As most writers know, the success of a writer comes down to the amount of time your butt is planted firmly in the chair and you are writing something. Seriously, without the words, you can’t honestly call yourself a writer.
However, a writer also needs to step away from the keyboard (or the notebook) and venture outside of their solitary writing den and try something new. I highly recommend joining a writing organization, but I’ll be the first one to tell you that writing organizations are not for everyone. There are pros and cons that you should be aware of.
PROS:
- MEETING OTHER PEOPLE that are passionate about writing stories, articles or novels. You feel the instant love, the sisterhood, and the brotherhood of strangers that will become your new family. These people get you. They understand your drive for writing stories, like no other people in the world.
- NETWORKING with award winning, best selling authors who are industry professionals, many of them famous in their genre. These people are willing to chat with you and share their knowledge, their experiences, their similar dreams and goals that are parallel with yours. You can ask them anything and nothing seems too intrusive. They actually smile. Soon you will become life-long friends.
- PROMOTION & ADVERTISEMENT: Writing organizations post author listings, including a short bio and photo of you on their website and directories. They provide links to your website and social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). If you have books for sale, they will include you in their eblast of newsletters, add you to their website, and blurb you on social media. You can use their logo on your website to give an air of professionalism. Some writing organizations will allow you to join their book fairs, so you can sell your book right along with all the best selling authors.
- TRAINING & EDUCATION: Most writing organizations conduct monthly meetings with a wide range of professional speakers. Example: Sisters In Crime (SIC) has speakers from law, police, science, publishing, editing, best selling authors, author panels, etc. Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Toronto Romance Writers (TRW) host online workshops and programs, podcasts, etc.
- OPPORTUNITIES: Writing organizations share many different kinds of opportunities for writers. TRW allows you to pitch your manuscript to leading publishers and literary agents with exclusive pitching sessions every month. TRW also hosts a critiquing meeting by experienced and published authors to help new writers with problems, such as first chapters or brainstorming ideas for a whole series. International Thriller Writers (ITW) hosts Pitchfest during Thrillerfest in New York City, where you can meet editors, publishers and literary agents face to face to discuss your novel(s). SIC shares opportunities for submitting short stories or manuscripts for publication in anthologies. Each organization also provides an opportunity for you to volunteer your time to help with monthly meetings, writing contests or conferences, not to mention an opportunity to sit on an executive board of directors to help plan the future of the writing organization.
- DISCOUNTS: Many organizations give huge discounts to prestigious magazine subscriptions. They grant access to an extensive list of online resources. Example: Weapons directory, fatal plant poison list, forensic procedures, police protocol, etc.
- SUPPORT: There is no better place to find support with your writing than joining a writing organization. They will help you with anything writing related and think nothing of it. They will expect nothing in return. Of course, it is always nice if you can pay it forward by helping someone else by mentoring or volunteering for something the organization needs like a contest judge, or help collecting money or handing out name badges.
CONS:
- EXPENSE: Some writing organizations have an expensive membership fee. Quite often, you will have to join the International group before you join the local organization. Example: You need to be a member of RWA (paid in USD) before you can join TRW (paid in CAD). It seems silly, but that is the way they do things. With SIC, they will let you visit their meeting as a guest for $5 fee at the door, and then you can select the meetings that interest you without being a solid member. This way you can listen to the speaker, but you can’t partake in any of the good stuff unless you join them officially and become a regular member.
- TIME: Most of these large writing organizations are in the big cities, which means a long commute. I drive 2-3 hours to attend meetings, depending on which meeting I’m going to. Of course, I don’t mind. I throw an audiobook on in the Jeep and make my way there and back without any problems, unless there are snowstorms, ice storms, windstorms, rainstorms or holiday weekend traffic. Meetings are once a month and can last anywhere from one to eight hours depending on the meeting. Basically, you might have to sacrifice a whole day of writing time if you go.
- ENVY: Sometimes, it is difficult to watch people succeed, while you wallow around editing that first novel for several years. You have to learn to tuck away your envy into your back pocket, be happy for everyone’s success, because if you put the hard work into your writing, your day will eventually come. Those same people will help you celebrate your success (without being asked). Word of mouth is an amazing gift that every author dreams about.
- LEAVE THE HOUSE: Some writers have trouble with this. In order to join a writing organization and go to a meeting, you will actually need to change out of your fuzzy jammies or comfy track pants and leave the house.
- SPEAK: While attending a writing organization meeting, you might have to speak to other people. You could try to sit in the back corner and hope that no one will talk to you during the meeting, but take it from me, they do find you… AND THEY TALK TO YOU (to avoid weird staring, you need to talk back)!
- YEARLY FEES: Once you join a writing organization for a year, there is a high possibility that you’ll want to stay in the organization. You will need to stay organized enough to pay your membership fees on time (or they send you constant reminder emails). Basically, it will be hard to quit the organization once they have you. Plus, you will have to determine whether you are getting anything out of being a member. Do you take advantage of anything they offer? Or are you skipping meetings to stay in your writing den?
- COERCION & PRESSURE: Some writing organizations will try to coerce you into helping them, such as: judging a contest, coordinating a category for their writing contest, taking fees at the door, working registration at the conference, joining a critique meeting, going to an author’s book launch. This also requires speaking to people you don’t know and spending time away from your writing.
Those are the PROS and CONS that I have come up with for joining writing organizations. I hope you realize I was joking a little bit about the speaking thing, but honestly, some writers (cough, cough…ME!) are mostly introverts and it takes lots of courage and energy to attend one of these meetings and hope no one speaks to us, until we feel comfortable enough to engage with others. Of course, it is always nice to be forced into conversation to push you out of your comfort zone… these people will quickly become your friend.
So, if you are looking for a way to up your social media presence, sharpen your writing craft skills and/or learn from other best selling authors about how it is done (and not done), and/or you might want to join a writing organization. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me in the comments below, or send me a direct message.
Although, as I mentioned above, the most important thing about being a writer is that you sit down and write something… and it has nothing to do with whether you join a writing organization or not.
Happy writing!
