In January 2013 the Board determined that 30% of the Money Market funds should be moved into long-term, conservative, and balanced growth funds to help ensure the long-term health of SFWA.

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.

by John Scalzi

When I’m out and about and recount my tour adventures to people (I can reel off my itinerary just about in my sleep at this point), the question often arises about whether all this touring is actually still useful and/or desirable in an age where so many people get their books electronically, and when one (or at least, one like me) can show up to a comic con, at which between 20k and 50k people will show up in one place, where you also happen to be.

  The average printed book from a print-on-demand self-publishing service sells fewer than 200 copies, mostly to “pocket” markets surrounding the author–friends, family, local retailers who can be persuaded to place an order–and to the author him/herself. POD services’ own statistics support these low sales figures. AuthorHouse’s 2010 online Fact Sheet revealed that it had […]

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 […]

by Bud Sparhawk

Oh crap, where did I put that check stub, or the acceptance letter saying how much I would be paid, or the receipts from Staples?

If you’re a writer, I’ll bet you’ve been spammed by JM Northern Media.

Don’t recognize the name? Maybe these will ring a bell. The Los Angeles Book Festival. The Hollywood Book Festival. The Paris Book Festival. The Beach Book Festival. The Halloween Book Festival. Animals, Animals, Animals Book Festival. And at least nine other annal festivals, all owned and operated by JM Northern Media (click the Properties tab).

If you’re a self-published erotica author, you’re probably aware of the crazy events of the past few days, including the wholesale deletion of erotica ebooks and the shutdown of entire retail operations. If you’re not, here’s how things went down.

Writers & Artists–the Bloomsbury Publishing-owned writers’ handbook that’s the UK equivalent to the USA’s Writers Market–has just launched a free self-publishing provider comparison service.

Starting last February, I began hearing from Iconic authors reporting a variety of similar problems, including production delays, poor copy editing (books were printed full of errors), poor communication, and broken marketing promises. I’ve also seen several Iconic contracts, and they’re pretty bad, with a sweeping claim on subsidiary rights (even though there’s no evidence Iconic is capable of exploiting them), unacceptably vague reversion language, royalties paid on net profit, and a Right of First refusal clause that could be interpreted to require the authors to submit to the publisher any subsequent book they ever produced.