Notes from the President on Recent and Upcoming Author Guidance
During our Nebula Awards Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, several writers reviewed short story markets to promote greater transparency in our industry. As we plunged into these magazines and their sample contracts, we raised questions and dove deep into conversation about our writing careers. We talked about our experiences in particular markets — including submission processes, promotions, acceptances, and rights. What were our initial expectations? When did our experiences disappoint or delight?
As writers, we often work on our own. We receive rejections and acceptances, and sometimes we are not sure what’s standard in our part of the industry — or what’s legal.
That’s when it helps to have a community and organization behind you, supporting you.
Over the last year, SFWA has been advocating for you. We’ve gone to bat over contract clauses and industry practices, and we’ve also pushed for better algorithms and copyright protections.
When we talk about defense and advocacy, this is what we mean. Here are just a few examples of this work from the past few weeks:
- Our Contracts Committee helping a new writer understand their contract from an educational perspective.
- Our Board pushing for greater transparency and bug-fixing around Amazon rankings and reporting.
- Our Estates-Legacy Committee providing resources for end-of-life decisions.
- Our ACA Representatives engaging in proactive industry discussions around AI and copyright infringement.
- Writer Beware® educating on bankruptcy scenarios, where unpaid royalties and outstanding rights issues can hit many authors at once.
These conversations are just the tip of the iceberg.
Next week, we’ll share clarifications on copyright rulings, as well as current issues with moral rights clauses and media and merchandising rights.
So next time you are looking at your own acceptance (congrats!), we encourage you to check in with us for help. You are not alone. We are here to support, educate, defend, and advocate for you.
We are stronger together. Thank you to all of the writers and volunteers pushing for industry transparency and substantive changes. We are here to do the work with you.
Keep creating,
Kate Ristau
SFWA Board President