Exclusivity
May 17th, 2006 by Sandra
Periodically one of my local RWA chapters tries to plan a PAN-only event (PAN is the “Published Author Network”) and then we all fret that sponsoring a PAN-only event will smack of exclusivity. If our chapter has such an event, will we endanger our status within RWA? Will RWA find itself in serious trouble re: its not-for-profit status if we exclude any group of individuals?
This is one of the main reasons RWA, much as I love it, drives me insane. And why having a woman-dominated organization is full of really weird pitfalls.
RWA’s great strength is, indeed, its sense of community. However, there are times when that community puts a stranglehold on programs that could help a significant portion of its membership — the published authors. Because RWA’s primary purpose is to help aspiring writers become published, the focus is almost exclusively on that pursuit. The opportunities to grow and learn as an actively selling author are few and far between. (Don’t get me started about the theater slide program.)
So RWA is the only professional organization I know where the majority of the voting membership is aspiring, not practicing.
I know RWA isn’t likely to change tomorrow to become the author-advocacy group I long for. And that’s cool. But this whole issue of exclusivity makes me nuts because local chapters exclude published authors all the time. The difference is, no one seems to notice. The local chapter excludes published authors by featuring speakers and presentations that are elementary or well below the craft level at which most published authors work. If I’m selling books, I really don’t need to hear yet another presentation about how to write a query letter. That presentation effectively — if not formally — excludes me.
What it comes down to is this. RWA is a big pyramid of learning opportunities. We enter the organization at that nice wide base where we have tons of things we can learn. But as we gain experience, develop a relationship with an editor or agent, and sell a book, things change. We move up the pyramid in terms of our RWA options — we start using the conferences not as places to learn craft, but places to meet on professional terms with our agents and editors (though we do attend craft workshops when they don’t conflict with our business schedule). Our focus subtly changes as we dig into the business and marketing side of writing. Our local chapter meetings seem to have less to offer and it makes more sense to spend those hours writing unless we have social reasons for showing up.
I realize no one wants to feel left out, and RWA by its very nature just begs for people to feel left out. And because we’re a huge group of supportive women, we want everyone to do well and get published and get along. But at some point we have to move from perceiving RWA as a rah-rah club and start seeing it as a professional organization. For me, that point occurred when I sold a book. I became a professional and my needs changed.
And if it sounds snobbish to say that some events should be PAN-only, so be it. When you “cross over,” you’ll see what I mean.
I’ve heard similar complaints from other authors, Sandra, including one incident where it seems that non-PAN members complained about a PAN-only workshop (I think the outcome was that they cancelled it).
The whole thing really baffles me because I know some chapters have separate presentations for PANs. Everybody is together for the business portion of the meeting, but then the chapter splits between PANs and pre-PANs.
So what’s the problem with having a PAN-only event, like a bookseller luncheon where PANs and booksellers can meet-and-greet? Yikes.
Maybe the problem is in how the local leadership chooses to address the issue?
I think it’s that some people have a sense of entitlement, and they are the ones who stir people up. There are people like that everywhere.
Unfortunately, in our society, a few loudly vocal people drown out the silent majority. This isn’t new, (remember, it only took one person to ban prayer from public schools), but as long as that majority remain silent, we’ll continue to have leaders hearing only the dissenting few and then creating policies to placate them. So, thanks for speaking up for those of us who remain silent. There should be PAN ONLY benefits for belonging to RWA! I agree with you that RWA needs to seriously rethink the benefits (or lack there of) offered to published members.
I’m unpublished (for now) and I totally agree that PAN should be able to have PAN-only events. In the time I’ve been at my local RWA, I’ve seen 5 people move up to PAN and most of them hardly come to the meetings anymore. I often think about these issues and what my own involvement will be when I “cross over”. I just didn’t realize it was so widespread and that some people would actually get snippy about PAN members having events to focus on their needs.
Chris, I think that the vast majority of folks are perfectly okay with PAN-only events because they do realize the effort pubs go to — PANs volunteer their time to develop and present workshops (which can cut seriously into writing time, which we are, ostensibly, getting paid for), they judge RWA-sponsored contests, they mentor PROs and pre-PROs, and participate in other activities that benefit their local chapters.
But there are some who, as May mentioned, have a sense of entitlement. And the main problem is that RWA, from its very inception, failed to implement a strategy for dealing with this “divide” in the membership. The crux of the problem lies in the governing documents, and to change them now would be a major PITA….
So many romance authors flock to NINC (Novelists, Inc.), which requires a member applicant to have published two novels, thus ensuring that their members are more likely to be active, publishing authors. And maybe that’s the answer — it’s to get romance industry networking done within RWA and to get writing business done within something like NINC.