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SFWA Market Report For November
Welcome to the November edition of the SFWA Market Report. Please note: Inclusion of any market in the report below does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA.
Watch Something Different Tonight!
by Sarah Kozloff
We’re supposed to read widely, exposing ourselves to new genres to spark our imagination. By the same token, shouldn’t we expand our viewing experiences?
SFWA Contracts Committee Advisory on No-advance Contracts
Recently, SFWA’s Contracts Committee was made aware of a situation in which a well-liked publisher canceled the publication of a number of books it had contracted to publish. The publisher said the decision was made because of “unexpected changes” at…
Odyssey Writing Workshops Online Courses
News from The Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust: Odyssey has been a pioneer and innovator in holding live online classes since 2010. Live class meetings allow a virtual “physical college classroom” experience, in which students can participate in discussions, ask questions,…
The Other Final Frontier: Writing Ocean Settings
by Victoria Zelvin
Space is often called the final frontier for humanity, but we have explored more of space than we have our own oceans. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, more than eighty percent of the ocean is…
A Change in the Director-at-Large at SFWA
James Beamon has agreed to serve the remainder of Andy Duncan’s term as Director-at-Large.
The Art of Story as Worldbuilding
by Nathan Nance,
So you’re writing SFF, and you’ve got spaceships to design. Engine systems to map. A haunted forest to populate. A talking badger to draw. If you’re not a rocket scientist writing hard sci-fi, how are you supposed to…
What Makes You Think Your Idea’s Even Worth Stealing?
by Dan Brotzel
Genuine idea theft and plagiarism are complete no-nos, of course. But I’m amazed how protective writers of stories, articles and posts can be about ideas that aren’t really worth stealing. Here are a few thoughts on ideation and…
Star Trek Will Save the World!
by Filip Wiltgren
Climate crisis, economic imparity, obesity, totalitarianism, re-nuclearization. The list is long, but there is a solution right around the corner.
It’s called the Holodeck.
SFWA Market Report For October
Welcome to the October edition of the SFWA Market Report. Please note: Inclusion of any market in the report below does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA.
Writing to the Shadows
by Paul Jessup
Let’s talk about that early stage of the story, when you have that bright gleaming idea in your head, burning brightly. It wants to be born, it wants to come to life. You spend days, weeks, months doing…
Collaboration
by Daniel Brotzel
Finishing a book sounds like hard enough work when there’s just one of you. Can working with someone else really help? Yes! says Dan Brotzel, who’s recently launched a novel he wrote with two pals. Here’s the why…
Count Your Successes
by Luna Corbden
I have turned my inner narrative around with one simple new rule: “Count your successes.”
Sketching a Story
by Paul Jessup
Novels are hard, yo. I mean, books in general, maybe writing overall? But for me making that leap from short stories to novels was a difficult transition. I had to completely change my writerly habits, completely reinvent the…
Transportation
by Daniel M. Bensen
So I have to get to work with my conscious mind. I have to soothe my limbic system as if it’s a spooked horse. I rub my fingers, I wiggle my toes, I take valerian pills. I…
SFWA Market Report For September
Welcome to the September edition of the SFWA Market Report.
SFWA Minimum Pro Rate Now in Effect
The SFWA minimum payment rate for professional short fiction markets is now eight cents per word. In accordance with our mission to support and empower science fiction and fantasy writers, SFWA periodically reviews and adjusts the minimum payment rate for…
The Jargon and Slang of the Fantastic
by Ken Pelham
World-building is more than misty mountains, crumbling castles, dripping neon cityscapes, and talking rats. It’s also about psychology and language, and the language equation includes the everyday corruptions of jargon and slang.
Last Hours! A Matter of Time Bundle – Curated by SFWA
Just a friendly reminder to all SFWA readers that today (August 22, 2019) is the very last day of the SFWA time travel bundle. That 14 books dripping with the finest paradox flavorings for fifteen bucks. Check it out at: https://storybundle.com/timetravel…
A Tiny Bit of Mathemagic
by Filip Wiltgren
Want to be insanely productive? Check this:
I live in a country where the fruit comes with stickers on it. Meaning that before you eat your apple, you need to remove a piece of plastic, clawing at the little…
Promoting with Podcasts
by Alan Bailey
Podcasters generally have a mixed reputation. Why? I’m not totally sure. Perhaps it’s because the entry fee is low, and anyone with an opinion can put it out there. The sheer number of podcasts doesn’t help either. So,…
Stories that Teach: Adventures on the Crossroads of Fiction and Non-fiction
by Alex Woolf
One trend that I think is likely to have more enduring appeal is narrative non-fiction (NNF): the blending of story elements with non-fiction. Typically, this involves the author inventing characters and a simple plot device, such as a…
Military Logistics for Fantasy Writers
We all know ‘an army marches on its stomach,’ but it’s not like Napoleon discovered something new. Vegetius (De re militari) and Sun Tzu (The Art of War) were well aware of this concept, as was Alexander the Great (Engels,…
SFWA Market Report For August
Welcome to the August edition of the SFWA Market Report.