Why should I join an organization thats open to both professionals and writers just breaking into the field?
In our experience, more established writers aren’t treated less well when less experienced writers demand better treatment. We all gain. Since writers are constantly expanding into new writing fields, anyone could be a beginner at any turn in his or her career. When a journalist writes a novel, she’s suddenly a beginner again. My agent does my contract negotiating for me. Agents’ loyalties are to some degree divided: since they represent a number of clients, they may have to back down on some issues to protect their ongoing business relationships with publishers. Agents also get a cut of money an author gets but may not fully back the author on other issues. We advise members on author-agent agreements and have formulated contract language that even experienced agents have found useful. No one agent has the cumulative knowledge of our nearly 2000 members. I write for pleasure. I consider myself an artist, not a worker. Yes, some of us write for pleasure and don’t depend on writing inco
