SFWA Now Offering Health Insurance

[Malik]

I know, I know. Getting into SFWA is hard. Like, Everest-level hard, and it's climb-Everest-walking-on-your-hands hard for indies. It was literally a life goal of mine, and I ugly-cried when I got my acceptance. But there is success to be had in writing, and maybe this will help authors hold on to it a little more tightly.

 

[Ned Marcus]

I wonder how many members there are here. Perhaps not that many. But I didn't think it was that hard. How many short stories (assuming you're going that route) do you need to publish to get in?

 

[Malik]

As I understand it, it's not a question of how many, it's to which markets. My understanding is there's a fairly strict rule on what they consider a "qualifying market."

As a novelist, it takes a certain amount of verifiable income for one title in a calendar year.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Yeah SFWA got screwed by the courts at one point, been waiting to see what this new idea looks like. I’ll be looking into this as our insurance is freaking nuts with both my wife and I self-employed.

SFWA used to be trickier Still not a cake walk, have to demonstrate income or contracts or what have you on 1 Book in a calendar year. I was glad Eve hit the mark in its first 6 months so I didn’t have to sort through sales of book 2, etc.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

It doesn't help that the SFWA only started admitting indies a few years ago, which is just yesterday in the publishing world. They're probably still kicking the tires.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Yeah it was funny, before I pub’d I knew they’d opened up, but then I spaced it off until this year. Then I got my rear in gear and jumped in. It was fun to vote in the awards this year, LOL. My choice for novel didn’t win, but it was too heavy on sci-fi for y taste, heh heh.

The reqs are very reasonable, IMO. They’ve always tried to be a little bit exclusive, which is good.

It doesn't help that the SFWA only started admitting indies a few years ago, which is just yesterday in the publishing world. They're probably still kicking the tires.

 

[Chessie2]

It's a step in the right direction nonetheless. Happy to see this happen.