‘Telling Stories in the Dark’ audio book debuts as a No. 1 New Release on Amazon

Media Collaboration in Northern Michigan produces a new bestseller among Amazon’s audio books

Jeffrey Munroe’s inspiring Telling Stories in the Dark already has been snapped up by thousands of readers in hardcover, paperback and Kindle editions. Groups nationwide have invited him to speak in an ongoing series of public appearances that stretches into 2025.

So, our entire publishing house team was proud—but not entirely surprised—that Amazon flagged the release of his audio book on October 15 as a “No. 1 New Release” bestseller in the Christian Counseling category.

Each week as new titles appear on Amazon, the retail giant bestows these bestseller “flags” on books that Amazon’s sales experience has shown are likely to delight readers—or, in this case, listeners. It’s one of Amazon’s marketing tools to nudge customers toward new books the retailer can predict will be popular.

There’s a lot of other evidence as well of this book’s popularity with readers—including 85 reader-ratings posted across Amazon and Goodreads with an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars.

This warm response for the audio book also was anticipated by the book’s narrator Craig Abbott—whose earlier career in business focused on watching trends through his professional work in research and development and marketing. In recent years, Craig has successfully switched to a vocation as a producer of quality audio—which you can learn more about at his website www.AbbottVoice.com

Our entire publishing house community—and especially Jeffrey Munroe himself as head of Reformed Journal Books—welcomed Craig with open arms as we got to know more about his particular vocation. Our community of authors and editors work under the motto: “Good media builds healthy communities.” Likewise, Craig only works with titles that he feels will make our world a little better, one new book at a time.

In fact, Craig was part of that early wave of readers discovering Jeffrey’s book shortly after its release in hardcover, paperback and Kindle in January.

As Craig tells the story, he felt as though some spirit was pushing him toward this book—and toward working with Jeffrey Munroe. Here’s Craig’s story:

Earlier this year, a mutual friend gave me a copy of Jeff’s book and told me I would love it. The next morning, another mutual friend, one of our pastors, included excerpts from the book in his sermon! After that—two recommendations in two days—I had to ask Jeff if he would be interested in having me narrate it for him.

What I like about this book is that Jeff is writing about universal experiences. We all will experience traumatic loss—either ourselves or through the experiences of those we are close to. Trauma does not discriminate, but there are ways to manage the pain and the grief that is created by it.

When I read Jeff’s book, I came to love the uniqueness of this project. Jeff carefully shares these painful stories from his life and from the lives of people close to him, and then Jeff partners with those who are specifically trained to examine each of them. He brings us the stories, which many of us can share, but he also brings us all that practical wisdom as well.

I began this line of work—narrating books—to stay active in retirement and to work with creative people. I have always loved books, so working with authors and publishers to produce audiobooks to share stories with more people is truly a dream come true. And that’s especially true when I can work with an author like Jeff on his first audiobook.

So, are you ready to order your copy?