Yesterday, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) issued a press release stating that they’re changing their qualifications for membership:
Short version:
Specific details will be posted at sfwa.org by the first of March, but the basic standards are $3,000 for novel, or a total of 10,000 words of short fiction paid at 6 cents a word for Active membership. A single story of at least 1,000 words paid at 6 cents a word will be required for Associate membership
I’m very excited about this, since I hope it will break down some of the taboos around self-publishing (if those taboos even exist any more?), and it’s also nice to see SFWA doing something so positive for writers of all stripes after, uh… recent kerfuffles.
I’m also excited to see SFWA dropping its current language about “three paid sales” totaling 10,000 words, which has kept me well away from qualifying since I mostly write flash fiction.
Under the new rules, I currently have a total of 9200 qualifying words:
“Raising Words” – Penumbra eZine, July 2013 (1200 words at then-SFWA-qualifying 5cpw)
“Oubliette” – Flash Fiction Online, April 1 2014 (1000 words at 6cpw)
“Little More than Shadows” – Daily Science Fiction, November 18 2014 (750 words at 6cpw)
“Fugue in a Minor Key” – Galaxy’s Edge, forthcoming (5400 words at 6cpw)
“Configuring Your Quantum Disambiguator” – Nature Magazine’s “Futures”, which goes live today some time (850 words at 15cpw)
That means I only need one more 800-word sale at 6 cents per word to qualify. Mind you, I’m not 100% sure I want to join–or that I can even afford the $90 yearly membership, to be honest–but it’s definitely nice to know I’d have the option. And it feels validating to qualify, as well.