare was written by Stephen and Alex Kendrick, cowriters of Fireproof (and producer and director, respectively) where the book began as a plot device. The Love Dare entered the market with the Sept. 26, 2008, premiere of Fireproof, starring Kirk Cameron. By the end of opening weekend, Fireproof was fourth in the nation and The Love Dare—a book that the father in the movie asks his son to read—was near the top of Amazon charts.

“Three million books in print in readers’ hands and lives,” said B&H Publishers’ John Thompson, vice president of marketing.  Thompson is quick to mention that The Love Dare and its principles are also available through iPhone and iTune, and through versions in Braille and audio.   (The apps, from Olive Tree (40 Dares and eBook+) may be downloaded via website for BlackBerry, Palm, Symbian, and Windows Mobile—with even more apps in development.)   B&H recently licensed the audio book to Brilliance, now promoting the downloads on iTunes and Amazon.  CDs ship this month—and Sony will soon release a soundtrack.

Meanwhile, B&H Publishers continues to print and distribute the paperback version of The Love Dare (its releases timed with the movie’s premier), the leather-like Legacy Edition, and the Spanish version.  Emails and letters by the thousands continue to report on marriages restored, relationships renewed, lives changed.

From the Groundbreaking Movie Fireproof
In the movie, Cameron plays Caleb Holt, a fireman able to rescue strangers but incapable of saving his own marriage.  Out of respect for his father, he agrees to delay his divorce to complete a 40-day “dare” to practice unconditional love.  Reading the book, and reaching the end of himself, Caleb embraces the only source of Real Love and begins to woo his wife anew.  Across the U.S. and around the world, men and women are “doing” the book on their spouses, recommending the book to friends, studying it in church groups, and sending word to B&H and The Love Dare’s authors of saved, enhanced, deepened marriages.

“All along the filmmakers prayed that the movie would become a movement,” Thompson explains.  “The book—its practical advice—leads people out of the moment of the movie and into the daily walk of building a lasting marriage.  The principles are timeless, and so is the book.”

B&H Publishing Group is a division of LifeWay Christian Resources, the world's largest provider of Christian products and services including Bibles, church literature, books, music, audio and video recordings, and church supplies.  LifeWay serves 150,000 church customers, shipping over 61 million units of product a year from a 350,000 square-foot distribution center.  From its original core of Bibles, textbooks, and reference titles, B&H has developed into a major publisher of Christian living, fiction, youth, history, academic, reference, and electronic products.  B&H is home to bestselling authors Beth Moore, Henry Blackaby, Gary Chapman, Oliver North, Chuck Norris, Vicki Courtney, Dan MiIler, and Thom S. Rainer.

Media Contact:

Monique Sondag
214-536-4319
Monique@Lovell-Fairchild.com