He continued to have difficulty finding publishers and audiences for his work in America. He gave up his own writing when he was an editor with McGraw-Hill, from 1966 to 1971. He would later say about this time in his life: "There was no question of my own writing. I was relieved not to have to worry about my own writing." Following a conversion experience in 1971, he published the non-fiction work, "A Book of Jesus", in 1973. A biographer later noted: "Jesus cost Goyen his editorial job."