News: RWA Makes Sweeping Changes
By Therese Walsh | July 12, 2007 |
Hot off the presses…the RWA board met at the association’s annual conference and decided to make several changes to the status quo, including the following:
• RWA has updated the definition of Subsidy or Vanity press to mean, “any publisher that publishes books in which the author participates in the cost of production or distribution in any manner, including publisher assessment of a fee or other costs for editing and/or distribution. ” (It’s not really considered a sale if it’s to one of these types of presses.)
• Henceforth, to be accepted into the Published Author Network (PAN), you must’ve received at least a $1000 advance from your publisher and be able to provide proof of this to RWA.
• Contest categories were reevaluated. Here are a few of the notable changes made: (1) The traditional romance category was eliminated. (2) The regency romance categories were eliminated, though there is still a “regency historical romance” category. (3) Short and long contemporary romance categories, and short historical/long historical romance categories were replaced with category titles that focus on content rather than page length, including “contemporary series romance,” “contemporary series romance: suspense/adventure,” and “historical romance.” (4) Several category requirements were “tweaked” to ensure the romance was the crux of the novel and delivered an emotionally satisfying ending (romantic suspense, paranormal romance, inspirational romance, novella). (5) The “novel with strong romantic elements” was retained as a category, however the romance must be a “significant part of the story…and the resolution of the romance is emotionally satisfying and optimistic.” (6) RWA voted not to add erotic romance as a category of its own.
Therese Walsh (she/her) co-founded Writer Unboxed in 2006 and is the site’s editorial director. She was the editor of WU’s only book, Author in Progress, and runs the Writer Unboxed UnConference.
Her second novel, The Moon Sisters, received starred reviews and was named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal and Book Riot.
Learn more about Therese on her website, and sign up for her newsletter to be among the first to hear about any new projects.
“Henceforth, to be accepted into the Published Author Network (PAN), you must’ve received at least a $1000 advance from your publisher and be able to provide proof of this to RWA.”
Hm, I wonder if people were trying to get PAN status via the vanity presses?
Must be that time of the year. MWA has made changes to their rules as to who can achieve active status.
Does the site have a main RSS feed to keep track of posts?
Hi Jake, right at the top of our masthead. Welcome to WU.