Penguin Putnam (USA) Inc. Vice President of Tarcher imprint and Director of Religious Publishing Joel Fotinos reported an “amazing response” to news of what will be the first major new book from best-selling Bishop T.D. Jakes in almost two years.

The New York City publisher has ordered a six-figure initial print run for Mama Made the Difference, to release May 9 and be distributed in the Christian retail channel by Strang Communications.

The book is Jakes' “most personal yet,” Fotinos said. “He has constantly credited his mother with creating in him a thirst for excellence that has enabled him to become the incredible person that he is.” Jakes' mother died in 1999, but “this is the first time that he has been able to actually write about her since then,” Fotinos said.

Jakes' Promises From God for Single Women, the first in his “Promises From God” series, came out last August, while The Ten Commandments of Working in a Hostile Environment was released in January 2005. Each has sold more than 100,000 copies. Jakes' last major book was He-Motions, which has sold 350,000 copies since its July 2004 release.

Fotinos said that Mama Made the Difference would be supported with an author tour. “He is very clear that for his major book projects, they have to be projects that are very close to his heart, that (they) are the only ones he will spend an entire year or more talking about. Mama Made the Difference is the first book since 2004 he has felt that strongly about.”

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