Our industry lost a really good storyteller yesterday. Julie Cannon, author of the novel Twang, passed away in her sleep. It was completely unexpected. Sometimes, it’s just hard to know what to write.

Julie was a fine writer who had become close friends with her agent, Sandra Bishop (they shared a birthday and celebrated turning 50 last week). Julie’s gentle wisdom, her great sense of humor, and her devotion to her craft were evident to those who knew her. She and her writing friends, the “Dixie Divas,” made several appearances together, and they were always fun. Julie was about to join everyone at this weekend’s Southern Festival of Books in Nashville. We were all expecting her to bust out with Twang, the story of a young girl who moves to Nashville to make it in the music industry.

You will be missed, Julie. Our prayers for you and your family.

It’s always a big deal to win an award. We know authors can go a long way on recognition. And they aren’t the only ones.

When we agents have the honor of being present when awards are presented to our authors, it adds a huge measure of joy to the work we do on their behalf. And often, we are the lucky ones to receive awards for them.

I travelled to RWA last week, but knew I couldn’t arrive in time on Thursday last week to attend the Faith, Hope & Love chapter meeting at which our author Carla Stewart was up for an Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award … but I had a feeling she’d win, and so asked Amanda to be there just in case. And YES!! Carla won for her novel BROKEN WINGS, edited by Christina Boys, (Faithwords/Hachette). Of course it’s a team effort around here — but thanks, Amanda, for accepting. We’re so proud to represent Carla and looking forward to more continued success together, to more of her lovely stories about bygone times, and more of those equally lovely Faithwords covers! Go team Carla!

Crime writer Les Edgerton, author of Just Like That and The Bitch, offers some good writing… have a look:

Read it and hear what he has to say. You will not agree with everything Les offers (and you may get offended at some of it), but the man can write, and is a student of words. Good stuff here for writers.

And if you’d like to learn more from the man, he’s teaching online workshops next week — find out about it here: http://stonehouseink.net/creating-great-novel-beginnings-3-classes-with-les-edgerton/

Oh… and if you type in the secret code SHUfriends (yes, it’s case sensitive), you’ll get 50% off each class. The benefits of reading my blog!

By the way, I keep getting questions about HarperCollins’ new “360″ publishing program (which aims to release two new ebooks EVERY WEEK — yow). You can read the details here: http://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2012/06/harpercollins-launches-360-a-global-publishing-program-for-authors/

In a stunningly bad move, the Department of Justice has decided monopolies are now good (at least when it comes to publishing): http://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2012/05/apple-denies-justices-pricing-conspiracy-charges-says-the-government-sides-with-monopoly/

If you’re interested, here’s what the Association of Author Representatives had to say to the DOJ: http://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/2735_001.pdf

And Cory Doctorow had some good insights into the role of publishers in his latest Publishers Weekly column, which you’ll find here: http://craphound.com/?p=4028

Now don’t you feel up to date?

When I learned to write, I couldn’t stop. I became “The Weird Writer Girl.”

I see now that this nickname was a commentary on my tendency to spend recess writing stories instead of playing on the monkey bars. Back then? That name meant I was a superhero—saving the world one handwritten (in pink crayon) Barbie play at a time. To my little brothers, however, it meant I was a supervillain—holding them against their will to provide the voices for the boy dolls. Superhero or not, I decided that I was going to spend the rest of my life mastering the power of words.

With that resolve, I didn’t shock anyone when it came time to pick a college. I chose Taylor University’s acclaimed Professional Writing program. I graduated after earning the Jerry B. Jenkins Annual Writing Scholarship, having my byline published in a variety of magazines and newspapers, and completing an editorial internship with Focus's book publishing department.

I’ve continued to pursue a career as a writer since graduation. My projects have included ghostwriting, writing marketing and donor relations copy, and freelancing articles for online and print publications.

For the past several months, I’ve also been serving as Chip’s assistant—going through the slush pile, helping out with research, and handling other small projects. It’s been a pleasure to work with the MacGregor Literary agents, and (now that I’ve gotten the hang of things) they’ve asked me to join the team as their new International Rights Specialist.

In this new role, I’ll handle MacGregor Literary’s international deals and enable our authors to maximize their income potential. The agency has wanted to expand its involvement in the international market for awhile, and I’m excited to be giving leadership to this endeavor. As I get things going, I’ll continue to serve as Chip’s assistant and pursue my own writing projects. It’s a pretty cool gig for “The Weird Writer Girl”—I finally get to save the world with words!

I look forward to all of the possibilities this holds for MacGregor Literary—and I hope you do too. Thanks for welcoming me to the team.

—Shannon Potelicki

A NEW SEASON, A NEW PICTURE (and more updated website pics to come soon …)

AND LOTS OF RECENT MACGREGOR LITERARY DEALS DONE :

Ginger Garrett is collaborating with celebrity stylist and life coach
Michelle Phillips on a beauty and lifestyle book titled THE BEAUTY
BLUEPRINT

 Cheryl Moeller is creating CREATIVE AND COMPLETE COOKING WITH DUAL CROCKPOTS for Harvest House

Jay Payleitner is writing three more books for Harvest House, including 52 THINGS WIVES NEED FROM THEIR HUSBANDS

Pat Rushford is writing another title for Guidepost's HOPE HAVEN series

Wesleyan has contracted Arloa Sutter to create two follow up Bible studies for her upcoming social justice title, THE INVISIBLE

Releasing in 2011, Melanie Dobson's next title with Summerside; LOVE FINDS YOU IN AMANA, IOWA 

Susy Flory and Mike Hingson are collaborating on a book for Thomas
Nelson about a blind man who, working high in the World Trade Center on
Sept 11th, was led down 70 flights of stairs to safety by his guide
dog.

Mel Lawrenz, the longtime pastor at Elmbrook Church in Wisconsin, is doing a book on "spiritual leadership" with Zondervan.

Vicki Hinze's LOST INC, a suspense series about a government department
looking into unsolved cases, has been sold to Harlequin.

Nicole O'Dell's THE WISHING PEARL, the first in a new YA series about
teens facing difficult life dilemmas, has been contracted with Barbour.

Rachel Hauck's THE WEDDING DRESS, chroncling the history of a beautiful
wedding gown that serves a major role i the lives of four women over
100 years, has been  contracted with Thomas Nelson.

Leslie Gould and Mindy Starns Clark are teaming up to write THE WOMEN OF LANCASTER COUNTY with Harvest House.

Shane Stanford, author of A POSITIVE LIFE, is going to write MAKING
LIFE MATTER, which explains how the steps to leading an extraordinary
life are found in the ordinary decisions and attitudes of our
day-to-day lives. It was contracted with Abingdon, who is also
publishing Shane's book with Deanna Favre, THE CURE FOR THE CHRONIC
LIFE.

Janice Hanna has contracted to write LOVE ME TENDER with Summerside
Press — the story of a woman trying to save her family's old soda shop
by hosting a fundraising concert.

Kit Wilkinson is going to write A PLACE CALLED HOPE, her third novel with Harlequin.

Susan Page Davis has agreed to write THE PRAIRIE LADY SERIES, which
tells the story of a young Englishwoman setting out across America with
her maid to find her uncle, the new Earl of Branwell.

Darlene Franklin has been busy, agreeing to write both PLAINSONG and FIRST CHRISTMAS for Heartsong Presents.

NEWS AND REVIEWS

Susan Page Davis' THE CRIMSON CIPHER was an August Top Pick on RT Book Reviews

BookPage is currently featuring a review of Carla Stewart's CHASING LILACS in their September print edition.

The September print issue of CBA Retailer+Resources Magazine highlights the following
MacGregor Literary upcoming projects in their list of exceptional Fall 2010 "Publishers Picks":

- CHARLOTTE FIGG TAKES OVER PARADISE by Joyce Magnin Moccero, Abingdon Press

- Alison Strobel's REINVENTING RACHEL, David C. Cook

- SIMPLY SARA by Hillary Manton Lodge, Harvest House

- Julie L. Cannon's I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, Summerside Press

- THE MAYAN APOCALYPSE, coauthored by Al Gansky, Harvest House

And … a website just for fun:

Slush Pile Hell

Okay, so it's nearly Wednesday. We brought our new puppy (as opposed to "old puppy?") home today, so I've been writing this between other things as well as helping with trips to the appointed piddle spot and throwing treat parties when Digby succeeds doing his business. 

(Digby's the cute one on the far left.)

IN OTHER (far more relevant) NEWS:

In case you haven't heard, we've added a new agent to our rolls here at MacGregor Literary. Amanda Luedeke made her conference debut this past week with us here at the Oregon Christian Writers Conference. All signs are pointing to her potentially having signed her first author already! 

Our fabulous friend and local author Hillary Manton Lodge simply couldn't take it anymore. While at the conference last week she took professional quality photos and headshots for all of us – keep your eye out soon for new photos of us all — even if I am doing "that funny thing with my head" I'm sure our new pics will help us all appear far more professional.

 LIST AND REVIEW NEWS:

Carla Stewart is
participating in this year's Books Alive 2010 Conference in Jefferson
Texas on November 12-14th. This conference is hosted by Beauty and the Book – The Only Hair Salon/Bookstore in the World and headquarters of the Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs founded by Kathy
L. Patrick, Author of " The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara Wearing, Book
Sharing Guide to Life". Interestingly, Ms. Patrick has recently taken
over facilitation of A GOOD BLOG IS HARD TO FIND, a fun and informative
blog to which MacGregor Literary author Julie Cannon is a regular
contributor.

Melanie Dobson will be writing her next book with Summerside Press.

JUST FOR FUN:

Some great descriptions of common maladies which plague writers on  Nathan Bransford's blog today. You may never again regard stilted
dialogue so casually. http://blog.nathanbransford.com/

Recently a friend said to me "it must be so cool to get paid to read
manuscripts for a living." I knew then that he really had no idea what
my job entailed. Reading manuscripts and reviewing proposals is an
important part of what I do, of course. But, honestly, it's just the
beginning of what can be a long process.

For me, sometimes reading manuscripts is soothing. It reminds me that
there is always the possibility of finding something fresh, or a
potential perfect fit for an editor, or simply a gem I want to
seriously consider. Other times it's stressful because I wonder how
I'll ever find time to help with another project. But, it ebbs and
flows, and all works out in the process. Publishing is a lot of things,
but one thing it most certainly is is a process.

Sometimes I think writers forget this.

For example, right now I'm working on submitting a project I've been helping an
author shape since January 2009. Yep, you read that right. 18 months of
work. Admittedly the author is a busy mom and works full-time, so it's
been a bit of an off and on process for her. But, I believe in her work
and her message, and I know when the time is right, we'll be ready. For
some authors I represent, patience (on both our parts) is the primary
speed. For others, sometimes, we have to hasten things a bit.

I'd love to hear from some of you who are willing to share how long it
took you to get published. I mean from first submission to book on the
shelf. Just to give some perspective. Anyone willing?

While we wait for your responses, here's a smattering of NEWS for you:

A COUPLE NEWISH BLOGS by a couple editor friends of ours we thought you'd like to check out:

Nick Harrison – Harvest House Publishers Nick Harrison Books
Barbara Scott – Abingdon Press The Roving Editor

CHIP WAS INTERVIEWED last Friday. Here's the link

REVIEW NEWS

Susan Page Davis' recently released title THE CRIMSON CIPHER
(Summerside Press) is a Top Pick in Romantic Times Book Reviews' August
issue.

AWARD FINALISTS 

Congratulations to several MacGregor Literary authors who have recently finaled in contests:

Kit Wilkinson's PROTECTOR'S HONOR is an RWA Maggie Finalist in the Inspirational Romance category. 

ACFW's Book of the Year Awards have been renamed. Henceforth they will
be called the Carol Awards after Carol Johnson, an editor who played a
big part in helping  create a place for Christian fiction in
publishing. Congratulations to you, Carol. And to the numerous MacGregor Literary authors who are finalists: 

- Historical Novella -
Vickie McDonough – A Breed Apart (Barbour Publishing)
Vickie McDonough – Beloved Enemy (Barbour Publishing)

- Long Contemporary –
Joyce Magnin – The Prayers of Agnes Sparrow (Abingdon Press)
Susan Meissner – White Picket Fences (Waterbrook Press)

- Long Contemporary Romance -
Jenny B. Jones – Just Between You and Me (Thomas Nelson)

- Mystery -
Mindy Starns Clark – Under the Cajun Moon (Harvest House Publishers)
Darlene Franklin – A String of Murders (Heartsong Mysteries)
Janice Thompson writing as Janice Hanna – Pushing up Daisies (Heartsong Mysteries)

- Long Historical -
Siri Mitchell – Love's Pursuit (Bethany House)

- Long Historical Romance-
Janice Thompson writing as Janice Hanna – Love Finds You in Poetry, Texas (Summerside Press)

- Short Contemporary -
Vickie McDonough – A Wagonload of Trouble (Heartsong Presents)

- Short Historical -
Lynette Sowell – All That Glitters (Heartsong Presents)

-Women's Fiction -
Sara Evans & Rachel Hauck – Sweet By and By (Thomas Nelson)

- Young Adult -
Jenny B. Jones – I'm So Sure (Thomas Nelson)
Jenny B. Jones – So Not Happening (Thomas Nelson)

For a complete list of the finalists for the inaugural year of the Carol Awards, go to
The Carol Awards will be presented at ACFW's Conference in
Indianapolis, September 17-20.  If you've been thinking of going but
haven't registered, there's still time to do so here.

A FEW NEW BOOK DEALS

-Melanie Dobson is doing another Historical Romance with Summerside Press titled LOVE FINDS YOU IN AMANA, IOWA
-THE THREE MARYS, a new Bible study written by Eva Gibson will released from AMG in 2011
-Harvest House has contracted Poppy Smith to write a marriage book tentatively titled WHY CAN'T HE BE MORE LIKE ME
-Arloa Sutter is working on two Bible studies to accompany THE
INVISIBLE: What the Church can do to Find and Serve the Least of These, her imminently releasing title from Wesleyan Publishing
House

BEST SELLERS
I noticed something interesting today. Of the top 50 books on CBA's
list of Best Sellers for August, 2010, eleven (22%) of them were
fiction titles. And those eleven were written by seven authors. Like I
said, I just found this interesting …

News? Thoughts? Just let us know …

Amanda Luedeke is joining MacGregor Literary as an agent. This is a big step for us, and we're very excited.

Amanda is a 2006 graduate of Taylor University’s Professional Writing program, headed by Dennis E. Hensley. She's got a long background in books and words, and this is a step she's been moving toward for the past year.

Since her college graduation, Amanda has made her living as a full-time writer, freelancing for newspapers and marketing agencies as well as operating her own writing business. Her current full-time job is with a marketing group in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where she writes and assists in the marketing strategy for clients such as Vera Bradley, Peg Perego and Baekgaard. Like both Chip and Sandra, Amanda understands what it takes to make a living as a writer.

Amanda came on board with us a year ago as Chip’s assistant, and she's been going through the slush pile, helping out with research, and taking care of other odds and ends. We’ve really enjoyed her help here, but now that she’s gotten the hang of things, we’re excited to move her on to the next step – so she's becoming a literary agent.

Amanda will be working with childrens, YA, speculative, and post-college-aged fiction and nonfiction. This is great for us, because we currently don’t have "specialists" in these areas. Bringing Amanda on will help expand our knowledge of the industry and allow us to take on more authors with differing interests. She's just getting started, and will focus her time on a handful of clients as she gets her feet wet. Amanda will also be helping us with our foreign deals — an area we've been wanting to expand in order to help authors maximize their income potential.

She's going to be attending the ACFW conference with us in Indianapolis this summer, so if you write children's books (for either CBA or the general market), YA books (ditto), speculative fiction, or books aimed specifically at the twenty-something market, we're going to be open to seeing proposals. Amanda may be contacted at amanda (at) MacGregor Literary (dot) com. Please join me in welcoming Amanda to our team!

Even with me wasting brain cells trying to figure out who from Oceanic 815 might come back to life after "moving on" into into the great white light, and Chip and Patti welcoming their beautiful new granddaughter to the MacGregor clan, we've still got a bit of news to share this week…

NEW DEALS

Poppy Smith will be doing a book with Harvest House, which at this point is tentatively titled WHY CAN'T HE BE MORE LIKE ME.

Elizabeth Musser, author of THE SWAN HOUSE, has just signed to have three books release with Cook: TWO DESTINIES, TWO CROSSES, and TWO TESTAMENTS have already released in Europe, but now they're going to be available in the US.

Jim Rubart, whose novel ROOMS is getting a lot of attention, has just signed to do BOOK OF DAYS with B&H. It's the story of a professor who has lost his wife and is in search of the Book of Days referred to in Scripture — a book he hopes will reveal the secrets of life and death. 

Janet Lee Barton has signed with Heartsong Presents to do I'D SOONER HAVE LOVE, the story of an Oklahoma couple, and Darlene Franklin has signed to do LOVE'S RAID with the same company. 

Continuing her series of books with Guideposts, Leslie Gould has agreed to do another in the STORIES OF HOPE HAVEN series, and Susan Page Davis is adding LOVE FINDS YOU IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND to Summerside's romance series. 

NEW RELEASES

Irene Hannon's IN HARM'S WAY is not only a new release, it's on the CBA Bestseller list, having made the ECPA's  "Top Fifty"list of Christian books. Congratulations Irene!

Shane Stanford's A POSITIVE LIFE released with Zondervan and has been getting endorsements from the likes of John Ortberg and Leonard Sweet. Shane, a United Methodist pastor, shares his story of being HIV positive.

Charles Foster's THE SACRED JOURNEY released with Thomas Nelson. A professor at Oxford University, Charles' book is part of the "Ancient Practices" series. 

Janice Thompson, one of the busiest writers in CBA, continues to entertain readers with IT HAD TO BE YOU, a romantic comedy just released by Revell. 

Alison Strobel has just released THE WEIGHT OF SHADOWS, her first novel with Zondervan. I just finished it and I LOVE this book. Really well done. 

And Susan Page Davis has released THE GUNSMITH'S GALLANTRY, a romance in the "Ladies Shooting Club" series with Barbour. 

REVIEWS

Claudia Mair Burney's upcoming GOD ALONE IS ENOUGH: A SPIRITED JOURNEY WITH THERESE OF AVILA received a thought-provoking review on Publisher's Weekly, calling her first nonfiction title "a fine introduction to the weighty realm of contemplative prayer. Releases in July from Paraclete.

Kit Wilkinson's new Harlequin release, SABOTAGE, has received Romantic Times coveted four-and-a-half star review. Nice job, Kit!

UPCOMING SEMINARS

I will be at the Write-to-Publish conference in Wheaton, June 9-12.

Chip will be co-teaching the "How to Write Bestselling Fiction" seminar in Denver, June 18-19. With him will be bestselling author Susan May Warren. There is still space available. You can find out more by going to www.themasterseminars.com. 

Chip will be at ICRS in St Louis, June 27-29.

We'll be hosting a writing retreat weekend in Lexington, July 23-24. It's called "Adding Depth to Your Fiction," and is taught by two award-winning novelists, Lisa Samson and Susan Meissner. This is a rare treat to get two days with authors like this in a small-group setting. If you'd like to be a part, you can email Tiffany Colter at tiffcolter (at) gmail.com for more information. 

Both of us will be at the Oregon Christian Writers Conference, August 2-5.

And, of course, we will both be heading to the annual ACFW conference in Indianapolis, September 17-20. If you're a novelist, we urge you to consider this one — it's the best big Christian writing conference going. 

REALLY?

So, just today, while I was poking around our new local LIFEWAY store, doing some market research, I received an email from the VP of ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) that I'm one of three finalists for Agent of the Year alongside Terry Burns and Tamela Hancock Murray, both of Hartline Literary.  I'm still a bit stunned and just want to publicly say thank you to
whomever nominated me.  I'm sincerely honored to have made the short list of candidates. Hey, if I'm chosen, does this mean I'll have to accept the responsibility of keeping an island afloat?

Hmmm….

Have a great week.