HOW TO WORK WITH AN AGENT with JEN KARSBAEK

You’ve written what you think is a great book, and you’d really like a traditional publishing contract. Your next step is getting an agent, but how do you do it and how do you work with an agent once you get one? A stellar query letter is important, but so is knowing what is expected and what questions to ask in the agent/client relationship.

Learn more about how to get and work with agent during the “An Evening with Jen Karsbaek of Foreword Literary Agency” event from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on June 27 during David R. Collins 2014 Writers’ Conference at MWC (3rd Floor, 225 E. 2 Street, Davenport, Iowa). It’s free and open to everyone (even non-conference attendees).

This session with be part presentation, part question and answer session, so please come prepared with your questions about the process of working with an agent. This event will cover topics including writing a successful query letter, presenting yourself professionally to agents, and what questions to ask once you are offered representation.

Jen will also be taking pitches on Saturday, June 28th at McCarthy Hall on the St. Ambrose University campus in Davenport. Click here toregister and reserve your 10 minute pitch session. You can also pitch to Publisher Steve Semken on Friday, June 27th.

Jen Karsbaek joined first Larsen Pomada Literary Agency, then Foreword Literary Agency in 2013, but has been immersed in the book world since 2008, when she founded the influential blog Devourer of Books. In addition to book reviews, during her time blogging Jen has hosted a literary podcast, an online book club, and a popular annual event celebrating audio books. Jen is also a freelance writer and reviewer.

The conference also features three day workshops on flash fiction, memoir, poetry, essay, and novel. Free evening events open to the public are also planned. Discounts are offered for MWC members. 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.

Poetry Publishing 101 April 19 at MWC with Ryan Collins

Ryan Collins will lead a workshop on basic poetry publishing on Saturday, April 19, from 1-3 p.m. at the Midwest Writing Center.

Ryan Collins

Workshop topics will include researching markets, managing submissions, and self-publishing.

Cost of the workshop is $10 for MWC members, $15 for non-members (ask for the National Poetry Month discount—usually workshop rates are $20/$25).

Advanced registration preferred, but walk-ins are also welcome.

Remote Viewing
(DUSIE/Rock Town Press, 2014)

Ryan Collins is the author of four chapbooks, most recently Remote Viewing (DUSIE/Rock Town Press, 2014) and Dear Twin Falls (H_NGM_N, 2013). His poems have appeared in American Letters & Commentary; Black Clock; Columbia Poetry Review; DIAGRAM; Forklift, Ohio; Handsome; iO: A Journal of New American Poetry; Spork; Transom; and many other places. Collins is the Executive Director of the Midwest Writing Center, curates the SPECTRA Poetry Reading Series in Rock Island, IL, an English instructor at St. Ambrose University and Scott Community College, and has led various writing workshops for Quad City Arts, the Moline and Bettendorf Public Libraries, and the Children's Literature Festival. He was also a contributing poet and poetry curator for the Figge Museum of Art 2012 exhibition, Waxing Poetic.   

MWC's Young Emerging Writers summer internship program now accepting applications

Applications now are being accepted for the Young Emerging Writers (YEW) summer internship program through the Midwest Writing Center.

The six-week program is for teens ages 15-19 who are interested in creating and publishing works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and/or drama. The program will be held from 6 to 8:30 p.m. June 9-11, 16-18, 23-25, June 30; July 1-2, 7-19, and 14-16, culminating with The Atlas Launch Party at 7 p.m. Aug. 13.

Students who worked on the school newspaper, school literary magazine or yearbook, or who just love writing, or page layout and graphic design, are ideal candidates for YEW.

The ultimate goal of the program is the development of writing abilities, professional skills and the production and distribution of a literary journal, The Atlas, which represents the best work of the participants, and more.

Internships feature intensive seminars in poetry, narrative prose and collaborative writing and more. Interns will learn about magazine design and layout, as well as gain editorial and copy-editing experience, the release states.

Ten to 15 interns will be selected based on applications, writing or design samples, and interviews. The writing and editing of stories, essays, poems and/or plays at home is required, as is reading and responding to work by other interns.

Each intern also will receive a small stipend, a free full-conference registration to the David R. Collins Writers' Conference at St. Ambrose University June 26-28, a one-year membership to the Midwest Writing Center and three copies of The Atlas.

 Applications are available and the deadline for submission is May 17. For more information, contact Ryan Collins, 563-324-1410, or mwc@midwestwritingcenter.org

Spring Pen In Hand Mini-Conference to feature "Stand out from the Competition" w/ "Basic Book Marketing for Authors" Workshops

SPRING 2014 PEN IN HAND MINI-CONFERENCE
Stand out from the Competition: Basic Book Marketing for Authors
Saturday, March 22, 10 am to 4:45 pm at MWC

10-11:45 am: Applying the 4 P's to your B: Creating a Book Marketing Plan with Jodie

Jodie Toohey

Toohey


In this workshop, participants will learn how to create a basic marketing plan so they can take focused action to try to get their book into readers' – and buyers' – hands. We'll cover the four P's (place, price, product, and promotion), the 5th P (people), holding giveaways, using social media, and setting up appearances.

Jodie Toohey is the author of three books: two poetry collections and one novel. She also runs Wordsy Woman Word Sales and Service, a professional writing and editing company helping people say what they want to say. She's taught workshops at CASI, the Vet Center, and MWC. Jodie holds a Marketing Certificate and is focusing on Marketing as part of her over half-completed MBA.


Joe Taylor
Quad-City Times photo

1-2:45 pm: How to Make the Media Your Partner with Joe Taylor

This interactive, hands-on, real world session will cover how to write effective press releases, target the right media for your work, find the right contact person at the media outlet, how to tie your idea or work to current news, and more.

Joe Taylor is president/ceo of the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau and regularly appears in broadcast, print and on-line media outlets in the Quad Cities. He has been with the bureau since its inception in 1990 and has served as its president/ceo since 1998. Prior to tourism, he was a newspaper reporter and editor.

 
3-4:45 pm: The Art of the Blurb with Robin Throne

Robin Throne

This interactive workshop will focus on how to write effective book synopses, endorsements, blurbs, and reviews. Participants are encouraged to bring books or manuscripts to exchange for reviews, or books-in-press in need of synopses or endorsements.

Local writer and educator, Robin Throne's book reviews, endorsements, and blurbs have appeared in Connections, Unity Book Reviews, Iowa Woman, GoodReads, Amazon.com, and various academic & popular presses. She also operates a small literary press, 918studio. 

WORKSHOP REGISTRATION FEES:
Before 3/15/14
$20 per workshop for members/$40 for all three
$25 per workshop for non-members/$50 for all three
After 3/15/14
$25 per workshop for members/$50 for all three
$30 per workshop for members/$60 for all three

TO REGISTER:
Use the PayPal button on the MWC home page to register online today!
Or please call MWC at 563-324-1410, or email mwc@midwestwritingcenter.org.

You may also mail a check with a note indicating your desire to register with your name, phone number, email address, and the titles of the workshop(s) for which you want to register to:
Midwest Writing Center
225 E. 2nd Street, Ste. 303
Davenport, IA 52801

MWC Beginning Creative Writing Series

Workshop Series: This series is for anyone who has a story to tell, wants to preserve memories, has

never written creatively before, or used to write creatively and wants to get back into it, but is not sure how to get started. The classes will be tailored to participant preferences, but will cover such things as a creative writing practice, dealing with the inner critic, creative writing tools, voice and style, and revision and editing. In-class writing and feedback opportunities will also be provided.

Where: Meets 1-3 p.m. at MWC on the 3rd floor of Bucktown Center for the Arts in downtown Davenport at 225 E. 2nd Street.

When:
March 12th & 26th
April 9th & 23rd
May 7th & 21st

Cost is $60 for the entire series for

• MWC Members
• Plus 60 Members
• CASI Members
• Rock Island, IL Genealogical Society Members
• Blackhawk Unit 21 RITA Members
• Any Independent Living/Retirement Community Residents

Cost for non-members/residents is $75

Note. If a class is cancelled due to weather or the instructor's/MWC's discretion, additional sessions will be added on the end until six sessions have been completed. No refunds will be offered for any missed classes due to a participant's discretion.

To Register:
Please call MWC at 563-324-1410 or email mwc@midwestwritingcenter.org

You may also mail a check with a note indicating your desire to register for the beginning creative writing series with your name, phone number, email address, and discount membership/residence to:

Midwest Writing Center
225 E. 2nd Street, Ste. 303
Davenport, IA 52801

Storyboard your novel with Robin Throne at MWC February 8

Workshop facilitator, Robin Throne will offer practical guidance on how to create a map, blueprint, or storyboard for your novel. See you novel’s storyline unfold visually using the storyboard materials that will be provided in the workshop. Feel free to also bring along any markers, cards, images, drafts, or notes that you have already begun.

Saturday, February 8 at 1 p.m. 

$15 MWC members/$20 non-members

Midwest Writing Center
225 East 2nd Street, Suite 303
Davenport, IA 52801

To register, call 563-324-1410
or email: mwc@midwestwritingcenter.org

This is a popular interactive workshop and seats are limited so register early!

Picture Book Writing 101 led by Jill Esbaum Saturday, Nov 16

Jill Esbaum is the author of thirteen children’s books. Her newest is Angry Birds

Jill Esbaum

Playground:  Dinosaurs (National Geographic). She is also the author of Tom’s Tweet (Knopf), named to the 2013-2014 Iowa Goldfinch list; Stanza (HMHarcourt), a 2012-2013 Young Hoosiers Book Award nominee; Ste-e-e-e-eamboat A-Comin’! (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), an IRA Notable Children’s Book; To the Big Top (FSG), named to the CCBC’s Choices List; and others. Five more of her books will be published in 2014.

Jill co-hosts the Whispering Woods Picture Book Writing Workshop/Retreat each summer. She lives on a farm in eastern Iowa. 
Register today via PayPal or call MWC at (563) 324-1410!

Registration

MWC Member $20.00 USD  Non-MWC Member $25.00 USD

 

Get a Manuscript Makeover at the fall Pen in Hand

Fall 2013 Pen in Hand mini-Conference
Saturday, October 5th
9am-5pm
Midwest Writing Center



Ann Boaden

The Midwest Writing Center’s Fall 2013 Pen In Hand mini writing conference is designed to help writers begin to get their partially or completely finished manuscripts ready for submission to agents or publishers. Those who just want to listen are also encouraged to attend. The conference will be held on Saturday, October 5th, and will feature four different workshops held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Nancy Ann Schaefer

Participants may sign up for one workshop, two, three, or all four. Discounts are offered for members and those who register before September 28th. For instructor bios, further details and information about how to register, click on the link above or visit Pen In Hand under the “Events & Opportunities” drop down menu at the MWC web site. All sessions are held on the third floor of Bucktown Center for the Arts at 225 E. 2nd Street in downtown Davenport.

The four sessions include:


Daniel Horne

“Put the YOU in Your Work: Voice & Style” with Ann Boaden and will help participants learn the differences and similarities between voice and style and begin their journeys to find their personal writing voices.

“The Great Battle: Show vs. Tell” with Nancy Ann Schaefer will help attendees learn how to recognize when they are telling rather than showing and what to do to reverse it.

“Polishing Pointers: Editing and Proofreading” with DanielHorne will help people look at their work on the micro level and correct any grammar, punctuation, and mechanical mistakes. 




Katie Ganshert

“Query Quandaries: Research Agents/Publishers and Submit Your Work” with Katie Ganshert will help participants find agents or publishers to whom they can submit work and teach them how to write a query letter.

"Remember When: Generative Memoir Workshop" Series Offered at the Midwest Writing Center

 Applications are currently being accepted for Midwest Writing Center's fifth Fall Writing Workshop Rachel Yoder, graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop and former Iowa Arts Fellow, will lead participants through the workshop. This is Rachel's workshop description:

"Have you been meaning to write down stories from your life but haven't yet gotten around to it? Now's your chance in a 6-class course designed to cultivate your memories along with your creative writing capabilities. With the help of memoirist Abigail Thomas' book Thinking About Memoir, we'll experiment with an assortment of prompts to remember and write vivid, fully-realized scenes from all eras of your life. Each class will consist of in-class exercises, sharing, and short readings by published authors, while assignments in between sessions will involve longer passages from published work and revision of in-class writing. All participants will have the chance to share their work as well as give and receive feedback aimed at inspiring further writing."

Cost to attend will be $200 for MWC members and $215 for non-members, which includes a novel. This is quite a bargain considering that a comparable workshop at the Summer Writing Festival at the University of Iowa would cost significantly more (weekend workshops $280, week-long $560—the MWC workshop meets six times over three months), and a conventional class through the University would cost significantly more than that per credit hour. While there may not credit hours at the end of this workshop, the dividends will pay off in the participants' writing. The workshop will use Abigail Thomas' book Thinking About Memoir as a reference, the cost of which is included in the workshop fee.

Class size is limited. Applications must be received by August 28th and include answers to the questions listed on MWC's website via the link at www.midwestwritngcenter.org as well as a writing sample. Students will be notified of their acceptance by August 30th. All sessions will be held at MWC on the 3rd floor of Bucktown Center for the Arts at 225 E. 2nd Street in Downtown Davenport. For more information, call 563-324-1410 or email mwc@midwestwritingcenter.org.

Rachel Yoder edits draft: the journal of process which features first and final drafts of short stories, essays, and poems in addition to author interviews about the creative process. She earned an MFA in Fiction from the University of Arizona and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Iowa, where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow. Her writing has been shortlisted in Best American Short Stories and Best American Nonrequired Reading, and she received the 2012 Missouri Review Editors' Prize in Fiction. Her work has also been anthologized in Writing That Risks (Red Bridge Press) and YOU: An Anthology of Essays Devoted to the Second Person (Welcome Table Press) and published, most notably, in The New York Times, The Paris Review Daily, and The Sun Magazine. She's taught an array of creative writing classes focusing on both fiction and nonfiction to an array of students ranging from women in rehab to Midwestern retirees. She currently lives in Iowa City.

Rachel Yoder

Series; this year's focus will be on memoir and nonfiction. The series will be held from 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. on September 5 and 19, October 3 and 16, and November 7 and 21.

 Support for this program generously provided by the Riverboat Development Authority

Writers' Conference early-bird discounts by June 15

Midwest Writing Center members who register before June 15 can save up to $35; non-member early bird registrants can save up to $25 for the 2013 David R. Collins Writers’ Conference, which will be June 27-29 at St. Ambrose University, Davenport.. Accommodations are also available for $40 a night in the St. Ambrose University dormitories.

The  conference features a variety of workshops on writing topics. It also features critique sessions, book pitches, luncheons and free events.

More information, including a brochure, is available at MWC via the conference link under the “Events & Opportunities” drop-down menu. Information and registration also is available by calling 563-324-1410 or email.

Sponsors of the conference include Modern Woodmen of America, St. Ambrose University English Department, Illinois Arts Council and Genesis Health System.

Gordon Warnock joins the faculty for David R. Collins Writers' Conference

The Midwest Writing Center is excited to have Gordon Warnock join the faculty for its 2013 David

Gordon Warnock

R. Collins Writers' Conference taking place June 27-29 in New Hall at St. Ambrose University, 518 W. Locust St., Davenport.

Warnock is a Founding Partner with Foreword Literary Management and he will be taking pitches for potential representation for publication during the conference. His client list includes Midwestern authors Tanya Chernov, Nan DeMars, and Pat Sinclair; he is currently looking to represent memoir, cookbooks, political and current events, humor, career, self-help, pets, commercial fiction and contemporary realistic young adult fiction.

In addition to the pitches, Warnock will be leading a free workshop on Thursday, June 27 starting at 7 p.m. at MWC on the 3rd floor of the Bucktown Center for the Arts at 225 E. 2nd St., Davenport. The workshop is open to conference attendees and non-attendees alike. It is entitled "Finding Your Way in the Modern Publishing Environment" and will discuss the different types of publishing options available today, teach participants how to pitch to agents, and end with a question and answer session. Those who plan to attend a pitch session with Warnock at the conference are strongly encouraged to attend this workshop.

Along with the pitch sessions, the 2013 conference features three-day writing workshops on a variety of topics including novels, creative non-fiction, reading as writers, speculative fiction, freelancing, poetry, and literary collage; critique sessions; luncheons; and a free faculty reading. Discounts are offered for MWC member and early bird (before June 15) registrants. More information, including a brochure, is available at www.midwestwritingcenter.org via the conference link under the "Events & Opportunities" drop-down menu. Of course, information can be obtained and registration made by calling 563-324-1410 or emailing mwc@midwestwritingcenter.org

Writing Your Family History and Memoir Workshop with Joyce Godwin Grubbs coming May 18

When: Saturday, May 18, 1-3 p.m.
Where: 3rd Floor Conference Room, Bucktown Center for the Arts, 225 E. 2nd St., Davenport

"We must continue throughout our lives to do what we conceive to be good” ~Black Hawk

 Workshop Description:  It is no longer enough ‘to continue to do what we conceive to be good’, but rather we must preserve it. It is in the process of writing memoirs we make that possible. In this two hour workshop we will move our works beyond preserving the past in memoirs. We will explore how to forge our genealogical findings and formatted materials into a state of readiness for publication. We will also embrace the basics of 21st century memoir variations which are emerging. Ours will be a comprehensive exploration of the resources available to us, as well as ways to be published in print and online. We will examine the ways to avoid the “pitfalls and snake oil sales” that would ensnare us. Indeed the full 120 minutes of our time will demonstrate that it is possible to motivate the novice, move the “writer’s block” to fruition, and show you which publishing route is best for your memoirs should you choose to formalize your formatted work.

Door prizes and light refreshments will be available. Workshop is $10 for members of MWC or RICIGS and $15 for all others

Make check payable to Midwest Writing Center, and send to MWC, 225 E. 2nd St., Suite 303, Davenport, IA 52801.  You may also call 563-324-1410 to register with a credit card or via PayPal. Office hours are Wed-Fri 11-6 and Sat 11-4.

About Joyce Godwin Grubbs:  Joyce Godwin Grubbs, author of the Greyhound Lady Walking series (twelve suspense novels of creative-fiction, taking real cases and fictionalizing them to protect identities.) She also has extensive experience writing memoirs personally and professionally. She has written memoir books as both a paid ghost writer and co-author, and does individual stories as part of her Legacy Stories Personalized, private services online.

Follow her on Twitter

@GrassrootAuthor

The Road to Traditional Publication

Do you have a book in you? Are you wondering what you would do with it when it is finished? Or are you already there – you’ve completed a manuscript and you are wondering what to do with it? The route to publication can, and usually is, long, difficult, and winding but generally ends at one of two destinations: self-published or traditionally published.

To be traditionally published, authors usually either obtain an agent to navigate the route with them or they go directly to the publisher. The initial process at least for obtaining either is essentially the same. First, research and find potential agents and publishers to pitch and then research each one further to find the most likely best fit. Find out what they want to see; just a query letter, a query letter and sample pages or chapters, a full book proposal, etc.? Send whatever the particular agent or publisher wants to see and then wait. And wait. Hopefully you will get a request for more material or the whole manuscript. And then you wait. And wait. Get the green light and, if you get an agent, wait and wait for he or she to attempt to sell your work. If the green light leads to a publisher either without or after you get an agent, arrive at publication paradise. But, if the answer is a polite, “No,” (and if you’re like most all authors, there will be plenty of No’s), submit further and wait. And wait. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

After this extremely simplified explanation of the traditional publishing process, do you have questions? If so, you’re in luck. On Saturday, October 6^th from 1:20 to 3:00 p.m., the Midwest Writing Center is holding a workshop entitled Get Into The House. The session will be facilitated by Jon Ripslinger, a retired English teacher who taught in public high school systems for thirty-five years and author of six traditionally-published young adult novels.

Other sessions offered at Pen In Hand on October 6^th address e-book publishing, self-publishing, and marketing (important no matter how you publish). Discounts are offered for early-bird registrants as well as members of MWC. Click here tolearn more and sign up.

MWC Creative Writing Primer coming in May

Coming May 2012

Writers and workshop instructors affiliated with the Midwest Writing Center have collaborated on The Midwest Writing Center Creative Writing Primer to be released as an ebook by MWC Press in May.  The Primer includes author perspectives on the essentials necessary to a creative writing practice and offers a diverse and insightful guide for the beginning to emerging creative writer. The Primer is dedicated to Evelyn Witter, MWC co-founder, who taught creative writing basics for more than 30 years.

Primer contributing authors include Julia Coleman, Stephen Frech, Sally John, Max Molleston, Trisha Nelson, Steven Semken, Robin Throne, Jodie Toohey, Ellen Tsagaris, and Connie (Corcoran) Wilson. Sarah Throne-Ploehn of Rivertown Creative & Co. contributed the cover and interior design.

Participants in MWC’s online Creative Writing Basics I & II workshops will receive the Primer included in their workshop registration, and the ebook will also be sold separately by MWC (more details forthcoming).

Midwest Writing Center offers young writer workshop

The Midwest Writing Center invites participants to register for “How to publish a book before the age of 10” to be offered Friday, March 9, at 4 p.m. at the center on the third floor of the Bucktown Center for the Arts in Davenport.

Anna Shammas

The workshop is also geared toward young writers who desire to submit stories to the WQPT KIDS GO! Writers Contest, which has an entry deadline of April 10.

Workshop facilitator is young author, Anna Shammas, who published her first book, Very Snowy, before the age of 10. 

Registration for the workshop can be made by calling (563) 324-1410 or by email to mwc@midwestwritingcenter.org.   

Midwest Writing Center offers online creative writing basics workshops

Julia Coleman

The Midwest Writing Center invites participants to register for Creative Writing Basics, its two-part online writing workshops to be offered throughout 2012. The first offering of Creative Writing Basics I starts February 4 and Basics II follows on March 3. Other start dates for the workshops are available from www.midwestwritingcenter.org.  

Basics I is facilitated by Florida-based sports, feature, and literary writer, Julia Coleman, south-Atlantic Region Sports Editor for Sportspagemagazine.com.

Jodie Toohey

The Basics II facilitator is Quad Cities area poet and writer, Jodie Toohey, recent winner of the Bettendorf Public Library’s Love Poetry Contest, and author of Crush and other love poems for girls (2008).

Registration for Creative Writing Basics I and Basics II is $65 for members and $75 for non-members and registration can be done online at Midwest Writing Center's web site. The online workshops are offered for the beginning to emerging creative writer over a four-week period as facilitated courses with one hour of live instructor discussion each week.