The Heritage Author Republication Project (HARP)

Guidelines for Mentors

The following guidelines were built on structures initially developed by members of the SFWA Career Mentorship Program and kindly shared with the Independent Authors Committee. Here, they have been modified to serve the needs of Independent Author mentors and mentees at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. The aim of our Heritage Author Republication Project (HARP) is to support the professional development of emerging, heritage, or isolated speculative fiction writers, and to build broader community awareness around the different challenges of digital publishing.

The goals of the Heritage Author Republication Project include:

  • Broadening digital literacy among professional writers, with a focus on digital publication resources, techniques, and theory in our current market moment.
  • Building bridges between traditionally and independently published authors, with respect to the range of market pathways that exist for writers in our genres.
  • Cultivating more community knowledge-sharing in general.
  • Empowering creators to explore new possibilities for their careers.
  • Celebrating and uplifting older published works that are otherwise struggling to find new audiences.

You do not need to be a member of SFWA to participate in HARP, as either a mentor or a mentee. This program is open to all genre writers 21 years of age and older.

A Note about Applications

Mentors and mentees may reapply for subsequent mentorship periods, with minor differences in expectation each cycle.

Mentors may reapply as often as they wish.

A mentee will be expected to reapply for a different task than the one decided upon for their initial mentorship window. This either means working on a different facet of digital publishing for the same book, or the same facet for a different volume. This limitation is meant to encourage our mentorship windows to be used to empower mentees with the skills needed to continue the work on their own.

What’s Expected of a Mentor?

Due to the possibility for abuse of the system or advantage being taken, as well as the possibility for hurt feelings, the mentor is not expected to provide critique or editorial services to the mentee.

This is especially true for proofreading prep. A mentor may need to teach a mentee to eliminate incorrect indentation, extra “returns” and spaces, incompatible section breaks, and difficult object/image inclusions. The mentor may also have to flag issues with special text characters and multiple languages, and train around related issues of font choice for wider dissemination within ebook markets. These issues are not the same as line-editing for grammar and spelling, and we will make clear to both parties that any deeper editorial revisions need to be discussed and agreed upon to the satisfaction of both participants first.

SFWA stands ready to help clarify expectations in the course of the mentorship. SFWA will also provide some standard templates (e.g., copyright page, table of contents, generic cover) to assist the mentor and mentee in their work.

The mentor’s greatest contribution will come through an applied education in digital materials development. Although each project goal will differ depending on the needs of the mentee, the mentee is still expected to be an active participant in the development process. A mentor is not expected to produce the project deliverable on their own.

A mentor is expected to make meeting arrangements with their mentee throughout the three-month period established as their project window. This does not mean the mentor is expected to be available 24/7; only that they are responsive to meeting requests from the mentee, and make reasonable efforts to achieve the stated project goal within this time frame. We also expect the mentor to provide us with feedback, based on their experiences with the program, and to apprise administrators of any urgent matters that might arise in the course of their work with the mentee.

What Are the Benefits to the Mentor?

We hope that serving as a mentor will prove a fruitful and rewarding endeavor. This is a great opportunity to:

  • Connect with more members of industry, including people with perhaps a more seasoned career in traditional publishing.
  • Practice key instruction skills, while learning more about the challenges that less digitally literate creators might face.
  • Learn more about the process and technologies of digital publishing yourself, while troubleshooting mentee problems in a peer group of fellow mentors.
  • Contribute to the uplift of your fellow creator, and bring older work back to life.
  • Spread the good word about digital publishing, and improve broader industry appreciation for the talent involved in the work.

At the end of the program cycle, we will very happily issue you a certificate of participation that you can use as a marker of your experience with us in other professional settings.

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