|
SFWA Membership Requirements
Table of Contents [version 1.41, 08/09/07]:
·
Qualifying Novel
Venues
·
Qualifying Short
Fiction Venues
·
Venues Other Than
Those Above
·
To Qualify a Venue
Membership Requirements
To become an Active member of SFWA, applicants must demonstrate
either:
- Three Paid
Sales of prose fiction (such as short stories) to Qualifying
Professional Markets, with each paid at the rate of 5c/word or
higher (3c/word before 1/1/2004),
for a cumulative total of $250, minimum $50 apiece; or
- One Paid
Sale of a prose fiction book to a Qualifying
Professional Market, for which the author has been paid $2000 or
more; or
- One professionally
produced full length dramatic script, with credits acceptable to the
Membership Committee.
"Paid Sale" and
"Qualifying Professional Market" are as defined below.
To become an Associate member of SFWA, applicants must demonstrate:
To become an Affiliate member of SFWA, applicants must be an allied
professional (such as an agent/editor/reviewer/artist/graphic
novelist/publisher who works with Qualifying Professional
Markets) with credentials acceptable to the Membership Committee and must
be able to provide the names of three Active members as references. No agent,
editor, or publisher who charges authors an upfront fee in exchange for
representation or publication is eligible for affiliate membership.
To become an Institutional member, applicants must be organizations
with legitimate interest in science fiction and fantasy (such as high schools,
colleges, universities, libraries, and similar institutions, as well as
broadcasting organizations, film producers, futurology groups and similar
organizations) or individuals associated with these groups. Applicants must
present credentials acceptable to the Membership Committee and must be able
to provide the names of three Active members as references.
To become an Estate member, applicants must be the legal
representative for the estate of an Active member.
While every attempt is made here to detail the membership requirements,
ultimately the SFWA Membership Committee's decision on criteria and
qualifying for membership is final.
The membership application form is here.
Paid Sales
Paid sales are those which have been accepted for publication by a
Qualifying Professional Market and paid for, either in advance or on
publication, and sold to markets on the list below. (Note
that this list is not exhaustive. Many markets not yet listed here may
qualify as professional markets. If you do not see a particular market listed
and you believe it meets the qualifying criteria, please query sfwa using this form.)
The works must be print- or electronic- prose fiction or drama in the
genres of science fiction, fantasy, or horror, in the English language and be
published in the qualified professional venues as described below.
Contest prize money does not count toward determing the payment rate
unless publication rights are required to receive the prize. (That is, only
payments tied to publication are considered.)
Note all amounts are in US Dollars/cents; equivalent payment in other
currencies will be determined by the Membership Committee.
The Membership Committee, at its discretion, may also accept sales that
met prior criteria for SFWA membership at the time of sale.
Collaborations between two persons are counted as half (two novels or six
short fiction collaborations, or one collaborative novel plus three
collaborative short stories, etc.). Note that collaborations among more than
two people are not accepted.
Qualifying Professional Markets
The following markets have been qualified by the SFWA Membership Committee
as meeting the SFWA bylaws and other membership criteria. (Other markets not
listed may not be used for application credentials until they become listed.
If you wish to use a market not listed, first seek to get
the market listed then send in your application. Do not send in an
application listing unqualified markets; applications listing unqualified
markets will be returned.)
[Top]
Qualifying Novel Venues
Novels sold to the following publishers are
considered qualified (list last updated 08/09/07):
·
Ace
·
Baen
·
Bantam Spectra
·
Black Library
·
DAW
·
Del Rey
·
Design Image Group
·
Dorchester/Leisure
·
Elder Signs Press
·
Eos
·
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
·
Green Knight
·
HarperCollins
·
Kensington Publishing
·
Meisha Merlin
·
Night Shade Books
·
Orbit
·
Phobos
·
Pyr Books
·
Roc
·
Serpent's Tail
·
Shadow
Mountain Publishing
·
Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic
Medicine Show
·
Solaris
·
St. Martin's Press
·
Tor / Forge
·
Warner Aspect
·
White Wolf
·
Wizards of the Coast
·
Other large independent publishers
and US imprints of large conglomerates such as Bertelsmann, Penguin Putnam,
von Holtzbrinck, Time Warner, etc. (thus, Harcourt, Vintage, Farrar Strous
& Giroux, Random House, Scholastic, Viking, Doubleday/Nan Talese,
Houghton Mifflin/Clarion, Luna, etc.)
Please see below to
qualify markets not listed.
[Top]
Qualifying Short Fiction Venues
·
Short fiction
sold to the following markets are considered qualified (list last
updated 01/5/09): URLs are given for on-line magazines. Please
note the $50 minimum sale requirement as listed above.)
·
Any anthology published by a
qualified novel publisher listed above
·
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
·
Asimov's Science Fiction
·
Baen's Universe - http://www.baens-universe.com/
·
Brutarian
·
Cemetery Dance
·
Clarkesworld Magazine - http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/
·
Chizine - http://www.chizine.com/
·
Cosmos
·
Dark Wisdom
·
Dragon
·
Fantasy Magazine *NEW* added Jan 2009 -http://www.darkfantasy.org/fantasy/
·
The Magazine of Fantasy and
Science Fiction
·
Odyssey - Adventures in Science
·
Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic
Medicine Show - http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/
·
Pedestal Magazine - http://www.pedestalmagazine.com/
·
Realms of Fantasy
·
Strange Horizons - http://www.strangehorizons.com/
·
Subterranean Magazine - http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine
·
Writers of the Future Anthology
·
SF/F/H short fiction sold to non-genre
or primarily non-fiction magazines that meet the requirements below, such as The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly,
Boy's Life, Starlog, Star Wars Gamer, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine,
etc., and these, which have been asked about and specifically determined to
meet the criteria: Cicada, Cricket, Nature, Nerve.com
And these markets which are
either on hiatus, no longer publishing, or which SFWA no longer accepts for
new sales, but were acceptable during the dates shown:
·
Shadowed Realms (to 4/2007; and
applicants should note the $50 minimum sale requirement above)
·
Postscripts (to 3/2007; only
sales at 5c/w or more)
·
Interzone (to 4/2006)
·
The Third Alternative (to
4/2006)
·
iBooks / Byron Preiss (to
2/2006)
·
SciFiction / SciFi.com (to
12/2005)
·
Story House Coffee (to 12/2005)
·
Artemis (to 12/2004)
·
Weird Tales (to 12/2004)
·
Absolute Magnitude
(12/2001-9/2004)
·
Gothic.net (2/1999 to 2/2003)
·
Speculon (to 2/2003)
·
SFF.Net Darkfire anthology
series (through final volume 2002)
·
Aboriginal SF (to 2001)
·
Amazing Stories (1926-2000)
·
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy
Magazine (to 2000)
·
Science Fiction Age (1992-1998)
·
Omni Magazine (1979-1995)
·
Dead of Night (1989-1995)
·
Pulphouse (1988-1995)
·
Galaxy (1950-1995)
·
Starshore (1990-1991)
·
Nightbird Unique Magazine (1990)
·
Twilight Zone Magazine
(1981-1989)
·
Galileo (1976-1980)
·
Fantastic (1952-1980)
·
If (1952-1974)
·
(Other defunct professional
markets as determined upon request)
Please see below to
qualify markets not listed.
[Top]
Venues Other Than Those Above
The following markets may not currently be used for
membership purposes. If/when any of these are determined to meet the
applicable criteria, they will be moved to the list
of qualifying markets. No judgment as to the quality of these markets as
publishing venues is in any way expressed or implied by their inclusion on
this list.
·
American Book Publishing
·
Armitage House
·
Barbour Publishing
·
Creeping Hemlock Press
·
Crossquarter Publishing Group
·
Embiid Publishing
·
Fairwood Press /
ElectricStory.com
·
Fictionwise.com
·
Gardenia Press
·
Great Plains Publications
·
Golden Gryphon
·
Gothic.net (for dates after
2/2003)
·
ImaJinn
·
iUniverse
·
Medallion Press
·
Oak Tree Press
·
Oceans of the Mind
·
OnSpec
·
Paradox
·
PublishAmerica
·
Silver Lake
Publishing
·
Small Beer Press
·
Spectrum SF
·
Unbelievable Stories (Quill-Pen Press)
·
The Urbanite
·
Vestal Review
·
Wheatland Press (e.g. Polyphony
anthology series)
·
Wildside Press
·
Xlibris.com
·
Zumaya Press
[Top]
To Qualify a Venue
To qualify a new Qualifying Professional Market,
it must be found acceptable to the Membership Committee. In particular, it
must satisfy the following criteria for a given date range to qualify for
membership purposes:
·
Payment for all works of fiction
(other than reprints or serializations), either in advance of publication or
on publication, at the rate of either (a) at least $2000 for a single work or
(b) at least 5c/word (3c/word before 1/1/2004); and
·
Must have published consistently
for a period of at least one year before the market will be considered
qualifying; and
·
Must have a print run or
circulation of at least 1000 copies, or the equivalent in other media (e.g.,
demonstrated downloads in electronic media); and
·
Is not self-publication, vanity
press, or other type of author-paid or fee-charging press, as demonstrated
such as (1) by having published at least ten distinct works by different
natural persons during the date range; and (2) by authors not having paid or
been requested to pay fees or give consideration of any kind.
Any party may request a venue be evaluated (an
applicant, the publisher, another author, etc.) but must submit proof that
the market meets the criteria. Please submit requests for new markets and
evidence of meeting the above criteria via this
form. The SFWA Membership Committee will evaluate the material and add it
to the list of qualifying markets if/when it meets the criteria. (Do note
that, once qualified, the qualification date will be set back to the earliest
date for which the criteria were met; thus, for example, allowing sales
during the year in which a market has demonstrated consistent publication,
not just from year two onward.)
If you have an older sale, for example to a
long-dead market not already listed, please use the market query form.
A venue may become disqualified for membership
purposes at the discretion of the Membership Committee if it meets the disqualification criteria.
To request qualification of a new market, use the form here.
Membership
Application Form
The membership application form is here.
We respond to membership applications in the order
they are received. If it’s been more than five (5) business days since you
submitted your application and you haven’t heard from us yet, you may query
on the status of your application here.
Best wishes in your writing!
|