NFP Book an Accidental Bestseller

Popular blogger Simcha Fisher’s first book, The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning, became a bestseller overnight after Fisher accidentally published the e-book a month early.

“I freaked out when I realized it was live, but I couldn\’t figure out how to take it down. The next morning it was a number one bestseller on Kindle,” Fisher said.

Fisher planned to launch the e-book in November, to coincide with the audio version of her book produced by Audible.com. Fisher thought she was setting up her Kindle publishing account in advance, but instead published the book. Within 24 hours it was the top selling Catholic e-book, and the top selling Catholic book in all published categories on Amazon.

“I didn\’t even have time to think about it,” Fisher said. \”I still had to drive the kids to a birthday party, go grocery shopping, and get to the dump.  It really hasn\’t sunk in yet that I wrote a bestseller.\”

The Sinner\’s Guide to Natural Family Planning almost didn’t happen. Fisher, a popular writer and speaker whose work appears in the National Catholic Register, Our Sunday Visitor, Catholic Digest, and her own blog, I Have to Sit Down, was told repeatedly there is no market for her frank and funny take on Catholic sex, marriage, and family planning.

“I was told no Catholic publisher would print this,” she said.

With the encouragement of Susie Bright, an Audible.com editor and a well-known sex advice author, Fisher decided to publisher her own audio book and e-book. The book is for Catholic couples trying, and sometimes failing, to live up to the Catholic Church teaching on sex and family planning.

“If you’ve tried natural family planning and have discovered that your life is now awful – or if you feel judged or judgey, or if you trust NFP but your doctor doesn’t, or if just you’re trying to figure out how the heck to have a sex life that is holy but still human – you’ll find comfort, encouragement, honesty, wit, and, most importantly, practical advice in my book,” Fisher said.

The Sinners Guide to Natural Family Planning is already being hailed as a turning point in how Catholics can deal with this sometimes-difficult subject.

Blogger Elizabeth Duffy says:

“If you\’ve ever lost your head about Catholic teaching on sex, Simcha Fisher is here to screw it back on.  Is sex allowed to be funny? Why doesn\’t the church just tell us when it\’s OK to avoid a pregnancy? And If NFP is so good, why is it such a pain in the rear? These are just a few of the questions \”The Sinner\’s Guide to NFP\” answers with Simcha\’s characteristic wit and common sense.”

Blogger Melanie Bettinelli says:

“Simcha Fisher mixes the perfect cocktail of great humor, profound insights, down-to-earth wisdom, and practical advice. I especially loved the bits about how to talk about NFP in the public forum.”

One Amazon reviewer, Abby Tardiff, says:

“Nothing\’s more discouraging than believing that normal people don\’t struggle the way you do, but bitterness and griping are just as demoralizing. That\’s what makes Simcha Fisher unique: she writes about what it\’s really like to live the Catholic ideal–but always with an unmistakable undercurrent of joy. Plus, she\’s really, really funny.”

Simcha Fisher lives in Marlborough, NH, with her husband and nine children.

Her book is available now on Amazon, Smashwords, and Nook. The Audible.com version is available for pre-order, and a print version is in the works.