MWA Teams Up With SFWA to Support Writer Beware

Posted on August 11, 2009

The Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is going to co-sponsor the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's (SFWA) Writer Beware program. Up until now, Writer Beware has been the public face of SFWA's Committee on Writing Scams but the new partnership between the two organizations changes this. Lee Goldberg is the MWA board member who will act as MWA's liaison with Writer Beware.

The MWA is giving SFWA a financial grant of $1000. They will also provide other resources, including inviting Writer Beware representatives to share their booth at BookExpo and supplying volunteers to speak at writing conferences about fraudulent publishing practices.

"We are not only showing our support and making Writer Beware stronger, but sending a message to scammers that we won't stand by and let them take advantage of authors," said Lee Goldberg. "All writers organizations, no matter what genre they represent, share a common interest in protecting writers from literary and publishing scams. We hope our sponsorship will inspire other organizations to join us in supporting the important work that Writer Beware does for all writers."

"We're thrilled that MWA has joined our original sponsor, SFWA, in the fight against the many schemes and scams that prey on authors. Although awareness of writing scams is much higher than it was ten years ago, when Writer Beware was founded, new technologies and the expansion of the Internet have vastly increased the possibilities for fraud, making it more urgent than ever to expose scams and educate writers. We thank MWA for recognizing the importance of this genre-transcending issue, and look forward to working with them to fulfill our mission into the future," said Ann Crispin and Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware.

The Writer Beware website provides information about issues that affect professional authors as well as problems and pitfalls that face aspiring writers. The website keeps writers up-to-date on potential literary schemes and frauds.



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