A month after Donald Miller announced that plans for the film version of his breakthrough book had been scrapped because filmmakers couldn't get enough funding, fans of Blue Like Jazz (Thomas Nelson) established a savebluelikejazz Web site to raise $125,000 in 10 days.

Miller recently announced that the effort had raised enough money to start filming in late October in Nashville. He credited kickstarter.com, a "crowd-funding" Web site that raises money for creative projects, for helping save the project.

"To wake up and find out fans of the book were bringing it back to life was an amazing feeling," Miller, who hopes to have the movie in theaters next year, wrote on his blog. "We went from being 100% sure the project was over to sitting in production meetings within 10 days. So the fans told us a great story. Now we owe it to them to tell a great story back."

Subtitled "Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality," Blue Like Jazz has sold more than 800,000 copies since it was released in 2003. Miller began collaborating with Steve Taylor and Ben Pearson on a movie version four years ago.

Two fans of the book—Zach Prichard and Jonathan Frazier from Franklin, Tenn.—launched www.savebluelikejazz.com on Oct. 1, where they urged fans to go to the Kickstarter Web site in order to raise money for the movie. The campaign raised more than $283,000—more than doubling the original goal—by the Oct. 25 deadline. 

"This is nothing short of a miracle," Thomas Nelson CEO Mike Hyatt wrote on his blog. "I am amazed. It shows the incredible impact social media can have when you have a cause that people truly care about."

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