FAQs for Members
SFWA Member Management
How Do I Pay My Dues?
1. In the left menu at top on mobile, right top on desktop, click “Manage Profile”
2. It will ask you for your email. Use the one SFWA has on file for you. Send an email to secretary@sfwa.org to get your temporary password or use the “Forgot my password” option.
(The first time you log in the website will ask you to accept terms of condition. This is a one time thing.)
3. In your membership profile, you’ll see a button which says, “Renew until…”
From there, it is fairly self-explanatory, but please let the SFWA office know if you have any questions.
What is the Authors Coalition Survey?
The Authors Coalition of America (ACA) survey tells SFWA in which categories our members qualify as published authors. The ACA uses that information to distribute funds to SFWA and other ACA member organizations. All SFWA members are encouraged to fill out the survey, which can be found at the bottom of your Member Profile form.
SFWA is a member organization in the Authors Coalition of America. The Authors Coalition of America LLC is an association of twenty-three independent authors’ organizations representing text writers, songwriters, visual artists, illustrators and photographers. This formal association started in 1993 marked a milestone in the history of American creator groups and has had a healthy unifying effect on American creators’ groups as a whole. Together, we represent over 120,000 authors and artists.
The Coalition was incorporated in 1994 by ten founding Member Organizations, including SFWA, for the purpose of repatriating and distributing the creators’ share of foreign non-title specific royalty payments for American works photocopied abroad. Previous to 1994, these collective funds were sent to a U.S. licensing agency, the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), where they were spent on copyright enforcement.
With the establishment of Authors Coalition, these funds are more effectively focused on the rightsholders for whom they were paid by proportionate distributions to the associations constitutionally directed to promote and advance their careers.
For purposes of this survey, a “published” work means that 1) the work is reasonably capable of being photocopied abroad and is not self-published, or 2) if the work is self-published, that there have been no fewer than 1,000 copies sold, that the work is commercially distributed outside the U.S. and is reasonably capable of being photocopied abroad. For purposes of this survey, author-subsidized publications shall be considered self-published. The list of “genres” is not inclusive, but all Coalition members must use this list because this is how foreign reprographic rights organizations categorize the non-title specific royalties that they collect.
How do I upgrade my membership?
First of all, congratulations on making the sale!
Please review the full qualification criteria here to confirm your eligibility for Full membership.
Once you have read the new rules, please fill out the form below* with the sale(s) you are using to upgrade your membership. Because this is a manual process, the membership committee will contact you with any questions or to let you know if there are any further steps.
If you are trying to upgrade with more than three sales, please fill out this form* as many times as you need to in order to provide us with the additional the sales you are using for qualification. For 7 or more works, please contact office@sfwa.org for additional options for submitting sales details.
Congratulations again!
SFWA Programs
How do I make a nomination for the Nebulas?
All Full, Associate, and Senior members (including lifetime and family iterations of these membership levels) of SFWA in good standing are eligible to make nominations during the NOMINATION PERIOD.
Full Nebula Award rules can be found here.
The official nomination period will remain open for at least six weeks, beginning no later than December 15th and extending though at least January 31st of the following year. The exact dates for each nomination period will be announced in advance.
When the nomination period is opened, all eligible members who are subscribed to emails from SFWA will receive a notification and a link to the nomination ballot. Members must be logged in to the SFWA Discussion Boards in order to access the ballot.
Works may not be nominated by their authors, editors, publishers, or agents.
Featured Books and Authors Program
SFWA members may submit their personal profiles or upcoming books to be featured on the SFWA website. This service is temporarily unavailable during our site transition, but the author and book forms below are still active, and we will return to full author and book promotion on the main site shortly.
How do I change my Featured Author or Book information?
To change your information for the Featured Book or Featured Author program, simply use the same form you filled out before but click “Correction.”
Just a reminder, this is for SFWA members only.
Health Insurance
Does SFWA offer a health insurance plan?
On June 10, 2020, the Book Industry Health Insurance Partnership (BIHIP), a coalition of nine organizations, including Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), announced a partnership with Lighthouse Insurance Group (LIG) Solutions to provide its US-based members with a choice of health insurance options. Joining SFWA in this partnership are American Booksellers Association, American Society for Indexing, Authors Guild, Book Industry Study Group, Graphic Artists Guild, Independent Book Publishers Association, Novelists Inc., and Western Writers of America Inc.
SFWA began working on a US health insurance solution for our members in 2010. The insurance landscape at the time did not allow coverage for members in multiple states. In April 2018, SFWA joined forces with BIHIP to begin vetting various companies for health insurance programs with an initial goal to create an association health plan (AHP).
BIHIP was formed following a presidential executive order that expanded eligibility for organizations to pool resources across state lines to offer members health insurance at negotiated rates. BIHIP’s goal, however, had to be modified when the executive order was deemed illegal. The government appealed the ruling, and the case is still in the courts.
With expanded AHPs currently off the table, the coalition modified its goal to find a company that could provide the coalition members with extensive knowledge of the health insurance market to help members navigate the wide array of insurance options, including ACA-compliant major medical, Medicare/supplements, short term policies, vision, dental, critical care, supplemental coverage, as well as small group/Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs).
Additionally, the coalition wanted to ensure everyone could take advantage of the benefit, including: association staff and their immediate family; individual members and their immediate family; business owners and their W2 employees; 1099-employees/independent contractors; and association volunteers.
The partnership with LIG Solutions addresses all of these goals.
LIG Solutions is a division of Lighthouse Insurance Group LLC, an insurance advisor with experience in the health, life, and Medicare insurance industry. LIG Solutions offers insurance solutions for associations, societies, membership organizations, and other affinity groups. LIG Solutions helps people understand their health benefits and different plan options to determine the appropriate health insurance option. While health insurance agents typically only represent one carrier, LIG broadens consumers’ choices and can sell insurance from many insurance companies in all 50 states.
How do I sign up?
Miscellaneous
Sign up for the SFWA Discord by emailing office@sfwa.org.