Local author Mark Batterbury is surprised to hear that memoir is a hot genre. A year since self-publishing his memoirs, sales aren’t going too well.

Though his peers and astrology clients have purchased The Broken Heart of God: A Life of Wandering in the Spiritual Jungle, only two copies have moved from the shelves at the Reading Room bookstore.

“It’s because of the price,” the author speculates. The cost on the soft cover is $36, but even marked down to $30 at the local bookstore, he says people won’t pay that to read a book by somebody they’ve never heard of.

Not to mention it’s a book about his spiritual journey, a topic usually only tread on by well known gurus.

The 60-year-old says he’s not trying to impress anyone. And if he were profit driven, he’d be no better than the many “phony” spiritual gurus he describes in the book who are just looking for fame and fortune.

“It’s not some bull**** how-to-have-a-spiritual-awakening book,” he says. “It’s just my life and it’s all true. It’s how I lived.”

Batterbury studied fiction and poetry under Robin Skelton at the University of Victoria. And after he graduated, at the professor’s urging, he sought out to live a life worth writing about.

After some time in Mexico, he bought a one-way ticket to India. Always one to do things at full intensity, he began a life of solidarity living as a yogi, getting up at 3 a.m. to meditate.

“I was so into what I was doing, I completely forgot about writing,” he said.

But after 20 years of dedication he was heartbroken by what he saw then as failure to achieve the level of spirituality he was looking for. He became very depressed.

“It was the crack in my heart that finally let the light in,” he says, noting this as the reason for the book’s title.

He realized he was striving too hard for godliness, perfection and needed to just be himself, which could in itself be spiritual. After coming to this realization five years ago, he moved to Sooke to write. He’s been at peace ever since.

“It’s not meant to be a self-help book, but I think it could help people,” he says. He thinks it’s human nature, especially for men, to go through a phase of looking back and feeling hopeless that all their hard work has led them nowhere.

But, as he describes in the book, the grace of friendship and faith can carry you though it.

“I wrote the book to show my gratitude for all the people who helped me during that hard time,” he says. He has mailed copies all around the world. Now, he says, he hopes more people from his own community will pick it up.

Batterbury is currently working on a collection of short fiction and is seeking a publishing house to re-release The Broken Heart of God.