Interview with Dennis Prince

Author of I Was Wrong – why the world’s most notorious atheist called it quits – and other trouble for the New Atheism

Where are you from originally and where do you reside now?

I was born in a country town – Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia. I now live five hours south of that, in Melbourne, Australia.

If you currently reside somewhere besides where you were born, what’s the story that lead from there to here?

My parents shifted to the city in order for me and my siblings to obtain tertiary education – I studied Civil Engineering at the University of Melbourne. After completing the course, and a short stint in that field, I spent about five years lecturing in Civil Engineering.
But as a boy, I felt God had called me to the ministry – a call I silently fought for two decades. However I became a Christian at the age of twenty-one, and several years later experienced what the Bible calls the baptism in the Holy Spirit. After that, wild horses couldn’t stop me, and I went to Bible College in Adelaide, South Australia, with my wife Nolene, who has a music degree.
Just prior to that we had a double tragedy – our first child, born with Down Syndrome, died at the age of four months, and our second was still-born at full term about a year later. Those events eventually led to the publishing of our best seller “Nine Days in Heaven” which I will mention later.
After Bible College, we joined forces with Nolene’s brother and his wife to plant a church in Melbourne. That grew rapidly, and in 1981 led to Nolene and I publishing a resource of the new praise and worship songs we were compiling for our own use. That resource became the major supplier of praise and worship material in Australia – until Hillsong emerged and became the dominant worship ministry. We were the first to publish their songs, and our wide coverage helped them become known in Australian churches.
I should add we now have three wonderful children, all married, and twelve grandchildren. I am semi-retired, mainly writing, and attending the church we established.

What made you decide to write and publish your first book?

Our praise and worship ministry gave us a platform for teaching and writing on contemporary worship. We ran many seminars and I wrote many articles for magazines, and for our own twice-yearly newsletter. I decided to gather that material into a book. I sold it through our extensive mail list and newsletter which helped no end.

How would you describe your books to first time readers?

I have written in several different areas.
My first book “Worshipping” was, as I said, about contemporary worship. Some time later I wrote another about the theological content of contemporary praise and worship songs. Many songs were very weak in this area, and as a seller of these materials, I felt a responsibility to inform churches and teach them to discriminate. I mailed about 2000 free copies to pastors around Australia. I called the book “Worship is a Bowl of Noodles”.
My second book – “Nine Days in Heaven”- (and Nolene helped with this one) was a rewrite of an old book – originally written in 1848. It was a remarkable vision experienced by a twenty-five-year-old girl Marietta Davis, in New York State. For nine days she was in heaven, returning to tell the story – which included three chapters on angelic care of infants in heaven. That was the aspect which linked to the loss of our first two children. It was a great help to us in our grieving. But the book was written in convoluted and difficult English, so we rewrote it in simple English. We sold 7000 copies in Australia (pretty good for this country), and it has sold more than 80,000 in the USA and other countries.
After this, I wrote another short book “Awakening” – on Christian foundations – for new Christians to establish them in the faith. I had this printed in India, making it cheap enough for churches to buy a hundred copies at a time and provide as gifts to visitors and new people. I have just revised the book and am waiting for a new shipment of 4000 copies to arrive, for which I have pre-orders of about 1000.
“I Was Wrong” was written to answer questions raised by atheists, and encourage Christians in their faith. It came about when I learned my home city was to be the location of a Global Atheist Convention. I was appalled that my home city should be host to an event like that, and a small voice in my head – which I am sure was God – said “Your backyard, your watch”. With experience in writing, Christian theology, publishing and marketing, I decided to print an eight-page newspaper with testimony stories and articles to swamp the objections of atheists. I felt Christians were as indignant as I was, but didn’t know what they could do about it. A newspaper to hand out, I felt, was a good answer. Eighty thousand were distributed – I sold them for twenty cents a copy, but probably lost a couple of thousand dollars in the process. But, encouraged by the enthusiastic response, I decided to expand it into this book “I Was Wrong” – the title based on the story of a notorious atheist who, on the basis of DNA complexity, famously changed his views.

Who do you feel is most likely to connect with the topics you write about?

The worship books appeal mostly to pastors and people involved in contemporary music and worship leading.
“Nine Days in Heaven’ helped us over the loss of babies, and appeals to many people in similar situations. One father who lost a toddler became suicidal, but on reading the book completely overcame those moods. Apart from that issue, it has a very broad appeal – to Christians and non-Christians. Some people have been so fascinated by the story they bought multiple copies to give away. One Egyptian Orthodox man bought a hundred copies to distribute.
“I was Wrong” has appealed mainly to Christians looking for tools to pass on to people with questions about the faith.

What unexpected or surprising thing did you learn during the process of writing and publishing?

It takes a long time. And I had to do endless rewrites. I expected “Nine Days in Heaven” to be finished in a year. It took three years.

If you could, what advice would you give to past self yourself before embarking on this journey?

Firstly, there are skills involved in writing a book, and just because you can express ideas in sentences doesn’t mean you can write an OK book. The skills can be learned, and you should learn them. I bought a book called “On Writing” by crime writer Stephen King. It was very good indeed and a big help to me. There are other books and courses too. I found out about this late in my journey.
Secondly, seek and welcome criticism of your manuscript. As part of the writing process, when you have a workable manuscript, print ten or twenty copies, swallow your pride and give to friends and enemies willing to critique. I did this late in the journey, and some people give wonderful, valuable advice. Others don’t, they just say nice things to encourage you. Avoid them.
Thirdly, no matter how good your book, people will not rush to you and buy. You have to get out there and make it known. You really need to have a strategy in mind before you start.
Fourthly, take time in choosing a title, and ask a lot of people who know about these things. Be prepared to abandon what you think is an irresistible title if knowledgeable people have sound objections. Cover design the same. You can now find people in other countries who design covers very cheaply. It is worth getting a few done, and getting advice on the best.

How many people would you ideally like to reach with your books?

For “I Was Wrong”, my target audience is people interested in debating atheists, and maybe Christians seeking answers and encouragement. That’s not a big field. So I don’t have big ambitions.
With “Nine Days in Heaven” I really felt this was a story the world was waiting for – locked up in almost impossible English for 150 years till someone rewrote it in a readable format. When our first books came in I told everyone we would sell 300,000 of these. After about 18 years it has sold more than 80,000 which is wonderful, but I am still looking forward to more sales down the track. The story is an evergreen, and our publisher said they would look at it again in a few years for another reprint, so I remain optimistic.
With my Christian foundations book “Awakening” I have sold about 5000 copies in about ten years, and am hoping that trend will continue.
Books about worship address a very narrow field. I would be satisfied with a couple of thousand for these.

What has been the biggest challenge and frustration during the process to date?

Getting the job finished. Sometimes you get discouraged and think it will never end. Along with that are the doubts the book will be useful and accepted.

What’s your biggest strengths when it comes to book a) writing, b) publishing and c) marketing?

(a) Writing – I think I can separate the junk from the treasure, and get to the heart of an issue. And then persevere and keep worrying the project till all the bits are in place and the message is right as it can be. Also, I can tell stories that people like to hear and read.
(b) Publishing – all the things I learned in publishing music over many years have been a big help to me.
(c) Marketing – the marketing channels I developed for our music publishing were a big help.

What’s your biggest weakness when it comes to book a) writing, b) publishing and c) marketing?

(a) Writing: my background is in engineering – mathematics, physics and so on – and I was never good at philosophical or abstract subjects. I could never understand grammatical terminology and concepts and had to construct my sentences and paragraphs by the seat of my pants. Along with that I cannot write colourful, descriptive work, of the beauty of nature or art.
(b) Publishing: Things have changed so fast in recent years and it is hard to stay abreast of them.
(c) Marketing: As for (b) above. Online selling has come to the fore, and I know I need to learn about that and plan to do so.

When do you think you will you write your next book?

I am about halfway through my next book. It is about the success of the Pentecostal church and the reasons for that success – with a few twists which I naturally don’t want to disclose before it is printed.

Are you self published or did you use a hybrid publisher, or a traditional publisher?

I self-published my first books, distributing them, as I mentioned, through my existing channels. That worked well. When “Nine Days in Heaven” sold some 7000 copies in Australia, I offered it to Creation House – owned by Charisma Magazine, to which I was a long-time subscriber. They were very enthusiastic, but would not take the risk themselves and required a joint venture, with my agreeing to buy a quantity. It worked well for them (and me – except I still have about 3000 unsold copies in my garage), and later they republished it with some refinements, and that went very well too. With my current book, I will approach Creation House again, but will also look hard at online sales by printing on demand. There are a couple of websites offering this service which I will look at.