First taste is free

Well, not free. But fairly cheap. Less than twenty bucks, anyhow.

(This is another post about SFWA--if you don't care about that, just skip to the bottom for a puppy picture.)

Okay, for those of you who've been following it, obviously there's a lot of stuff going on with the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America organization. And lots of people are hanging back, deciding whether to join or not based on the outcome of the current officer elections.

Well, as Will Shetterly has pointed out in various places, with SFWA's pro-rated membership rates, if you wait until April 1st you can join for $17.50. Next year's dues come due on June 30th, so essentially it's a two month trial membership, like at the gym. It's not entirely clear right this second whether you'd get a chance to vote, mainly because of timing issues with joining, getting a ballot, and getting it back in by the April 28th deadline.

I don't have a good answer right now for "why join SFWA" (although I can tell you that this document does not answer it to my satisfaction, and I'm in the club), because I think SFWA is changing, maybe a lot, hopefully for the better, and definitely right now. Maybe you can influence that change for less than twenty bucks.

Check and see if you qualify, then go to the goofy webform. I don't have anything to do with membership applications, but if I were you I'd take a look at that contact info in the lower left of that last page and ask about sending in scans of the requested documents instead of waiting on the mail.

Thank you for your patience. Now, here's Puck, Emma, and their pal Pickles the Neighbor Pup not exhibiting patience.

Comments

[Naomi]

Hmmm. This may or may not work. When I joined SFWA back in 1999 or 2000, it took them at least two months just to process my application.

[Christopher]

Thanks for commenting, Naomi. Anecdotal evidence is that they're turning around applications pretty quickly right now. More on the order of five or six days.

[Jordan Summers]

I've recently become eligible to join SFWA, but I'm hesitant. I'm curious, what do you think would be useful under the "why join SFWA" link? Like you, I didn't find the current information there helpful.

[Christopher]

Jordan, my biggest problems with that Q&A are with its tone and stance. To be frank, the biggest improvement that I can imagine would be a post script reading: "The organizational culture which produced this document can and will change with the influx of new members and the energizing of currently quiescent members."

Make sense?

[Jordan Summers]

Yes, it does. Thank you. :)

[Jordan Summers]

I have one more question. Do you think that the uproar in this year's election will help energize and expand the membership? Right now, from an outsider's perspective, SFWA seems more exclusive than inclusive.

The reason I ask is because the RWA recently went through something similar. It did open up the lines of communication, but other than that, not much has changed.

[Christopher]

Jordan,

I agree that SFWA seems more exclusive than inclusive. As for whether this uproar will energize and expand the membership? Well, obviously I hope so. If Scalzi wins, I think there's a better than even chance it will. If Capo wins, I think at the least we'll see more open lines of communication like you experienced at RWA.

[Jordan Summers]

Thank you again, Christopher. I appreciate your candor. I think I'm going to wait to see who wins, before I put in my application. Scalzi seems far more open to the evolving genres and women members.