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Topic: Should I join ASJA?
| Author | Message |
| execdir | Posted – 2/8/2006 3:14:16 PM | show profile | email poster Should I join ASJA? I'll let ASJA members themselves answer the question above, since, as executive director of ASJA, my answer would probably be suspect. So I'll confine myself to correcting some misinformation. First, not only does ASJA not ''favor fiction,'' it's an organization of ''freelance, nonfiction writers.'' This is not to say you can't write as many novels as you like as an ASJA member, just that you can't be accepted on the basis of your fiction. Second, someone mentioned the membership being ''soaked for the expenses of annual conferences.'' Not so. The annual conference not only pays for itself but conference income helps us keep dues at the same level they've been for the past 6 or 7 years. And the reason it's always in New York is that New York happens to be the center of the publishing industry. We revisit this decision fairly regularly because it's so ferociously expensive, but the consensus always seems to be: New York. As for ''99% of the panelists'' at the conference being ASJA members, that's not accurate either. Conference organizers try hard not to have more than one ASJA member on each panel. That isn't always possible, but I think if you check out this year's Saturday schedule at http://www.asja.org/wc/2006/2006sat.php you'll see that most of the panelists are not ASJA members (ASJA members are always identified). In fact, the guiding principle is to have as many ''assigning editors'' on panels as possible. I was interested in the strong feelings about editor references on the application. I hadn't realized people were so offended by that and will pass the information on to the membership committee. I believe it's been part of the ASJA application for a very long time, and perhaps it's time to revisit the question. As for why someone who apparently had all the right credentials wasn't accepted, I obviously can't answer that without knowing the particulars. I do know that 1) we want and need and encourage new members and 2) the membership committee tries to be as flexible and open as possible and gives each application a great deal of thoughtful consideration. We do have a form rejection letter, but it never goes out without my individualizing it. These days, people are more likely to get an email from me and that often leads to a correspondence about what's needed. Membership applications are kept on file for at least a year and applicants who've been turned down are encouraged to keep adding clips and may ask for a re-review at any time. Finally, it's true that ASJA's job bank has been on the skids for the past few years. It used to be called Dial-A-Writer in its heyday, then became the Writer Referral Service and eventually, the job listings slowed to a trickle. However, we've just launched a brand new job service called the Freelance Writers Search (http://www.freelancewritersearch.com/). It's too soon to evaluate but I think you'll be hearing good reports about it from ASJA members in the coming months. I encourage anyone interested in learning more about ASJA or joining the organization to contact me directly at execdir@asja.org. And come to our conference on April 29-30 and see for yourself why this is the 35th year we've been doing this! |
| execdir | Posted – 2/8/2006 3:28:14 PM | show profile Should I Join ASJA? Sorry, this is my first time posting on this list and I thought I'd checked a box that added my name. I'm Brett Harvey, executive director of ASJA. |
| overthehillwriter | Posted – 2/8/2006 3:32:30 PM | show profile | email poster Welcome, Brett, thanks for stopping in. |
| invisawritergirl | Posted – 2/8/2006 3:57:19 PM | show profile I've had a goal of qualifying for ASJA from the moment I started freelancing about 3 years ago. Now that I am nearly there, I'm having second thoughts about applying. Here's why -- in these 3 years, I have written tons of business stories, new, features, etc. But b/c not enough were for major pubs, as defined by ASJA, I don't qualify. And that really, really bothers me. If I had written six stories on topics like how to slim your thighs or the latest weight-loss secrets for various that happened to appear in national women's mags, those would count. With all due respect to ASJA, I don't see how those stories count as journalism while the articles I've written on business issues don't. I'm thinking of NOT applying based on principle. |
| execdir | Posted – 2/8/2006 4:10:22 PM | show profile Should I Join ASJA? Actually, ASJA has tons of members who write about subjects other than thighs --subjects like finance, politics, science, business --you get the idea. Basically, the membership committee is looking for people who are making a living as freelance nonfiction writers. Some of our members write exclusively for trade publications like Engineering Monthly or District Administration or Workforce Management. Why don't you send me an email message giving me an idea of the kinds of publications you write for and I can give you a better idea of your chances. Brett |
| mumbo jumbo | Posted – 2/8/2006 4:12:19 PM | show profile I've always found ASJA's bias against trade publications obnoxious also. Especially since the group would list trade pubs in its member newsletter so that they could query, and yet these clips wouldn't count for membership. |
| mumbo jumbo | Posted – 2/8/2006 4:14:15 PM | show profile Oops Brett. We crossed on the last post. Does ASJA now consider trade clips when evaluating potential members? |
| execdir | Posted – 2/8/2006 4:26:51 PM | show profile Should I Join ASJA? Yes, we changed that policy in early 2005. |
| sdtex | Posted – 2/8/2006 6:04:31 PM | show profile I kept trying I'd like to add that I was turned down by ASJA the first time I applied because all my clips were from newspapers. Boy, was I angry and hurt! (That policy has changed, too.) But I was so grateful to the organization for the help it offers to even nonmembers on contracts issues that I wanted to join just to express that appreciation. The second time I applied, with magazine clips, I was accepted. I have let my NWU and PEN memberships lapse because I'm not much of a joiner and who needs all the dues? But ASJA has proved valuable to me for the networking alone. I have not yet been to a conference. Sophia Dembling http://www.yankeechick.com |
| Lisa CC | Posted – 2/8/2006 6:11:31 PM | show profile ASJA As past president of ASJA and a member for 18 years, I think it offers terrific benefits to authors and journalists. At its writers' conferences and programs, I've met editors who subsequently have given me tens of thousands of dollars of work, so making those contacts has given me an incredible return on the annual dues of $195. I've also made friends with several other magazine writers. We act as sounding boards for each other's ideas, brainstorm about markets, vent about editor problems, and generally support and inspire each other. I've belonged to other writers' groups in the past, including NWU, and didn't stick with them because I don't feel they gave me nearly as much value as ASJA. I also like the monthly newsletter, our online discussion forums, and the confidential information I get from our Paycheck reports, Warning List. and market reports. We have a variety of benefits, such as our databases of successful queries and book proposals, Contracts Watch, a small network of publishing lawyers willing to help members with legal issues at reasonable rates, and discounts on magazine subscriptions, car rentals, etc. After seeing the comments about our longstanding requirement that applicants have two references, we'll certainly discuss that. And as Brett notes, we now accept trade magazine credits, and have a number of new members who write for these markets. Best wishes, Lisa Collier Cool |
| overthehillwriter | Posted – 2/8/2006 6:11:52 PM | show profile Authors Guild anyone here members of the Authors Guild and can tell me if it's beneficial? |
| pentup | Posted – 2/8/2006 7:15:47 PM | show profile Thanks everyone for all the feedback. |
| melvotaw | Posted – 2/8/2006 7:57:00 PM | show profile ASJA rocks I've been a member of ASJA for two years and a member of the Authors Guild for perhaps four. I've also been a member of SPJ and have considered membership in NWU. The only thing I've gotten out of my Authors Guild membership is some assistant from their attorneys in terms of contracts. Otherwise, the only writer's organization that has been beneficial to me has been ASJA. It sounds like the person who was rejected may have been rejected in error. ASJA has a small staff, and mistakes can be made. However, I don't know enough about the circumstances to be certain. I also think it's strange that she didn't receive a response to her inquiries. I've never had the slightest problem getting the office to respond to my questions. My membership was inadvertently delayed, and they let me know immediately. They've also gone out of their way to make it up to me. But in any event, ASJA is certainly NOT primarily for fiction writers - NOT AT ALL. Like Caitlin, I find that the best part of the annual conference is the opportunity to pitch top editors during the member's event, and many of those editors are at the conference itself. The camaraderie of the membership both online and in person at gatherings and the conference has been invaluable to me. I've made new friends and received a leg up in the industry on more than one occasion. I joined primarily as a book author and have learned a great deal more about the magazine industry as a result of my membership. Posting on ASJA's online phorum has netted me much more than the MediaBistro boards. I rarely even check here anymore because the quality of information from the pros in ASJA is unprecedented. I didn't even bother to renew my membership in SPJ because I got nothing out of it. In my opinion, if you do qualify for ASJA, it's an excellent organization to be a part of. I now have a small writer's group from the organization - all accomplished, published writers - who meet regularly to workshop our writing. It's better than most classes I've taken. It's important that the organization maintain membership requirements in order to keep it professional, but I can't speak to the committee's decision-making. No one likes to be rejected, so I'm not surprised there are ill feelings from those who have not been accepted into the organization. |
| melvotaw | Posted – 2/8/2006 8:00:45 PM | show profile P.S. Lisa mentioned a lot of ASJA's benefits, but she failed to mention that there is also a database of magazine publisher email formulas available to members. I use it repeatedly. |
| revenge | Posted – 2/8/2006 10:01:22 PM | show profile ASJA is the BEST place for serious writers! I've been a member of ASJA since 1997 and get more than my money's worth each year. I'm a music journalist, not someone who just writes for women's mags (though I do it sometimes and don't scorn the money they pay). I write the top music biz books for Billboard - trade/business. I don't have enough time to list all the reasons to join. In the last 3 years I've been interviewed in many books and articles by ASJA members, with plugs for my books. I just got a terrific new agent thanks to a recommendation by a member. When I need suggestions on who to pitch a piece to, I post on our forum and get it, with editor names and contact info. There's a camaraderie among the members that's both professional and caring. Yes, there are occasionally fights and bad words. That happens among friends and family too. But I've gotten support over and over from people I've never even met, because we were part of ASJA. As a full time writer, the support I get is priceless. If I haven't convinced you yet, here are 2 good reasons to join ASJA: 1. Editors have tremendous respect for our members. I get taken more seriously when I say I'm in ASJA. They know it isn't easy to get in and trust the level of professionalism from an ASJA writer. 2. While some scorn the conference as being for amateurs, I've much more than paid my dues and conference fee for 9 years with assignments that resulted from making face to face contact with an editor who sees my AJSA member ribbon on my name tag after they speak on a panel. It's helped me to establish relationships with editors I'd have had a hard time getting to. And now our members day has personal pitch opportunities with a huge assortment of editors from top publications and literary agents. Last year I got to talk to 8 magazine editors and editors at major publishing houses. That opportunity alone is worth the membership and conference fees together. Daylle Deanna Schwartz |
| cmwalter | Posted – 2/8/2006 10:35:38 PM | show profile ASJA I've been an ASJA member since moving out of the NY area -- way out of the NY area, infact -- and I find the NY connection to be very worthwhile. The conference (not for newbies, BTW) provides a reason to get back to the city and solidify old connections and make new ones. The members' day immediately preceding the conference is an incubator for ideas and new contacts. The the Water Cooler section of the forum can get heated, but it's a way for those of us who work alone to blow off steam and come up with pithy phrases and commentary on topics no one pays us to write about. Anyone who doesn't like the heat simply stays off that forum. In my experience, it is a worthwhile and highly respected organization that I am proud to belong to. |
| windywrites | Posted – 2/8/2006 11:57:11 PM | show profile ASJA, NWU, SPJ and other memberships I've been a member of ASJA, NWU and SPJ at various points in my career. I'm no longer a NWU member. I don't think their advocacy is particularly strong and I felt their job boards and efforts were more focused on any work at all, versus decent paying work with writer-friendly contracts. They were helpful in the beginning of my freelance career. SPJ is very newspaper focused and more staff focused that freelance. But they do cover some good ethics issues and craft of writing issues and offer reasonable disability insurance, which I have not found anywhere else. My local chapter is strong, too. ASJA helped me take my freelancing career (I've been freelancing about 15 years, been an ASJA member about 5 years) to a different level. A lot of it was confidence. Once I got it (I applied three times, the first two times I didn't have enough national consumer clips, this is before they counted trades) I benefitted from a community of full-time, professional freelancers, many of whom were focused on magazines. I got more confident about negotiating contracts because I heard that other people were doing it successfully, and I got better at walking away from work that wasn't worth my while. That increased my bottom line. I don't think I would have gotten my book contracts without what I've learned in ASJA. For me, that alone is worth $200/year. I use the directory where people report what they've been paid by other outlets all the time. I like the magazine discounts. There certainly are things wrong with the organization, but I think that's true of any organization that big, particularly one mostly run by volunteers. Some times I grow weary of some of the internal issues, and then I am less involved for a period. But a tax deductible $200 is, for me, a good investment in my business. I think you need to take a look at your business plan and assess where you want to take your freelancing business. If it is a stepping stone to a newspaper job, SPJ might be better. If you want to focus on a certain kind of writing (environmental, investigative, pets, food), then some of special organizations might be better. If you want to stay freelance as a career and your focus is non-fiction books or magazines, then I think it might be worth investigating more. Good luck. |
| caitlinkelly | Posted – 2/9/2006 7:50:24 AM | show profile The best of ASJA's spirit: I was sitting at a table at the members' lunch in 2002, then just about to start researching my book, and mentioned its subject to the member beside me, who I'd never met before. He made a terrific suggestion for the book, sent me another book, germane to mine, within days as a gift, which inspired the ending to my own. I've never, in dozens of MB events and other professional meetings, like the annual Neiman conference, encountered that sort of helpful savvy and spontaneous generosity. Especially if you're freelance alone at home for many years, ASJA can be a sanity-saver when you think you're the only writer having issues with X or Y editor or publication (and find out you're just the latest in a stream); a place to know exactly what X pays (especially if they say they pay much less, thanks to the Paycheck report in the newsletter where we post this data); a place to reality-check your progress, or lack of it, with book-writing, magazines or other projects. For those who live outside NYC, and its ultra-competitive vibe where, often, writers meet to preen, the cooperative (mostly) nature of ASJA's boards and other meetings is a breath of badly needed fresh air at any level of your writing career. In my experience, ASJA members can skew older -- i.e. in their 40s, 50s and up. But those writers who are well-established, have made a healthy living from this work and know it can be done and how to get there, are also often some of the more relaxed and most helpful among us. With ASJA, and its member directory, you know their names and what they've done, not forced to guess or assume their expertise and competence as we do on this anonymous board and others. When I recently needed to consult someone with enormous experience in military affairs, I knew who to call. We've still yet to meet, yet he referred me to two top NYC editors. For $200? Seems like a bargain to me. ------ Author of "Blown Away: American Women and Guns" (Pocket Books, 2004.) |
| brainfry | Posted – 2/9/2006 10:16:17 AM | show profile I just joined Six months ago. I write nonfiction books so I didn't have an issue getting in. So far it's been great. I enjoy the interaction on the message boards and also love getting the ASJA monthly, which provides articles, pay rates, and new markets, etc. And, they just started a new directory similar to Freelance Marketplace that I am sure will be a big success. It makes me feel good to be a part of a community, since I work at home and often feel isolated. |
| Carolturk | Posted – 2/9/2006 11:47:53 AM | show profile | email poster long-time ASJA member I'm a freelancde nonfiction writer and long-time ASJA member, and frankly I think this organization is the one absolutely vital ingredient to my success. I've gotten lucrative jobs from the job line, but even more important is the support and advice from an astonishingly helpful group of members. Being a freelance writer is an inherently isolating career, so the forum provides that vital ''water cooler'' link to others in the business that can't be beat. I've gotten tips on agents, leads on everything from hotels to problem editors to the inside scoop on various publishers. Not to mention the really helpful info on contract terms and successful queries and proposals. I can't imagine being able to do this job without ASJA. |
| belinda | Posted – 2/9/2006 1:04:45 PM | show profile >>the reason it's always in New York is that New York happens to be the center of the publishing industry. We revisit this decision fairly regularly because it's so ferociously expensive, but the consensus always seems to be: New York.<< Interesting. And to think that other journalists organizations purposely hold their conferences in different cities each year. The fools! |
| candy | Posted – 2/9/2006 1:23:22 PM | show profile Well, the conference location (and everything else about ASJA) works for me (and I live in CA). In fact the conferrence venue is just 20 blocks down Park Ave. from my publisher, so I can kill two birds with one stone. Other members have mentioned the benefits, but I have to add that the monthly ASJA newsletter is EXCELLENT. Personally, I don't see the need to trash ASJA (or any other org for that matter). It's pretty simple -- if you don't like the org or their membership requirements, then don't join. Candy Harrington |
| Lisa CC | Posted – 2/9/2006 2:13:12 PM | show profile asja Speaking of publicity, another ASJA membership benefit is our monthly Tip Sheet promoting our members' expertise that goes out to about 4,000 media contacts, and also to those of our members who signed up to receive it by e-mail. It's helped quite a few members get free publicity for their books and other projects. Best wishes, Lisa |
| lp914 | Posted – 2/9/2006 2:52:11 PM | show profile | email poster There is a reason... I'm also an ASJA member of 10 years or so. Belinda, there's a major reason that the annual conference stays in NYC. Because so many magazine editors and book publishing people already live here, they can easily accept the invitation to be panelists at the 25+ different sessions on Saturday...plus many more also give one to two hours of their time for the ''Personal Pitch'' one-on-one sessions on Friday (available only to ASJA members). ASJA simply cannot afford to fly all those editors/panelists to another locale (and the panelists also are not paid for their appearances.) The conference attendees come to see and hear and meet those panelists. Without those folks on the dais, there would be no conference. |
| melvotaw | Posted – 2/9/2006 3:38:18 PM | show profile One more note First of all, I have yet to see another writer's conference outside of New York that has as many editors in attendance as ASJA's annual conferences. And most of them are more expensive. I looked at one in Chicago last year, and it was exorbitant with very few editors in attendance. Can't remember the name of the organization. Second, as another ASJA member pointed out, the first posters in this thread listed the following MISinformation about ASJA. Not one of these assumptions is true of the organization: ASJA is primarily for novelists. ASJA is not geared to feelancers. It offers no services. Members are ''soaked'' to pay for the conference. Clips from trades and regionals can't be counted in your application. The conference is only for beginners. A VERY QUICK AND EASY REVIEW OF ASJA'S WEBSITE WILL PROVE ALL OF THESE ASSUMPTIONS WRONG! Isn't basic research a job requirement for a journalist? |
