When God brought me to Moody Press in 1970 the editorial department had been without an acquisitions editor/team leader for two years. Peter Gunther had worked hard to keep the ship afloat, and a reasonably strong backlist had kept sales going. The copy editing and proof reading team led by Gloria Most worked hard to maintain quality control. My assignment was to breathe new life into the acquisitions process.
My first introduction to the Bible part in Moody Bible Institute came when I became selling floor supervisor of Moody Bookstore in fall 1960. Faculty taught Bible courses, so we carried their class notes for students, some of them still reproduced in mimeograph form.
Since I’d committed to serve the Lord on a worldwide basis, why should I accept a challenge by a Canadian friend? Answer: because it was a bodacious challenge.
George Derksen and I became acquainted when he was a newspaper reporter in Winnipeg, Canada. What I did not know was that he harbored a dream far bigger than a job at a newspaper. My involvement in that dream started with me daring to criticize a new publishing project of his, a business magazine for his home province, Manitoba.
As you look at the non-fiction book you are writing, what will set your manuscript apart? What might be the tipping point in your favor?
What is it about collections of stories that scares editors and marketing people at Christian publishers? They insist collections of stories of God at work in Christian’s lives have had a spotty sales record. Memoirs are persona non grata because marketing people insist they do not sell.
Ever wonder what Jesus had to say to writers about surviving during tough times? In reading through the Bible using The Message I came across the answer to that question in Luke 16, where Jesus told the story of the corrupt manager who was fired.