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Treading on Embers

By Lorraine Wilson Statistics are easy to quote, but difficult to connect to, don’t you think? It’s easy to say that 20% of people in the UK are disabled, but within publishing we account for only 5%. To say migraines are, according to the World Health Organization, the sixth highest cause of “Years Lost to […]

Sidequesting: An Antidote to “I Should Be Writing”

By Rebecca Hardy  I love systems. I think most worldbuilders do, at least to some extent. Systems of magic. Systems of currency. Systems of governance and geopolitical conflict in underwater cities, postapocalyptic wastelands, and galactic civilizations. And . . . systems in the real world, which can sometimes be the most challenging of all. I’ve […]

Activist SFF Isn’t Just About Good Intentions

by Vida Cruz Note: This article first appeared in The Bulletin #216 in October 2021. Quick: you hear of an injustice over the news. What do you do? Some of us march. Some of us donate to charities and NGOs and fundraising artists. And some of us write stories criticizing the injustice and the social […]

SFWA Surveys Comics Writers and Graphic Novelists on Pay

SFWA’s Comics Committee has announced the results of two surveys they’ve conducted to document current industry norms for advances and per-page rates for the work of comics writers and graphic novelists. The reports can be downloaded here: Survey of Industry Professionals Survey of Comics Writers and Graphic Novelists Sixteen acquiring editors (50%), publishers (25%), and […]

Nonviolence and the Hero’s Duel

by Gabriel Ertsgaard From Hector and Achilles to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, the heroic duel is a fiction staple. However, my special interest (and the topic of my unfinished book) is how to tell stories of nonviolent heroism. How do we tell gripping stories without the charge of heroic violence? Is it even possible […]

Author Advances: An Update for Your Expectations

by Alice Speilburg Nearly every summer, I bring on an intern for the agency, and each week we cover a different publishing topic, focusing on traditional publishing paths in the US. When we get to author payment structures—advances and royalties—I start with a theoretical explanation. An advance is intended to cover an author’s expenses while […]