Faculty

Who's who

Agents

dan balow

Dan Balow is a 30-year veteran of the Christian publishing industry having served as director of marketing for Tyndale House Publishers working with authors such as Francine Rivers, James Dobson, Josh McDowell, Charles Colson and many others. While at Tyndale, he directed business development for 65-million-selling Left Behind series. He currently is an agent with the Steve Laube Literary Agency.

bob hostetler

Bob Hostetler is an award-winning writer, editor, and speaker. His forty-five books, which include Don’t Check Your Brains at the Door (co-authored with Josh McDowell), the historical novel, Northkill, and The Bard and the Bible (A Shakespeare Devotional) have sold millions of copies. He serves as an agent with the Steve Laube Literary Agency.

Jessie stover

Ever since Jessie was a little girl she was obsessed with stories. Jessie graduated in 2017 with honors from Taylor University with a degree in Professional Writing. Through a practicum with Julie Gwinn, Jessie was taken on as an Associate Agent for The Seymour Agency in Winter of 2017.
She is interested in acquiring YA and New Adult fantasy, as well as contemporary romance, romantic suspense, romantic comedy, a brain twister (think Inception or Black Mirror), and is a sucker for military novels. You can contact her at jessiemstover@yahoo.com

Editors

Rebekah Blomenberg

Rebekah Blomenberg has published numerous book reviews, poetry, and devotionals, a self-published novel and collection of short stories. She is copy editor for Annie’s Publishing, an international craft publisher in Berne, Indiana, with nine magazine titles, and various books and continuities. In 2016, she moved to full-time line editing for Annie’s fiction department. Click for interview.

Caroline Cilento

Caroline Cilento is a book editor with Guideposts where she writes cover copy and shepherds books through the publishing process. The Taylor graduate writes fiction in her spare time.

Lin Johnson

Lin Johnson is a full-time freelancer whose business includes editing, writing, proofreading, and training. She is managing editor of The Christian Communicator and is owner and director of the Write-to-Publish Conference. The author of more than 70 books, Lin specializes in Bible curriculum and is a Gold Medallion Book Award and an EPA Higher Goals Award recipient. Click for interview.

Susan King

Susan King is associate editor with The Upper Room, a devotional magazine that reaches 5,000,000 readers around the world. She has been at the magazine for 23 years while teaching English at Lipscomb University in Nashville.

Katie Long

Katie Long graduated from the Professional Writing department in 2013 and married a Taylor grad in the summer of 2015. She now works as Communications Coordinator for the Wesleyan Publishing House in Indianapolis, Indiana. Click for interview.

George and Karen Porter

Karen Porter and her husband, George, are owners and publishers of Bold Vision Books. She’s also a popular conference speaker who will be keynoting at our conference.

James Watkins

James Watkins is editorial advisor for ACW Press, an independent publisher. He’s also an award-winning author and contributor to 30 books and over 2,000 articles earning five Evangelical Press Association awards, with four books earning Christ Retailers Choice awards. He also taught for 15 years in Taylor’s online writing program. Click for interview and his keynote talk from 2017.

Todd Williams

Todd Williams is editor in chief at Union Gospel Press, which produces expositional Sunday school literature for all ages. With a career in editing and publishing that spans nearly 30 years, he has a passion for Bible-teaching resources. His editing experience also includes work on the Complete Word Study New Testament and the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible (AMG Publishers).

Professional Writers

Michelle Medlock Adams

Michelle Medlock Adams is a best-selling author of 80 books and has written more than 1,000 articles for newspapers, magazines and blogs for Guideposts Today. She hosts TBN television’s “Joy in Our Town.” Michelle has earned top honors from the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Hoosier State Press Association. She is also co-owner of a PlatLit Books, a new publishing company.

Deborah Dulworth and Linda Hannah

Deborah Dulworth and Linda Hannah are co-authors who have penned cozy mystery and three romantic/comedy novels as well as poems, songs, and short stories. They are well-known for humor, word play, and unpredictable plot twists. They’ve also lead laugh-filled workshops, retreats, and senior events.

Dennis E. Hensley

Dennis E. Hensley has published 60 books – including seven novels and eight textbooks – as well as more than 150 short stories and 3,500 newspaper and magazine articles. No wonder Dr. Hensley is called a master of professional writing. He is the creator and head of the Professional Writing program at Taylor University. Click for interview.

DiAnn Mills

DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. She combines unforgettable characters with unpredictable plots to create action-packed, suspense-filled novels. She has earned two Christy Awards for her writing as well as other national awards and is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers.

Rachael Phillips

Rachael Phillips describes herself as an “upbeat, offbeat storyteller who embraces the extraordinary ordinary.” She is an award-winning novelist and humor writer (The Erma Bombeck Global Humor Award). She says her numerous articles, ten novels andweekly newspaper column “keep me off the streets, for which family and friends are grateful.”

Amy Smelser

Amy Smelser is an experienced writer, journalist, and professor at Indiana Wesleyan University. She is not only advisor to IWU student publications, but writes regularly for the Marion Chronicle-Tribune newspaper.

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