Welcome to meryl’s notes blog (this here place you’re lookin’ at) in Plano, Texas. We’re honored to be a stop in Margo Candela’s WOW! Women On Writing Blog tour. We’re giving away a copy of her book, Goodbye To All That. Read on to see how you can win.

Photo credit Alex Ben Parks

About Margo Candela: Margo Candela’s husband owes her six months … preferably on a tropical island sipping margaritas. The deal was, she had three years to write her first novel Underneath It All and find a publisher. She signed the book contract at 2 1/2 years so she still has that six months coming to her. Of course, Underneath It All wasn’t her first novel. Her first was a romance novel spoof she wrote at age 15 on an antique typewriter she paid $20 for — actually her mom paid $20. Sadly, Wenchhead and the Isle of Evil Men was never published. Do you think it was the title?

Published Author Seeks Agent by Margo Candela

It’s inevitable. You get a group of writers together, either just starting out or who have a book or two on the shelves of Barnes & Noble, and eventually the conversation will turn to agents. Writers love to talk about agents, sometimes obsessively. How to get one to notice you? Who’s the best? Why they’re so mean and who’s a flake and shouldn’t be trusted. Besides writing, many writers also like to gossip and I’ll fess up to having done my share.

As of last count I’ve worked with three agents and one literary manager. Even I have to admit that’s a lot, but two became editors and two I fired. (Which is a whole other story.) What I’ve learned since signing my first agency contract in 2005 is that agents are regular people. They have personal problems and short attention spans. They move from agency to agency and sometimes leave the business altogether. As soon as I accepted that agents are human, it made doing business (or not) with them a lot easier for me.

After pretending for a long while that I didn’t need or want an agent, I’m once again up to my neck in the agent pool. This time, though, I’m not sending out blind queries and hoping for the best. I’ve asked a couple people who I trust if they have any names for me and they’ve sent feelers out on my behalf. Having been through the agent search process before, I can attest that this is the best way to go about it. Of course, it helps that I have a track record — I have published four novels, meet my deadlines and don’t have a bad reputation in publishing. I’m lucky to finally know people who genuinely want the best for me.

Even with some valuable introductions, I still have to make a good impression because I’m also being vetted. I’ve learned to be honest about what level of attention I expect from an agent and I’m always very careful to never smack talk anyone I’ve worked with even though it might make for some juicy gossip to bond over.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still very awkward to have to admit that even though I’m published, I don’t have an agent. People do look at me like I’m some sort of weirdo or maybe an under-medicated diva. All I can do is let my work speak for itself and hope that my next agent is my last.

Win: For a chance to win a copy of Goodbye To All That, please leave a comment at least 50 words long about connecting with an agent, publisher, client or colleague through word of mouth. You have until 11:59pm on September 23, 2010 to qualify for the drawing. The unbiased and robotic Random.org has the honor of picking the winner.

First, Barnes and Noble is up for sale. Now nearby indie book store, Legacy Books closes. If any indie had hope, it was Legacy Books. The 24,000-square-foot store is a work of beautiful architecture, you feel right at home in the store and its amazing lineup of authors. (I took my son to see Doreen Cronin, author of Click, Clack, Moo).

All the articles say the move to ebooks is responsible. While, I have a Kindle, I’ve yet to read an entire book on it. I just find myself choosing real print over ebooks. I love what Plano Profile, a local magazine, editor Lisa Sams wrote in her editorial. She talked about an advertising campaign backed by the biggest players in consumer magazine publishing called “Magazines, The Power of Print.”

Sams describes an ad that features Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps (jokes aside) with the line, “The Internet is exhilarating. Magazines are enveloping. The Internet grabs you. Magazines embrace you. The Internet is fleeting. Magazines are immersive. And both media are growing.” Ending with… “…people aren’t giving up swimming because they also enjoy surfing.” Amen!

Why can’t we have both? Why can’t print and ebooks survive equally? Like Sams, I love magazines. I rip out pages to follow up on while recycling the rest. I actually follow through on those ripped pages most of the time, unlike bookmarks.

Read a letter to the editor about the Legacy business. The writer drove over 30 minutes away to check out the book store when it first opened and expressed disappointment. The store, to him, didn’t carry anything you don’t see at other book stores like indie publishers and university press books. Good point.

It’s a beautiful building and I thought it had something going for it with the fabulous events. But when you put it the way writer did in his letter, other book stores have author visits. They may not have the incredible architecture, but the content remains the same. The store lives less than a mile from my home, so maybe I’m biased because of its location.

The bookstore’s owner already has plans for the next phase. The book store will move to another location further away near a lot of shopping and receive a new name, “A Real Book Store.” (Site not up yet as of this posting.) One of the problems with the Legacy location is that you couldn’t see it from the road. In fact, the first time I went there, I had to look hard for it and drive around a bit. I hope the new location will work better even though I’ve yet to get over that area (near an outlet shopping center).

What do you think of the local bookstore’s future?

My oldest and only daughter turned 16 on Wednesday. Now I don’t have to schlep her to school when she wants to go early. When she was younger, we captured her on video saying that she didn’t want to drive. Of course, that changed and she was itching for her birthday to arrive.

That’s me next to her car. The first day she has everything she needs to drive the car to school… and it snows. So I took her and posed with her car for posterity. I’ve yet to get a picture of her and her car together. I will! It makes sense that this happened… considering the story of her arrival.

She was born in Alexandria, VA, on a night when we had snow and ice. AND Dallas-Fort Worth — where first time Grandma and Grandpa lived and waited for us to call when I was about to have the baby — also had ice. Yet, Grandma walked in my hospital room four hours before my daughter arrived. She lucked out in catching a late plane just before it pulled away. The airline staff said, “Hold up! First-time Grandma coming.”

If you’re like many of us — stuck at home because of the snow — it’s a great time to play some games.

Brain food…

• Generating Likeability Through the Mail: I am a big believer in handwritten notes. I loved reading this unusual example. Who can you write a thank you note to right now? [Link: Bob Burg]
• How to Respond to the Most Overused Objections in Social Media: No more excuses, people!
• 51 Questions That Will Take Your Book from Good to Great: Excellent questions to ask those who take a look at your work.
• How to Launch a Book with No Traditional Media Like Seth Godin: Best bet: Think far ahead. Start building relationships before you do the proposal.
• C-level Social Media Ignorance: Do you know what your marketing and PR folks are doing in your company’s name?
• Would You Consider Self-Publishing?: The process in a neat package from a conversation with a publisher.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Game Board Storage Art: Brilliant! But I don’t think I have enough wall space to hang up half of ours.
• Coverspy: Tweeting a book by its cover. Twitter account that spies on what people seen on the New York subway are reading and provides their basic info. Another vote for Kindles and Nooks not taking over the reading world. I discovered Gilmore Girls a few months ago and am making my way through all the seasons. One thing I love about it is seeing what books the book-loving characters are reading.
• Valentine Day Movie Posters: Red hot love via creative graphic design techniques [Link: bkmacdaddy designs].
• Moleskine art: Being a southpaw didn’t gift me with the ability to draw beautiful and creative work like these talented folks.
• The Awesomeness of the Best Google Custom Logos: Google was brilliant in coming up with creative works of its logos and now many join in.
• 23 Grossly Unnecessary Upgrades to Modern Products: Fake items, but valuable lesson.
• 31 Cool 404 Error Pages: Ah, seen many a funny 404 and here are more.

• Twitter Tools and Resources for Finding People [Link: Joanna Penn]
• 5 Wild Things about a Classic Children’s Story: This Maurice Sendak story originally scared my little guy — understandable. He and his older brother saw the movie today and they liked it. My mom claims I liked it when I was a child. But my first encounter with the story — that I remember — was in my favorite college class ever: Children’s Literature.
• It’s Not Business as Usual — Stop Acting Like It: “…it’s the current business model of most publishers that’s under stress, not the community service of publishing itself,” writes Guy Gonzalez.
• The Power of Perseverance: Kristin Bair O’Keeffe, author of Thirsty: A Novel, is an example of patience, perseverance and passion. She started her book in 1992! She’ll be stopping by here next month and you have a chance to win a copy of her book!

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 130 Halloween Pumpkin Carvings for Your Inspiration: These put my little Snoopy carving to shame. I’ve no idea where the Snoopy pumpkin photo is, so here’s Linux instead.
• Ten Things You Need to Stop Tweeting About: Hilarious! [Link: @socialmedium @Mediabistro]
• The Years Are Short: What may be ordinary to you, may be extraordinary to a child. Enjoy your time together.
• 10 Coolest Laptops: My jaw dropped watching the Roller Laptop video. That would be incredible for on the go.
• 15 of the World’s Strangest Flags

It’s no surprise we’re hearing a lot about Fact-Checking thanks to the book making big news (I need not name it and its author). I hope those college textbook fact-checkers get paid well because those aren’t easy topics to verify.

For some publishers, it’s not financially feasible to hire fact checkers and these publishers have no plans to hire them after the flap. After all, most books don’t sell enough copies. Think about how many books are released each day from the hundreds of publishers and how many make the top lists.

How often has a scandal like this happened? Not much. While librarians do catch errors, many authors post erratas on their Web sites and that’s a plus for publishing a book today. You can instantly post a correction.

On the flip side, how does the book flap affect Oprah’s Book Club? One thing is for sure, authors are going continue clamoring to get on Oprah in spite of the situation.

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