As many currently successful novelists indicate (yourself included) a successful digital career can lead to success with traditional NY publishers. And beyond. We cannot all begin our careers in print in NYC. Not feasible.

And a last note – Dianne Pershing’s argument seems to indicate that everyone should make the same money. Well, I’ll be blunt. Regardless of the quality of the book in question, some authors are going to make more than others because they are more experienced with marketing and self-promotion. Or they have more money to do this with. Or more time to travel. Or more connections. When one e-pubbed author has no sales, it is not, automatically the publisher’s fault. Though Ms. Pershing appears to look at the entire e-publishing/digital industry as some sort of Dementor-run operation out to suck the joy from our lives. Thank you for your plain-spoken argument against the current regime, and for your optimism that the future holds change.

A very interesting post and a very valid position. Having been in RWA since 1993, I’d say that they have fallen behind in making their membership educated on the changes in the industry.

I get the 1k advance thing. They are trying, despite it’s lack of success, to keep writers from giving it away for free and bringing the standards of advances down across the board for all of us. It’s happened before.

But learning about the royalites as a different form of compensation and how they work in digital would be of help to all of us.

I’d love to see you give a class online about what you’ve learned in the digital publishing, what to watch for, what to ask for, etc.

Thanks for the thoughtful twitter & post.
http://www.twitter.com/Theresa_Meyers

It’s not often I give up on things, but I admit I gave up on RWA being a non-judgmental and fair organization long ago.

Why?

The organization offers you a key into a club that can boost your career ten times faster than if a person was on their own. Then, once your career begins, RWA offers recognition, marketing experiences, networking, etc.

From tadpole to frog, RWA offers it all, and no other organization does that for romance writers specifically. Not to the same degree as RWA.

So when you take issue with the views of the big wigs at RWA…where else can you go? No where. You’re trapped and maybe even terrified to get black balled by the immaturity apparent in responses to members concerns if you openly disagree.

Agents and editors take you more serious when you belong to RWA, so you can’t just “go”. You get in the door to some agents and editors by networking exclusively which means you have to get out there to hob-knob with the best in the industry.

Conferences are the perfect place to do that. But there is a decision to make. You could go to several small conferences and spend a lot of time and money on traveling, or you make the plunge and go to the one big one, RWA Woooo!, which is less time and travel but so expensive it seems more like an exclusive club for the rich and successful than a venue for helping struggling writers.

I knew all of this when I joined but I really wanted the benefits of my local chapter, so like Lauren Dane mentioned, I throw my dues down every year. My local chapter has made it all worth it, my career has started because of the wonderful women who have guided me away from newb ideals into the world of publishing. But I have to say, I dream of getting into top RWA seats to shake things up a bit because the main RWA membership does nothing for me except kick me when I’m down with their opinions.

The future comes, and the print-book-snobbery of the RWA headmasters must come to an end.

But that’s not all…

Although I would love to say degenerating attitude of RWA heads is just a snobbery against ebooks and epubs, I have to admit that lately, I would rather converse with my local DMV/Secretary of State office clerk than bring up a problem with an RWA official.

I’ve written emails to ask questions three times and only once did I get a response that treated me as a person and not a moron.

It is demeaning and humiliating to pay dues every year to an organization that basically pees all over my cheerios, and while I’m a strong enough person to take it without too many mental health issues, I have to admit if I could get the same benefits elsewhere, then elsewhere I would “go”.

Thanks for this post Lauren, and thanks for reading my short novella here. Sheesh.

**disclaimer on all typos due to circumstances well within my control but outside of my ambition.