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The SFWA Blog
2009 SFWA business meeting scheduled for World Fantasy Convention
LOS ANGELES — Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America will hold this year’s annual business meeting at the 2009 World Fantasy Convention in San Jose, Calif.
Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions
The following list of questions is meant to aid authors of fantasy fiction who are seeking to create believable imaginary settings for their stories. While many of these questions may be helpful or crucial to certain stories, they will not…
Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions: Social Organization
- Where is scientific and/or magical research done — universities, private labs, under the auspices of the ruler/government, etc.?
- Does it require a license to be a wizard? If so, is it more like a driver’s license (something nearly everyone in our…
Victoria Strauss — Niche Age Media: Laray Carr Returns
One of the strangest schemes ever covered in this blog was a faux magazine startup called Laray Carr.
Operating out of Terrell, Texas, Laray Carr first came to my attention in August 2007 with a call for…
Operating out of Terrell, Texas, Laray Carr first came to my attention in August 2007 with a call for…
Welcome to the new SFWA website
This website is intended to be a pivotal part of the Science fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s mission to inform, promote, support, defend and advocate for writers.
Update: Website changeover
Update: sfwa.org is in a transition state at the moment while we wait for some things to finish propagating through the internet. At the moment, if you go to sfwa.org you might get a parked page with advertising. This should…
Website transfer update
Our webmaster had a minor traffic accident today. No one was injured, but it’s made us get a slow start on the transfer. At the moment we are waiting for the domain name to finish transferring to our new registrar….
Announcement: Moving the new site to sfwa.org on Saturday
On Saturday, August 1st, the website team will bring SFWA’s new website out of the extended beta-test we’ve been in. This post is intended to be an overview of what to expect during the transition. Because there is…
Exclusives and Literary Agents
First off, definition: an exclusive means just what it sounds like. You are giving an agent the opportunity to consider your work exclusively and you are agreeing that you will not submit to another agent until you’ve heard “yea” or…
Interview: Gwyneth Jones
Our sister-site, NebulaAwards.com, interviews Gwyneth Jones about her Nebula-nominated short story “The Tomb Wife”.
Reminder: Volunteers needed for SFWA at Worldcon
We’re still looking for help at the SFWA Table and Suite at Montreal and have autographing slots at the table. Please volunteer by signing up at the Volunteer website
Tor.com is SFWA’s newest qualifying short fiction market
Today the board of directors of SFWA unanimously voted to add Tor.com to the list of SFWA qualifying markets. Just celebrating its first year online, this extension of Tor Books features science-fiction and fantasy fiction as well as art, non-fiction,…
USA TODAY to include Amazon Kindle on best-seller list
McLean, Va. (July 22, 2009) – Beginning tomorrow USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books List will include Amazon Kindle book sales in overall sales rankings. USA TODAY is the first major book list to include Kindle book sales and in doing…
Interview: James Alan Gardner
From our sister site, NebulaAwards.com, comes an appealing interview with James Alan Gardner. It covers writing his Nebula nominated novelette “The Ray-Gun: A Love Story,” applied mathematics, publishing hurdles and interstellar travel
Get Personal with your Marketing Efforts
The words “online marketing” are fairly generic, since there are quite a few components involved with this business practice. Marketers (like myself) often utilize web analytics, social media, blogging, natural and paid search, online advertising, etc. For authors, online marketing…
Article Recommendation: The Genre Artist
The New York Times Magazine has a glowing tribute to SFWA lifetime member, Jack Vance. If you haven’t read his work before, this article will make you want to do so now. It’s nice to see one of…
Research Tool: Google News Timeline
If you are writing fiction that’s set at any point in the real world’s history, the subject of research can take up countless hours of time. The nitty details can tie up you up while writing anything from alternate…
Article Recommendation: Bits of Destruction
With the publishing industry shifting so rapidly now, it’s always interesting to see what people think the new paradigm will be. Bernard Lunn takes a look at it in a two part article at ReadWriteWeb. As with any set…
Interview: Mike Allen
At our sister site, NebulaAwards.com, Charles Tan talks with Nebula-nominated author, Mike Allen, about his story “The Button Bin.”
Networking 201: How to “work a room”
When attending a social function–whether it’s a small gathering at someone’s home, or a political fundraiser, or a room party at a convention–you are being gifted with the opportunity to meet, mingle, and make contact with a wide variety of…
RIP: Charles Brown, (1937-2009)
Charles Brown
(1937-2009)
Locus magazine is reporting the very sad news that Charles Brown has passed away. He was a major force in the industry and will be missed.
How to Network at a Convention
So here it is. You’re a fairly “new” writer, or at least new to the convention scene, and you desperately want to make some industry contacts in the hopes that it will make it easier to get an agent/sell your…
Nebula Awards: Richard Bowes 2009 Interview
From our sister site, nebulaawards.com, comes an interview with Nebula nominee, Richard Bowes who was nominated for his novelette “If Angels Fight.”
When you were a kid, did you ever imagine that you’d be a writer?
Amazon Kindle Contract Review and Annotation (2009)
This .pdf document is an annotation of the Amazon Kindle contract as it was posted on Amazon’s Web site (downloaded in February, 2008).