Publishing, pitches, and writing. A few words and comments from a small publisher: Steve Semken from Ice Cube Press

Everyone gets nervous when presenting someone with their writing, it's a sign you care. I hope, though, that when you sign up to do a pitch with myself, or any publisher, you understand that getting a "no" to your pitch is almost as good as getting a "yes." You have to assume not everyone will like what you write. What you want to do is find the publisher that will say yes. Approach your writing seriously and with passion and you will discover people that want to help you. I know you won't believe it, but it is a big help to hear "no" then. After all, you want to get the rejections out of the way as you search for acceptance. I promise you, as a publisher, I value all people's writing and understand that what you pitch and share with me means a lot to you. Unfortunately not everything is right for every publisher, but I do assure you, if I think I can help you I will try.

I'd encourage you to attend the question and answer session on publishing as well, these are great ways to learn some of what publishers look for. To recognize that you are not alone in your ideas about publishing and writing. Bring a question along. I promise your question is worth asking. I've found the David Collins Writing Conference to be a wonderful place for authors and publishers to meet and learn about each other in a useful way.

Want to schedule a pitch session with Steve on Friday, June 27th? Then, click here to register and reserve your 10 minute pitch session during the 2014 David R. Collins Writers' Conference at McCarthy Hall on the St. Ambrose University campus in Davenport, Iowa. You can also pitch to Literary Agent, Jen Karsbaek on Saturday, June 28th. The free workshop Steve references is the evening with Jen Karsbaek event on Friday, June 27th at 7 p.m. at MWC (3rd floor, 225 E. 2nd Street, Davenport, Iowa) which is free and open to everyone (even non-conference attendees).

Steve Semken founded the Ice Cube Press twenty-one years ago as a way to use the literary arts to learn about how to best live in the Midwest. Over the last two decades he has helped publish nearly hundred books. He is often asked to speak to writing groups throughout the Midwest on issues of creativity, entrepreneurship, writing, and publishing.

The conference also features three day workshops on flash fiction, memoir, poetry, essay, and novel. Additional free evening events open to the public are also planned. Discounts are offered for MWC members. Click here for more details. The conference is made possible by our generous sponsors: Modern Woodman of America, St. Ambrose University English Department, Illinois Arts Council Agency, and Genesis Health Systems.

Register Now for 2014 David R. Collins' Writers' Conference: June 26-28

Come join the fun on June 26, 27, and 28 on the campus of St. Ambrose University for the 2014 David R. Collins' Writers' Conference.   

2013 Conference Faculty
Matthew Guenette

Click here for online registration. 

Come to the Mississippi River for your writing inspiration as have so many other authors. The David R. Collins Writers’ Conference is your destination for writing improvement in a variety of genres, publishing tips, time with multi-published authors, one on one critiques and pitches, readings, book sales, networking, making new writing friends, and Midwest hospitality.  We offer three days of intensive learning from professional writers and publishers at bargain basement prices.  Click here to download a copy of the brochure.

The 2014 Conference Workshop Topics

• Novel as Discovery
• Time is on Your Side: Structuring Your Book-Length Memoir
• Come On, Baby, Make It Hurt So Good: The Art of the Confessional Poem 
• The Ecstatic Essay
• Flash Fiction: A Liminal Genre

Click here for workshop descriptions.

The 2014 Conference Faculty

• Kelly Daniels
• Adam Fell
• Jac Jemc
• Chad Simpson
• Rachel Yoder
• Jen Karsbaek
• Steve Semken
• Rebecca Wee

Click here for faculty biographies.

Also Offered

• One-On-One Critique Sessions, 30 minutes for $35
• Ten Minute Pitch Sessions with Steve Semken (6/27) or Jen Karsbaek (6/28) for $25
• Author Luncheon with Rebecca Wee, June 28th, for $15
• Concluding Lunch included with Registration
• Free Evening Workshop on June 27th, 7-8 p.m. with agent Jen Karsbaek
• Free Faculty Reading June 26th at Rozz-Tox (2108 3rd Ave. Rock Island, IL), 7-9 p.m.

            Thank You! 

to our 2014 conference sponsors:

Modern Woodman of America

St. Ambrose University English Department

Illinois Art Council Agency

Genesis Health Systems

Writing: A World of Surprises Await You

Ice Cube Press
since 1993

Steven Semken authored "Breaking Silence" in the MWC Creative Writing Primer (MWC Press, 2012) and is publisher of Ice Cube Press, an independent publisher promoting books on how we can best learn to live in the Midwest. @icecubepress
 
A long time ago I wrote a sentence that still interests me: "Surprise is knowledge's victory." 
 
I don't know if I understood what I really meant, but I do know that the thrill of writing is discovery, possibility, and creativity. I start then, like this—watercolor writing is a long, drawn-out brushstroke inspired by sunset. This June evening the sky is whisking with variety. The tips of trees are touched lightly by a falling sun. The yellow sun is doing a painting, circled by no more no less than a full ring of big blue sky, of which I feel a dot in the center, a drop of watercolor spreading free in a colored sunset behind me—pinks, greens, reds, violet, browns, whites, blues, everything is merging into the deep full moon color, into some indescribable tone of burgundy purple. The longer and longer shadows have merged with nighttime dirt. An owl hoot-hoots, a nuthatch churns out its last upside-down song. The sky and the shadows have now almost touched and joined as one, there is just a thin line of golden sunlight between the two and then an alpenglow casts a halo over all.

I think to myself, as Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, truly the world is “a work of art that gives birth to itself.” I am constantly aware of the realm of possibility, creativity, surprise. A world awaits any writer that is able to balance their eyes somewhere between open and shut.

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MWC Creative Writing Primer Kindle Giveaway June 27-29! #collinsconference