Huge Membership Changes for SFWA

This caught me by surprise in the best possible way. On March 23rd, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) voted in favor of changes to the membership eligibility requirements. To become a full member, writers must earn at least $1,000 dollars professionally across all their works. For Associate members, writers only have to earn at least $100 dollars professionally across all their works.

This change makes eligibility far more accessible for writers, especially new writers looking to break into the industry. Lowering the barrier to entry creates new opportunities for writers and creatives to collaborate and network that was previously much more difficult. The price of membership, however, is unchanged at this time. I don’t feel it is a huge barrier at the $100 and $90 a year membership fee, especially when you think about the new opportunities and resources that can be gained.

For more details on the membership requirements, visit the SFWA website.

Another cool note for people who have their science fiction novel out in the world, SWFA does a collaboration with StoryBundle to provide exposure and income for independent and small presses. For more information on how it works, how to qualify, and become a volunteer screener, read the blog post by Sherrie Cronin on the SFWA website.

What great new! I hope you all check it out and I wish you all the best on your writing journey.

Until next time, Read, Write, Edit, Repeat.

- J.J.

Bookshop.org - The Amazon Competitor

Hello everyone! I hope your writing is going well this month as we are now at the halfway point. For those who aren’t keeping up with the approx. 1667 words per day, don’t sweat it. Just consistently writing will help you reach your ultimate goal of finishing your story.

Today, I want to talk a little bit about a new bookshop alternative to Amazon. Bookshop.org is an online bookstore that supports local, independent bookstores. For a long time, local and independent bookstores struggled to financially keep up with Amazon. During COVID, it’s even more difficult for local bookstores to stay in business. Less foot traffic means less sales and rent for bookstores don’t just stop because of pandemic.

Many have had to either quickly pivot to online stores to reach customers or be left behind. What Bookshop.org does is help those bookshops with another revenue option. For all books purchased on Bookshop.org, they share about 75% of their profit margin with bookstores, publications, and authors along with a 10% match for independent bookstores on all affiliate link purchases.

By no means does this fix everything, but every little bit does help. The Chicago Tribune said it best when they said:

““Bookshop.org hopes to play Rebel Alliance to Amazon’s Empire.””

— Chicago Tribune

At least, that is what it feels like when you support Bookshop. I don’t actually think Amazon is the evil Empire, but they do have a definite advantage due to their size of operations. Helping support local and independent bookstores, along with your local libraries, is incredibly important to preserving literary options and opportunities for everyone. Low income communities can be especially hard hit by situations such as these and support is often needed.

I have joined the affiliate program and will be doing some posts in the future with affiliate links. I will disclose when I do and if you find a story you really want in your collection, please feel free to purchase. Otherwise, if you don’t have the money, support your local library and check books out. The staff at your local library really enjoy people checking out books.

Until next time, read, write, repeat.

J.J.

State of the Industry - A Publishing Whirlwind

The publishing industry has been taking some flak over the past few months for a variety of different controversies. From American Dirt to the Romance Writer’s Guild, there seems to be a problem around every corner.

However, how bad are these issues and can they be avoided? I was listening to a podcast on NPR about the American Dirt controversy and it was quite insightful on how the participants looked at the issues of publishing, authorship, and censorship. If you would like to listen in, I have the podcast embedded below.

Listening to the different perspectives, it creates a clearer picture on how to handle different cultures in stories and how online criticism is not the same as censorship. I wish they would’ve spent more time on the idea of censorship and dive a little deeper into what that would look like today. That topic I found the most interesting and can heard around the 25-minute mark.

It’s obvious that the issues being raised need to be addressed, but I don’t think the controversies are inherently bad. Why? Because it means we have more to learn. To improve. Take the criticism, use it, and be better. That’s what most people want. Criticism is a spotlight on our mistakes and we can use the light to find our way out of the dark. We can also use it to avoid the issues completely.

The podcast really boils down to a simple statement by David Bowles, a Mexican American author, mentioned at the beginning of the podcast:

“It’s just about doing the homework that has to be done.” - David Bowles

So, for those writers out there that want to write unique characters outside of their culture or life experience: Do your homework.

If you would like more short podcast related posts on the website, please let me know in the comments or send me a message.

Until next time,

J.J.