I’m a member of four writers’
organizations: The Horror Writers Association, the Science Fiction and Fantasy
Writers Association, the International Association of Thriller Writers, and the
International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. I’ve also been a member of
the Association of Writers and Writing Programs and the Authors’ Guild,
although I’m not currently a member of either.
I
joined HWA and SFWA back in the early 1990s, and I’ve been a member of them
both ever since (with a short break after my divorce from my first wife when
money was beyond tight for a while). And in those thirty-plus years, I ‘ve seen
people make the same basic arguments for and against writers’ organizations
over and over. So, for writers considering joining a writers’ organization, writers
who’ve never considered it, and writers who are a member of an organization and
contemplating leaving it, here are some points to consider. But before we get
started…
Whether
you belong to a writers’ org, never belonged, joined one, quit one, or any
combination during the course of your career, you should always do what feels right
for you at any given time. I’m not here to criticize your choices, whatever
they might be.
Do
You Need to Belong to a Writers’ Organization?
No.
The only thing you need to do to be a professional writer is write a lot, work
on improving your writing, and get your writing into readers’ hands, whether
you’re traditionally published or indie.
Can
Belonging to a Writers’ Organization Benefit You?
Sure.
But there isn’t much an organization can do for you that you can’t do for
yourself one way or another. You can find information on writing techniques,
traditional publishing, self-publishing, submission calls, promotion techniques,
professional etiquette, and more via the internet or social media. You can also
find a writing community and mentors online.
But
here’s the thing. You have to do the work to find this information and connect with
these people. If you belonged to a writers’ organization, it could be your
gateway to this info. One of the principles I teach my students in Essay and
Research classes is Get Someone to Do the Work for You. I don’t mean cheat. I
mean research smarter, not harder. For example, if a student is writing about
the effects of secondhand smoke, I tell them to hit Wikipedia first. Wikipedia
users have done the work of creating a comprehensive, easy-to-read overview on
the subject, and other users, as well as Wikipedia employees, check that
information. I tell students not to use Wikipedia itself for research (since
most people don’t consider it to be a reliable source), but it can get you up
to speed on a topic quickly, help you generate a list of key search terms you
can use later, and there will be a bibliography with links at the end of an
entry that could lead to possible sources for you. For this topic, I would also
tell students to visit websites for various health organizations, such as the
American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization. These orgs have done
the work of hiring experts in their fields and gathering reliable up-to-date
information. I also tell students to add the words links, resources,
and list of sources to their Google searches. So, “secondhand smoke
links,” “secondhand smoke resources,” etc. This way, they’ll hopefully find sites
that collate links to a number of other sites, saving them valuable
research time. I also urge them to use the college library’s databases where
curated articles are available, so they don’t have to waste time slogging
through the tons of crap on the internet to find good sources.
Writers’
organizations can help you build your career in ways that are smarter, not
harder. I say can because not all orgs are equal, and they can change
for the better or worse over time. And your needs may change throughout your
career, and the advice and resources you needed when you were starting out may
not what you need today.
If you want to
know whether a particular organization might be right for you right now,
check three things:
·
What
the org says about itself (its mission statement, what services what it offers,
etc.)
·
What
org proponents have to say about it.
·
What
org critics have to say about it. (And make sure the critics actually have
experience with the org they’re criticizing.)
You’ll need to decide for yourself which
of this info is true, which is kinda-sorta true, and which is bullshit, then
decide whether or not to join. Or you could just join for a year and see what
you think. But if you do join an organization…
It’s Up to You to Make the Most of Your
Membership
This is where you do need to do some work
because no one can do it for you. Whatever information and services the organization
provides, you need to know what they are, and you need to take advantage of
them. I can’t tell you how many times over the years I’ve seen people join a
writers’ org for a year, do nothing with the org, then say they’re quitting
because they got nothing out of their membership. I joined AARP a few years ago
(I think I qualified at 55; I’m almost 61 now) because a student told me that
there are all kinds of great discounts you can get with a membership. Do you
know what I got out of my membership? Nothing because I didn’t do a damn thing
with it. (Maybe I was determined not to use it because I was in denial about
being old enough to qualify.) There was no problem with the organization itself.
The problem was entirely with me. Or to put it another way, I wasn’t truly
interested in the services the organization offered.
I think writers’ orgs (if they don’t
already do this) should have a prominent “How to Make the Most of Your
Membership” info page on their websites, and maybe a recurring feature of the
same name in their newsletters. And dividing this advice into different
sections for new writers and established writers would probably be helpful,
too.
Dues
The
dues for writers’ organizations are/are not expensive depending on your current
financial situation. (Remember what I said about my post-divorce finances
earlier?) If you can’t afford a membership, get together with a few writer
friends, pool your money, have one of you join, then share the information/services/benefits
as much as possible. Not only will it be cheaper, you’ll all get experience
with an organization to decide if it’s one you want to stick with and eventually
get individual memberships to. I don’t know if any writing organizations do
this, but I think they could offer a one-time three-month or six-month
“try-it-out” period for a cheaper price to allow folks to see if an org is for
them without the expense or time commitment of a full-year membership.
And
you know you can deduct professional organization dues from your taxes, right?
I’ve
heard older writers say writers’ orgs don’t do much for them at the current
stage of their careers. I wonder if reduced dues or even free memberships for
seniors might be something that could counteract this feeling, at least a
little. It might be an effective way of keeping the hard-won experience and
wisdom of older writers in organizations.
Are
You a Community-Seeker or a Go-It-Aloner?
Over
the decades, I’ve seen this dynamic play out hundreds of times. Some writers
find personal and professional satisfaction in being part of a group. Others
are inherently reluctant to be part of a group, and if they join one, they
constantly look for reasons to get the hell out as soon as they can. There’s
nothing wrong with either of these attitudes, but it can save you a lot of
grief to know what your inclination is before you join an org – or at least
know you’re trying out an org even if you think in end it might not be for you.
Cliques
in Writers’ Orgs
A
criticism I sometime see about writers’ orgs is that there’s a small group
that’s the in-crowd, and they’re primarily the ones who the organization
serves, the only ones the organization cares about. Often these “cliques” are
comprised of the people – either elected officers and/or volunteers – who work
together to run the organization. They’re the most visible faces and most heard
voices in the organization, and it’s only natural they would work closely
together and get to know each other well. They’re not cliques meant to exclude
anyone.
Drama
in Writers’ Orgs
Another
criticism I see often is that writers’ orgs are full of drama, and a lot of
people want nothing to do with them because of it. Real and important issues
arise for organizations, but the drama comes from the instant online firestorm
of emotional reactions to them. It takes time for organizations to investigate
a problem, figure out what’s happening, and then come up with an official
position on it, and choose what action to take – and they may have legal
concerns with all these steps as well. And they have to try their best not to
pour gasoline on the firestorm and make it worse. Organizations aren’t
speedboats that can move quickly and alter course easily. They’re ocean liners,
and they take a while to get moving and even longer to turn around and change
course.
It's
vital that members discuss any issues they think writers’ orgs should address
or any problems they see with the orgs themselves. They should contact the org
directly with concerns they have before (or at the same time) they post about
them on social media. And given how fast we all expect things to move these
days, it’s hard for us to have patience with an org that doesn’t address an
issue immediately and deal with it even faster. I have a policy of waiting
forty-eight hours before weighing in on any issues that arise in the writing
communities I consider myself part of, and then I only weigh in if I feel I
have something worthwhile to contribute AND I won’t make things worse by
weighing in. I think a lot of the online drama that people tire of with
writers’ orgs wouldn’t happen if people waited a bit to get more input and give
themselves more time to sort out their emotional reactions. Hell, even waiting
a couple hours after you learn about an issue before posting about it would
help.
Writers’
Orgs Blame Their Problems on Lack of Volunteers
Sometimes
critics of writers’ orgs think this is just an excuse to explain away inaction.
But a lot of writers’ orgs (maybe most) don’t have the money to hire full-time
staff. (Unlike the Thriller Writers, who have so much money they stopped
charging dues around fifteen years ago.) Writers’ orgs depend on volunteer
labor almost exclusively, so how responsive they are and how fast they are can
vary depending on the amount of volunteers and what’s going on in their lives. This
is an inescapable aspect of writers’ orgs. Writers in general don’t make a lot
of money, and unless you want to pay a shit-ton of dues every year (with all
the money you don’t have), volunteer labor is the best you’re going to get. And
the people in organizations who complain the most about stuff not happening as
fast as they think it should never step up and volunteer to help make things
move faster.
Writers’
Orgs are All About Awards
This
is a very common criticism of writer’s orgs, and it was why I was horrified
when HWA said their yearly convention was going to be called StokerCon. For
decades, people have complained the org focuses too much on the Bram Stoker
Awards, and then they go ahead and name the convention after the awards? Awards
serve two purposes for writers’ orgs. One, they promote the genre and raise
awareness of it, and two, they get media attention. And award winners (and
finalists) list their wins and nominations in their bios and on their books, further
promoting the organization. Members often complain about how much money is spent
on awards, but there is no better advertising and promotion for a genre and an
org than awards. You can make a good case why there should be no awards in
artistic fields, and I wouldn’t argue with you. If there are going to be awards
for art, I prefer a jury process like the Shirley Jackson Awards and World
Fantasy Awards use. But neither of those awards come from writers’
organizations. I understand the argument that if an organization is going to
present awards, then members of that organization should vote on them, so the
awards are, at least in theory, presented by the organization. But there are
writers’ orgs that use juries, and their memberships seem fine with that.
What
are the benefits of awards promoting writers’ orgs? A higher profile means an
org can be perceived as more professional and prestigious, which allows the org
to make connections with other orgs, programs, and professions in ways that can
benefit members. A higher profile means an org can attract new members, which
is important to keep an organization healthy (and hopefully replenish the
supply of volunteers to take over for the current ones who are burnt out).
Awards
processes of whatever kind will never be perfect because nothing created by and
run by humans will ever be perfect (including writers’ organizations
themselves), and when ego and career-enhancement enter the equation, any
process can be distorted, even if only a little, and scandals – small or large
– do occur sometimes. Do some people win awards solely on name recognition?
Sure. Do some win because their friends vote for them? Sure. Do some lose
because a lot of people dislike them? Probably. Are some people never nominated
due to sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia? Yes. Have some people won
because they produced good work that an organization wanted to recognize? Of
course. Can we ever know for sure why a work was nominated and why it
won? No. Orgs should continue trying to improve their awards processes, and we
should do our best to accept that no matter how many improvements are made, these
processes will never be perfect, and get on with our writing.
Writers’
Orgs are Gatekeepers
I’ve
never really understood this criticism. Editors, agents, and readers don’t give
a shit if you belong to a writers’ organization. They do pay some attention to
awards you might’ve won (and you don’t need to belong to an org to win awards
the org presents), but they really only care about the quality – and
marketability – of your work. If orgs were the sole distributor of publishing
info, I can see how dues might prevent access to that for some people, but all
of that info can be found on social media, various websites, and YouTube. And you
don’t need orgs to network with other writers.
What’s
the Purpose of a Writers’ Org?
Probably
the most common criticism of writers’ orgs, and the reason most often cited for
a member quitting/not renewing their membership is that they don’t get anything
from their membership. These people view their dues as purchasing a service
that they do not receive (even if they can’t articulate exactly what they
expect for their money). They see the org as something that should serve them.
They view their career as a business, and they expect to see a return on their
investment in an organization that benefits their business. It’s an
individual-focused view.
Some
writers view the purpose of writers’ orgs as helping writers at all levels and
strengthening/promoting their genre. They view their dues as funding this work,
and they often volunteer in the organization, sometimes in small ways,
sometimes in big ones. This is a community-focused view.
And
some writers (maybe the majority?) hold some mixture of these two views, the
proportion of which may change over time due to any number of factors.
Neither
the individual-focused view nor the community-focused view is better or worse
than the other. They’re just different. Although I might argue that since an
organization is a group, a community-focused viewpoint might work better for
members. But I absolutely think it’s fair for members to ask what they as
individuals are getting for their yearly dues. I do think that members who hold
these two different viewpoints often have trouble understanding each other, and
that an organization can never fully satisfy either side (which is why serving
as an officer or volunteer in a writers’ org is often a damned-if-you-do,
damned-if-you-don’t proposition).
Writers’
Orgs Should Post Yearly Reports
I
think writers’ orgs should provide members with yearly reports that say here
were our goals for the year, here’s the progress we made on them, here are our
goals for next year, here’s what we spent money on this year, and here’s how
financially healthy we are going into next year. I think it would be a good
idea to post this report on the org website and on social media each year as
well, so potential members would get a better sense of what the org actually
does for both individual members and the genre as a whole. Actual dollar
figures wouldn’t have to be used on the website of social media. You could say
“X percent of funds were spent on the annual convention this year” or whatever.
Such a report wouldn’t have to be massively long or overly detailed, but I
think a lot of members feel they have no idea what’s going on in an org and
such a report would go a long way toward fixing that. It would also be an
excellent tool for orgs to clearly communicate what they accomplish in a given
year, and listing goals/challenges for the coming year would make orgs seem
more focused and proactive, increasing members’ confidence in them.
What
Do You, Tim Waggoner, Get Out of Writers’ Orgs?
In
the early days of my career, I got a ton out of the writers’ orgs I belonged
to. Joining HWA and SFWA as an affiliate member allowed me to enter the orgs’
private message boards on GEnie, a service that was a sort of proto-social
media site in the early 1990s. Tons of pro writers in SF/F/H posted on the
private boards, and they talked about stuff they’d never talk about in public.
They’d interact with you, answer questions, etc. New writers were able to make
connections with more established writers and friendships often developed.
Submission calls for anthologies were posted on those boards, calls that the
general public would never see. In those years, I learned more than I can
possibly explain. Hell, probably more than I’m even aware of. Once websites
developed, writers left GEnie, establishing their own sites and their own
message boards as part of those sites. GEnie died, but HWA and SFWA established
their own websites with message boards that had public areas and areas for
members only, and these boards were an effective substitute for GEnie, places
where you could network and find submission calls. When I started going to
large cons like World Fantasy or World Horror, belong to HWA and SFWA helped me
connect with other members in person, and there would be private suites for the
orgs you could go to, and parties/events for members as well.
Once
I started selling my work regularly, things began to change. I didn’t need the
same kind of mentoring I had when I was starting out, and editors began
inviting me to submit to anthologies. And once I got an agent (on my 30th
birthday!) I received career guidance and education on the current state of
publishing from him. I didn’t need HWA or SFWA the way I had earlier in my
career, but there was still no social media yet, and both orgs provided me
access to a professional and personal community of writers.
MySpace
arrived, but it didn’t really do much for writers professionally. But once
Facebook appeared, most of us stopped reading and posting on HWA and SFWA’s
message boards and hung out there. Writers who had spent years interacting with
their fans via their website message boards came to Facebook, and the
experience many of us were lucky to have had with GEnie was reborn on a new
service. Then came Twitter, Instagram, YouTube channels, and all the rest, some
thriving, some dying, some surviving, but waxing and waning in popularity and
influence.
That
was the point where I ceased getting much personal benefit from belonging to
writers’ orgs, but I still got personal and professional satisfaction knowing
that my dues helped fund HWA and SFWA, especially programs like SFWA’s
emergency medical fund. There was a sense among established pros that writers’
orgs were kind of like high school or college, and once you graduated, you
didn’t go back.
But
I went back to college to teach there, and I did something similar with HWA and
SFWA. I kept paying my dues, and I began volunteering in the small ways I could,
and I added my two cents to online discussions regarding issues in HWA and SFWA,
and I began mentoring for HWA. My “volunteering” was often just me saying yes
when someone asked me to help out. I served as the Stoker Awards Administrator
one year, which mostly consisted of me mailing letters (actual physical ones,
not email) to the nominees, telling them they’d been nominated and letting them
know when and where the awards would be presented. After mailing all the
letters, I discovered I’d made a typo. At the very end of the letter I
misspelled administrator as adminstrator. I hoped no one would notice. Then I
came home one day to find a message from Harlan Ellison on my answering machine
(no cell phones yet). Harlan was one of the nominees that year, and his message
was short. “This is Harlan Ellison. Call me.” I thought, Oh shit. Harlan
found the typo and called to tell me how unprofessional it was. He hadn’t
left a number, but I knew his number was listed in the phone book, so I called
information in LA, got Harlan’s number, and called him. Harlan’s nominated
story that year appeared only on a CD containing the H.R. Giger screensaver
(which I had), and he wanted to see if there was some way to make his story
available to the entire voting membership. “God knows I don’t need another
award,” he said, “but I’d like people to read the story if that’s possible.” I
think HWA emailed members the story, but at any rate, we got the story to them,
and Harlan won the Stoker that year.
One
year, I was asked (at the last minute) to introduce legendary anthology editor
Martin H. Greenberg when he received his Lifetime Achievement Award at the
Stokers one year. When I say last minute, I mean minutes before the Stoker
ceremony began. I improvised my speech and it seemed to go over well. I’m just
glad it seemed to please Marty.
I
presented more Stokers over the years. And for a time, I served as HWA’s
officer of record. HWA was granted its organization status (I forget the actual
legal term) in Ohio, and they needed someone in Ohio to sign the form and be
the officer of record. I did so and paid the $15 registration fee. I didn’t
bother asking for reimbursement. I considered it a minor donation to the org,
and when the finished form came back, I stuck it in a drawer, where it stayed
for several years. So technically, I was once the reason HWA could continue to
exist, at least for a while. I think the org decided to renew its status in a
different state or something, and my time as officer of record was done.
I’ve
served on the Stokers’ Lifetime Achievement Committee a couple times, and I’ve contributed
some essays for the website a few times for Halloween Haunts and the like.
For
the IAMTW (the Tie-In Writers) I served as a jury member for their Scribe
Awards a couple times, but I haven’t done so in a while because it was a lot of
reading, and it was hard to keep up with. I don’t feel I can do as good a job
as I’d like.
I
also volunteer to present workshops for Horror University at StokerCon and
online. I do get paid for this (HWA and I split the money evenly), but I’d do
it for free.
Kathy
Ptacek has asked me to write articles for the newsletter several times over the
years, and I’m always happy to do so.
I
still make use of promotional opportunities in writers’ orgs. I post promo
messages on the HWA Facebook page on Saturdays sometimes, and I submit my book
covers for the HWA website. I submit announcements of my work to Horror Bites
and the newsletter. As a member, I have access to the email addresses of
members who are willing to receive Stoker Award materials, and I use them to
send members works of mine to consider. I place announcements of my work in
SFWA’s new releases newsletter and in the Thriller Writers’ magazine The Big
Thrill. The Tie-In Writers have a robust email/message board discussion
group, and I can post on that and learn about tie-in opportunities from other
members.
I’ve
never been tempted to quit the Thriller Writers or Tie-In Writers, but I’ve
almost quit HWA and SFWA several times over the decades. Some kind of uproar in
one of the orgs occurs, I get pissed off and decide I’ve had enough (sometimes
enough of the entire goddamned genre), and I consider quitting. I never do,
though. I eventually calm down (and I’m smart enough not to post in anger, so
few people ever find out how pissed off I was), the uproar plays itself out,
and I move on.
During
the GEnie days is when I learned the concept of paying forward, and how
important it is in the fields of SF/F/H (and I’m sure in other genres and
artistic fields as well), and that’s what I get from writers’ orgs today, and
have for a long time – opportunities to pay it forward. And I’m content with
that.
In
the End…
As
I said at the beginning of this lengthy post, when it comes to writers’
organizations, do what’s right for you. But I would urge you to consider paying
forward, even if only by considering your dues as a donation to the cause. And
if you’re an older writer like me, I once read an article about how older
professionals in the latter part of their careers often struggle to find
purpose and meaning in their work, and they often do so by mentoring others and
volunteering. Hell, it beats an AARP membership you’ll never use, right?
LIST
OF WRITERS’ ORGANIZATIONS
Here are some writers’ orgs to check out. Even
if you’re not interested in joining, they often have free resources for
writers. If you know of any other writers’ orgs not on the list, feel free to
add them in the comments section.
The Association of Writers and Writing
Programs: http://www.awpwriter.org/
The American Society for Journalists and
Authors: http://www.asja.org/index9.php
The Authors Guild: http://www.authorsguild.org/
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of
America: http://www.sfwa.org
The Horror Writers Association: http://www.horror.org
The Romance Writers of America: http://www.rwanational.org/
The Society for Children’s Book Writers
and Illustrators:
http://www.scbwi.org/
The Mystery Writers of America: http://www.mysterywriters.org/
The Western Writers of America: http://www.westernwriters.org/
The American Academy of Poets: http://www.poets.org/
The International Thriller Writers, Inc.: http://www.internationalthrillerwriters.com/
The International Association of Media
Tie-In Writers: http://www.iamtw.org/
Association of Ghostwriters: https://associationofghostwriters.org/
Editorial Freelancers Association: https://www.the-efa.org/
DEPARTMENT
OF SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION
I
posted this image of all the books I had released in 2024, so you may have
already seen it. But I’ll post it here anyway and say if you haven’t read any
of these books, consider doing so in the new year!
I’ll
have three books out in 2025 – the novelization of MaXXXine from A24
Publishing, a Conan novel called Spawn of the Serpent God from Titan
Books, and my next writing book from Raw Dog Screaming Press called Just Add
Writer (which is about tie-in writing). There are no order links for any of
them yet, but keep them on your radar, please. I may have a couple more books
released in 2025, but I don’t know for sure yet. As always, I’ll keep you
posted!
SCHEDULED APPEARANCES
I was scheduled to attend both the Scarelastic Book
Fair and Books & Brews events this year. Both were scheduled to be held again
at the Scarlet Lane Brewing Company in McCordsville, Indiana, but that venue closed,
so organizers are looking for somewhere else to hold their events. I’ll let you
know if/when they do. Here are my remaining appearances for the year. (There’s
one more I have scheduled, but the organizers haven’t announced my
participation yet, so I can’t say what it is. I can tell you it’ll be in
summer, though.)
·
Authorcon
V. March 28th to March 30th. Williamsburg, Virginia.
·
StokerCon.
June 12th to June 15th. Stamford, Connecticut. I’m one of the guests of honor!
·
Signing
at Vortex Books. June 26th, 5-7pm. Columbia, Pennsylvania.
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
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