Articles about writing and publishing written by Les
After more than 50 years in the publishing world — and many hundreds of one-on-one interviews with writers at writers conferences all over the U.S. and Canada — I’m convinced Christian writers need help at several levels.
I became aware of Billy Graham during his evangelistic crusade in Los Angeles in 1948 because of the media coverage. Then I got word he was coming to Seattle for a crusade. In 1951 I drove a car full of early 20 year olds for two hours to his Seattle Crusade. It was a deeply moving experience. I saw hundreds respond to his invitation. Cliff Barrow’s choir songs sang in my heart for years.
Have you ever wondered what spiritual resources were available to the apostle Paul before he starting his writing career? Or think of the apostle Peter, with his two masterpieces, and the apostle John, with three letters of great significance to us today.
When the Evangelical Publishers Association introduced the Kenneth N. Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award at its spring 2016 Seminar, they had no idea that at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference one of Dr. Taylor’s early associates, Les Stobbe, would also receive a Lifetime Achievement Award in Publishing. For both awards to be featured in the same ECPA Rush to Press calls for a snapshot of their publishing life together.
I was 40 years old when I began acquiring fiction for Moody Press. My background included six years buying fiction and selling it in bookstores, four years of visiting Christian booksellers and interviewing them on why they were successful, and helping a fiction writer gain a publisher for a series of suspense novels.
Monday night, May 23, I was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. Close to an hour of comments, written, vocal, and video from people I helped in their publishing career: Jerry Jenkins, Dennis Rainey, John Maxwell, and many more. My wife Rita and Lillian, our granddaughter, thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved seeing my wife laugh and laugh and just enjoy being with me as the positive comments kept coming.