by Caren Gussoff

We’re on the front lines of the changing publishing industry, and for all the insecurities that encompasses, we have a growing number of tools that help reach out and sell directly to fans. Of these tools, perhaps the one most successful has been the online crowd funding platforms.

As part of the 2015 Nebula Awards weekend in Chicago, SFWA is seeking to join with the Illinois State Bar Association, as it did in 2005, to present a day-long joint Continuing Professional Education program for authors and lawyers.

When an author stops breathing, the stories stop coming, but the presses keep rolling. Ah, but do the checks keeping coming? Enter: Bud Webster of the SFWA’s Estate Project. CARL SLAUGHTER: Why does the SFWA operate an estate project? How does liaisoning for deceased authors help SFWA members? BUD WEBSTER: Well, with the advent of e-publishing […]

Looking to become a member of SFWA? Table of Contents Membership Types Full Member Associate Affiliate Estate Lifetime Senior Family/Group Qualifying Markets Application FAQs Application/Upgrade Forms Effective with Bylaws  Updated 3/2022 Full Members Full members can and are encouraged to attend business meetings, vote in elections, and receive access to the private discussion forum and […]

by Matthew Kressel

It’s become a cliché, the tortured writer beset by periods of crippling self-doubt. But things become clichés simply because they have been true for so many. Writing, for most people I know, is an experience of few victories and many small defeats.

by John Scalzi

Many years ago, writer Jim Macdonald postulated “Yog’s Law,” a handy rule of thumb for writers about the direction money is meant to flow in publishing:

“Money flows toward the writer.”

Prepared by David A. Smith, SFWA Treasurer, and Compiled and Revised by Greg Bear, SFWA President, November 1988; Ratified by Vote of the Membership,1989. Amended by Vote of the Membership in 1991. Amended by Vote of the Membership, October 1998. Revised by SFWA President Michael Capobianco and Board of Directors, 1996-1998; incorporating changes made by […]

Cascade Writers Workshop (July 17-20, 2014) is a 4-day event in Kent, WA, just south of Seattle, specializing in science fiction and fantasy writing. Guest speakers include editor Beth Meacham, agents Bree Ogden and Lisa Rodgers, publisher Patrick Swenson, authors Tina Connolly and Mark Teppo, Alma Alexander, K.c. Ball, David Levine, Mark Henry, Camille Alexa, Randy Henderson, Spencer Ellsworth, and more.

Here at Writer Beware, we love the weird stuff–the nutty, fring-y, even, dare I say, totally freaking insane things that are always cropping up at the boundaries of the publishing world, often spawned by people who haven’t really taken the time to think things through.

I was contemplating what to write for my first Writer Beware blog post, when a subject popped up out of the blue, packed with all kinds of fascinating questions.