Christian Retailing

Wanda Brunstetter reaches book-sales milestone Print Email
Written by Christine D. Johnson   
Thursday, 25 September 2014 04:46 PM America/New_York

WandaBrunstetter-WebSales of Wanda E. Brunstetter’s books have topped 8 million copies, Barbour Publishing announced. Readers have purchased 1 million copies in each of the last two years, the publisher said.

The announcement was made as Brunstetter, branded as “Amish Country’s Most Beloved Storyteller,” was visiting with readers during her fan-filled weekend in Ohio’s Amish country last weekend.

That same weekend Brunstetter and Barbour were celebrating the news that sales of her August novel, The Healing Quilt, had sent the third installment in her series about an Amish couple teaching quilting lessons to the No. 1 slot on the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Fiction list and to placement on the Publishers Weekly list as well. Barbour also reported that sales of her September release, Amish Friends Christmas Cookbook, are well on their way to propelling her to the 9 million mark.

Brunstetter’s Amish books resonate well with readers in part because of her relationships with the Plain People via family heritage and Amish friends across the country. These close acquaintances, whom Brunstetter and her photographer-husband, Richard, visit frequently, enable her to portray the Amish lifestyle accurately, affectionately and with a voice of authority, according to her publisher.

During her tour to promote The Healing Quilt, she visited the homes of Amish friends while signing and speaking in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Some of her signings were scheduled in conjunction with performances of Half-Stitched—the Musical. The play is based on Brunstetter’s 2012 novel, The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club