Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
It might be taking steps on the road to senility/obsolescence.
They do some good meaningful work on behalf of authors (unlike the "Authors' Guild")--like their flagging of the contracts at Random House's Predatory Press Hydra--but they are clearly a bit backwards in their worldview (which doesn't help their credibility, long-term, in a genre that requires open minds to read and write) in focusing almost exclusively on the ways and venues of traditional publishing (once Hydra tweaked their predatory contracts to more closely ressemble traditional contracts, they shut up--the fact that the terms remained predatory doesn't bother them). Where other genre author associations are giving indie published authors consideration for membership (they constitute 30-50% of recent genre works for romance and SF, after all) the SFWA is still hung up on "validation via contract" and last century practices.
So it's not just their sensitivity to members' sensitivities that needs work. 
Perhaps the incoming leadership can blow off some of the barnacles before ossification sets in. (Fingers and assorted limbs crossed.)  |
I agree with this, although since I'm indie, it may appear self-serving. But the real point is that it shouldn't all be about "contract" or "paid" but whether or not it is predatory. I think the original rules probably meant well, but SWFA need authors who are successful--and that is being redefined by sales numbers, not contracts. If they don't have those authors in their ranks, they will be missing a big part of the equation. One of the things that groups like this can help with is imparting knowledge and mentoring. They are going to be missing a big piece of that knowledge/success because they shut their doors to a new way of doing business.
I think they will lose authors too because some of them who have only been trad published are going to start spending more time going indie. If the attitude in the organization "shuts them out" they will leave. They will have less to say and less they are willing and able to contribute simply because of the attitude.