Planetside Full Archives

By Katie Gill In recent years, audio drama has made a comeback in the form of narrative podcasts, which have gone from relative niche to mainstream markets. Audio drama series have been adapted into successful books, seen financial success on…

by Kelly McClymer Your book is finally for sale after all your hard work getting it ready. You love your cover (or you don’t). But the sales aren’t where you thought they would be. Or your reviews mention the book…

by Victoria Janssen Because the romance genre is based on plot structure, it can easily be merged with a speculative fiction setting. Magical secondary worlds, alien planets, and far future empires can all include romantic relationships as the primary or…

We’ve recently published a new set of webpages, the Safety Resources, on the SFWA website here. These resources contain useful information for creators maintaining an online presence and touch on safety considerations for in-person events for both attendees and event…

By Cat Rambo I am here to say: Stop multitasking. Yes, I understand its appeal. Like many writers, I love the idea of multitasking, the notion that one can be doing two things at once, such as driving to work…

Welcome to the September edition of the SFWA Market Report. Please note: Inclusion of any market in the report below does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA. The markets included on this list all pay at least $0.08/word in…

The deadline to apply for a 2023 Givers Fund grant is fast approaching! Applications must be completed by 11:59 PM Pacific Time on October 1, 2022. Please share this opportunity with any organizations that you think may benefit from receiving…

By Amber Morrell Are you a children’s author wanting to visit schools this school year, but not sure how to make your pitch stand out? When it comes to marketing, most efforts focus on social media. But the target audience…

by John Wilker Self-publishing. You have choices. One of the best parts of being an indie author/publisher is control. You are the sole decision maker on where and how your book is available. A lot of first-time authors come into…

Starting today, the Renegades of Tomorrow SFWA StoryBundle is available! This StoryBundle offers a large selection of ebooks from independent and small press science fiction writers, and can be purchased at https://storybundle.com/scifi. It’s only available for a limited time, so…

By AJ Cunder As writers, we’ve all been there: Submittable, Moksha, a proprietary submission system, or even just a submission email. The cover letter’s been written, the story uploaded, and we’re waiting to hit that mysterious Submit button, wondering what…

The SFWA Romance Steering Committee (RSC) formed in Fall 2021. We’re pleased to introduce this new committee, its purpose, and how it can serve our membership and the SFF community! SFWA is powered through the work of dozens of committees,…

Herbert W. Franke (May 14, 1927–July 16, 2022) was an author, artist, and physicist born in Austria. Franke moved from Vienna to Munich after earning his doctorate in theoretical physics. Throughout the 1950s, he published primarily nonfiction, including works on…

Eric Flint (February 6, 1947–July 17, 2022) was an author, editor, publisher, and a member of SFWA. He won the fourth quarter Writers of the Future contest in 1993 and published his first novel, Mother of Demons, in 1997. In…

by Jamie Lackey Everyone agrees that reviews are important for book sales and visibility, but getting reviews can be an uphill battle. Most casual readers don’t bother leaving reviews, and it’s hard to get the attention of new readers who…

by Chelsea Mueller There’s significant power in fighting and kissing scenes. When done well, they’re often reader favorites. Look at how readers talk about stories with excellent fights or swoonworthy sex, and you’ll see them call out these scenes specifically….

By Chesley Oxendine As a Native American—Lumbee Cheraw, specifically, and hailing from Robeson County, North Carolina—storytelling has always been important to me. I grew up around stories, immersed in tales of my forebears and parables that serve as the groundwork…

By Anessa Kemna  Science fiction and fantasy should be the perfect places for disability representation. Writers make the rules in their worlds. But it’s difficult to find disabled characters and even harder to find quality representation in the SFF genres….

by Michael Edelson I’m old enough to remember widespread use of the term “vanity press,” and although that is thankfully a thing of the past, the stigma attached to self-publishing still persists. But the reality is that the publishing industry…

by R. K. Thorne Worldbuilding is a fun aspect of writing fantasy and science fiction. It is so tempting to get lost in drawing maps, hoarding pictures, plotting lineages, or researching how that awesome weapon system could actually work. Our…

by Gabriel Murray We tend to remember our first brushes with the imaginary vast: when we read our first children’s portal fantasy, were enchanted by the animated world of our first Studio Ghibli film, or got lost in our first…

by Wole Talabi Introduction Since 2016, I’ve maintained a database of published science fiction and fantasy (SFF)[1] works by African authors[2] for the African Speculative Fiction Society (ASFS). It is, admittedly, incomplete and limited by my collection methodology, which mostly…

by R J Theodore An author promoting their upcoming release might feel like Sisyphus, because the effort to keep people aware of your book is neverending. When you let up on promotion, you and your boulder wind up back at…

Patricia A. McKillip (February 29, 1948–May 6, 2022) began publishing fantasy in 1973 with the novel The House on Parchment Street and the novella The Throme of the Erril of Sherill. Over the next few years, she published the award-winning…