I don’t know what’s in the water Scott Turow, head of the Author’s Guild, is drinking, but it must be good shit. He’s apparently gone over to the camp of the legacy traditional publishing houses and is no longer interested in genuinely supporting the interests of the AG membership at large.
Can’t someone stage a peaceful coup and get that moron voted out of office?
I, for one, will not waste my money on joining them. Why join an organization that not only doesn’t support its authors, but is also in direct opposition to a successful business model many of them use? (ie. indie publishers and self-publishing, or a combination of the two)
It’s the same reason I didn’t renew to the RWA after my first year of membership ended back in 2009. I refuse to pay to be treated like a red-headed step-child with rabies just because I found a path that works that’s different than what they’re preaching. (Although I’ve heard from some recently that the RWA has undergone a shift in thinking, but I don’t know that for sure and, frankly, haven’t seen enough compelling evidence to make me want to try them again.)
Read about Scott Turow and his backward thinking at TechDirt, an earlier post about it on TechDirt, and a good response by Barry Eisler.
I read the NYTimes every morning. I remember reading this piece and thinking my caffeine hadn’t kicked in because it sounded like BS.
When I first me the requirements to join the RWA, I looked into it, but I couldn’t see what they could do for me, how they were going to earn that $85(?), so I never joined. Glad to see I was right.
I’d love to know what kind of kick-back he’s getting from the traditional publishers to stick to that crazy-assed way of thinking.
Or maybe he really is just that out-of-touch and needs to step down from his leadership role.
Either way, he makes himself and the organization look like a joke.
I know some have told me individual chapters of the RWA are not backward like the main body, but you have to be a member of RWA to be a chapter member. You’re forced to take one if you want the other. Frankly, even though we have a large chapter here in Tampa and several of my friends and fellow Siren authors are members, I’m still not convinced I want to give my money to the national body. Not until I’m sure they’ve got their heads out of their asses.
And, of course, to clarify I mean the main RWA body has their heads out of their asses, not my friends. LOL My friends are very nice, good people.