Writers' Groups -- Are They Worth Your Time and Money?

Writers' Associations and Organizations

"The HWA provides market reports (via Kathy Ptacek, AKA the Gila Queen of Gila Queen's guide to markets), a membership directory and several articles on contract negotiation, finding an agent and examinations of the rights of publishers and writers."

"[A]n exclusive market with the HWA anthologies, and a grievance commitee for situations that might require litigation and for legal advice. Additionally the Hardship fund set up by the HWA offers low interest loans to writers in need of financial assistance."

"I really do believe the HWA makes a difference. I've served in office three times in the last four years for exactly that reason. I know it's helped me make connections and establish myself as a professional writer."

"Western Writers of America provides numerous benefits to members. Among them are the Spur Awards, honoring the best work in our field; the Roundup Magazine, with timely information about our field; the conventions, where members get to attend seminars and talk with regional and New York editors and agents, and not least, friendship and collegiality."

"We have aggressively established an Internet home page and also posted an electronic version of the Roundup Magazine. These have greatly magnified our outreach, and ultimately the sales of books of our members. We post all entry information for the Spur Awards (open to nonmembers as well as members) on the Internet, and this is increasing the entries. We are showcasing our members' books on the home page, and these titles are linked to Amazon.com, thus enhancing our members' sales."

"Through our home page, we help people learn about the American West and its history, help students, supply our authors' addresses to fans, answer technical questions about the frontier, and publicize the organization itself. We also offer membership information. Since we are a nonprofit professional society, there are eligibility requirements. We are picking up members through our Internet pages."

"Finally, with our aggressive Internet operations, we are impressing the New York publishing establishment as a group eager to promote our literature, and we believe this ultimately helps our members obtain contracts. WWA is actively helping its members publish and earn money through its Internet operations."

"Members receive useful publications that help keep them abreast of the state of publishing in our genre, including any ongoing problems with agents, editors, or anthologists; information on contracts; market reports; articles on writing and the writing life; and information about the organization itself and its Nebula Award process. Members also gain access to the Emergency Medical Fund; the Emergency Legal Fund; SFWA's attorney; SFWA's agent; and Griefcom, an arbitration committee that has helped solve many very serious problems between individual members and their agents, editors, anthologists, or publishers."

"We have an electronic mailing list to disseminate information of interest to our members; we have private (hidden) as well as public newsgroups on SFF Net (www.sff.net) where we can discuss matters of interest to the membership; and of course we have the SFWA Web site. There we offer free, very basic home pages designed and maintained by our Webmaster, as well as information about the organization, articles on writing, news in the field, model contracts, and much more."

Local Writers' Assocations and Organizations

"The guild provides a place where people can share their experiences as writers and learn from each other. It is a source of information about matters of interest to these writers."

"The HVWG uses the internet to publish its schedule of meetings and other activities, as well as relevant items from minutes of its meetings. It will publish members' work on its pages, and encourages experimentation in internet-related forms, as writing in html."

"This is a rich and exciting area for experimentation and for a writer to communicate more directly with his/her readers. In this regard it lies somewhere between a seminar or reading and the solitary reader. It is at once a way to reach a wider, worldwide, audience and an audience which may be specifically interested in his/her kind of writing."

Writers' Groups

"Novel Advisers is an invitation-only group comprised solely of novel writers. It is democratic in that each member evaluates and votes on the acceptance of a new member via an anonymous writing sample sent in the application. The group is meant for experienced and professional writers, primarily unpublished."

"Each member receives his/her own web page for the synopsis of the novel to be critiqued, which may be added to and/or changed at the author's desire. Techniques are nearly complete to allow the use of these synopsis pages as a daily journal, if the member wishes. These pages are private to the membership, a way in which all members of the group can take part in the growth of the novel-in-progress."

"I'd like to comment on the likely question of why we are limiting Novel Advisers to more-accomplished writers, rather than including beginners who would seem to need it the most. The response here sounds elitist, but it is true. In a mixed group of beginners and advanced writers, the latter end up giving very basic advice while receiving little of value for themselves. Most advanced writers have been writing for years, have studied, taken courses, written dozens of (usually unpublished) short stories and a novel or two, have revised, edited, critiqued - in short, they have paid their dues."

Choosing the Right Organization