[Jim Johnson]

After posting a year+ ago soliciting input from y'all on what SFWA could offer indie writers as part of membership and then submitting those suggestions and other stuff to SFWA's board through the self-pub committee I served on along with several very smart people, I'm pleased to note that SFWA is accepting membership applications from indie writers who meet the membership criteria for Active and Associate memberships. The indie side of the organization is still a work in progress; we need more indie focused writers to effect change from within.

Membership reqs here, and a clarifying post by current SFWA VP Cat Rambo here.

Also, why join SFWA? Not a huge amount to offer indies yet, but we're hoping to get a few more volunteers to help move the org forward even more on the indie and hybrid side of things. This is a huge change for the org and change will take time, but I think that getting this far is a titanic step in the right direction.

Have fun.

 

[Jim Johnson]

Also, forgot to note that I'm pretty sure SFWA is the first organization to acknowledge crowd-funded money as potential qualification for professional status.

 

[David VanDyke]

The membership application link still requires me to choose one of the old membership criteria:

One novel sale
One professionally produced full-length dramatic
Three qualifying short story sales.

For now, I'm going to just click the top one and see if I can get the thing to go through with additional explanations.

 

[David VanDyke]

Nope. I'm stuck "lying" on the form because I'd have to declare whether it's for a qualifying market, what market, etc. There's no way to claim indie status with income, etc.

 

[Jim Johnson]

No worries, I'd say send it anyway. The office peeps are still working out the kinks. The joys of a mostly volunteer organization.

 

[David VanDyke]

I'll wait, but thanks. There's too much I'd have to fill in that would be inaccurate. I've sent a bug report and an email direct to Cat. I'm eager to join, but a few days won't make a difference. Thanks.

 

[David VanDyke]

Just received this email regarding the membership form issue:

Hi David -

We know there's an issue and apologize for it. We're working to get that updated. In the meantime, if you want to consolidate the info in an e-mail, we could take it that way, I believe. Mail it to both this address and [email protected]

Best,
Cat Rambo

Vice President, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
http://sfwa.org

***

I'm pleasantly surprised with the fast an reasonable response, and hope that presages a bright future for the organization.

 

[Mr. Coffee Snob]

Two questions:

Do collections count for sales toward membership, if all novels are in one volume--like an Omnibus?

Are spreadsheet reports alone considered proof enough, such as the Amazon spreadsheets? Most writers probably don't have many, if any, screenshots.

 

[Jim Johnson]

Good questions. I'd suggest emailing [email protected] and asking.

I think the answers will be no to the first and maybe to the second, but that's just a guess.

 

[Rick Gualtieri]

I'll wait, but thanks. There's too much I'd have to fill in that would be inaccurate. I've sent a bug report and an email direct to Cat. I'm eager to join, but a few days won't make a difference. Thanks.

Happened with the HWA too. They announced indies were welcome, but then it took a few days for all the gears to turn in the right direction.

Take this as a hint, um, whatever organization next opens its doors to indies, have everything ready to go the day you make your announcements.

 

[unkownwriter]

Jim, thanks as always for keeping us updated, and for all you and others have done to get the organization to allow indies in. Now I can work towards a near-life-long dream and become a member.

Also, forgot to note that I'm pretty sure SFWA is the first organization to acknowledge crowd-funded money as potential qualification for professional status.

That surprised me as well. Welcome to the modern world, SFWA!

Happened with the HWA too. They announced indies were welcome, but then it took a few days for all the gears to turn in the right direction.

Take this as a hint, um, whatever organization next opens its doors to indies, have everything ready to go the day you make your announcements.

Yeah, that would have been nice. I'm sure lots of people who are already able to meet the qualifications are ready to sign up. I'll get there someday, hopefully by this time next year (well, I hope to have enough sales by the end of this year...).

 

[David VanDyke]

Two questions:

Do collections count for sales toward membership, if all novels are in one volume--like an Omnibus?

Are spreadsheet reports alone considered proof enough, such as the Amazon spreadsheets? Most writers probably don't have many, if any, screenshots.

The fine print says co-author deals with 2 authors count half each, but anthologies with more than 2 authors don't count at all.

Not sure about the spreadsheets being sufficient. I attached my last 13 months of spreadsheets, plus pointing out they could check the rankings of my books, my author rank, the rankings of my audiobooks on Amazon and the other sites, etc., etc. I'm taking a shotgun/weight of evidence approach in hopes that whoever is making the decision will see the sense of "allowing" me and my 16 novels/3000+ copies a month to join alongside those hardy souls who have sold 3 short stories or 1 novel to a traditional market.

 

[mcahogarth]

I shall pop up to say thank you to all of you sending in materials for us to analyze, and for being patient with the committee as it irons out the process. As you've guessed, we're still deciding on how best to proceed, and having lots of examples of the kinds of things people have as evidence will help us zero in on the ones that are the least fuss for writers to gather and the committee to examine.

We're really excited over here about having indies hop on board (I think the last count has been 28 new applications, even despite the problems with the form!).

 

[H. S. St. Ours]

Very good news indeed. Bodes well for the future, which, as we all know, is run by our robot overlords.

 

[thomaskcarpenter]

I shall pop up to say thank you to all of you sending in materials for us to analyze, and for being patient with the committee as it irons out the process. As you've guessed, we're still deciding on how best to proceed, and having lots of examples of the kinds of things people have as evidence will help us zero in on the ones that are the least fuss for writers to gather and the committee to examine.

We're really excited over here about having indies hop on board (I think the last count has been 28 new applications, even despite the problems with the form!).

I was one of those who submitted last night. Was rather challenging to get all the information together. I guess that's one thing trad book deals have over us, easy of professional proof.

 

[unkownwriter]

I am so jealous of those 28 people who've already applied (and it's probably more by now)! Save a beer and a comfy spot on the couch for me, 'k? I'll be there as soon as I can.

 

[mcahogarth]

I was one of those who submitted last night. Was rather challenging to get all the information together. I guess that's one thing trad book deals have over us, easy of professional proof.

It definitely helps! The funny thing is that the most novel of our criteria (Kickstarter money) is probably the easiest way for indies to prove now. If I was applying for SFWA now, I'd probably just pass them my Kickstarters instead of trying to (for instance) send them a list of 2000 microtransactions from people tipping me for my serial...!

 

[David Dire]

This may be a silly question, but I can't find it on the requirements page, but can a member be a non-U.S person?

 

[Jim Johnson]

This may be a silly question, but I can't find it on the requirements page, but can a member be a non-U.S person?

Yes. SFWA has members from all over the world.

EDIT to add: Just checked the latest SFWA directory. SFWA has 182 international members spread across 25 countries: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, and the UK.

 

[David Dire]

Yes. SFWA has members from all over the world.

Thanks Jim, oh, and thanks for starting this thread. I'm sure I'll get round to joining in the future if/when(hopes) I qualify.