Okay here's Ms. Pershing's response to Ms. Knight (see the link below).
Clearly, the real issue may be who is and who isn't 'recognized' or whatever semantic is being used this year for who can and can't enter contests and come to conferences. If that term can be changed, the entire issue of the RITAS and conference attendance is changed as well.
My answer is simple ( well, it's simple to me).
Bring this recognition thing to a vote; indeed demand it! Then vote not to let the BOD of RWA make ANY recognition decisions in the future as that decision effects everyone in the organization. Write this refusal into the bylaws! Write a bylaw that states the membership must approve ALL recognition issues and this is to be done in open, public forums....by a vote of the majority. Of course...some will argue that the rest of us are too stupid to understand the business so they need to make these decisions for us (oh....they're already making that assumption, aren't they and while not understanding certain new aspects of the business themselves....how curious).
If that means that we all (everyone in RWA) have to fight for six months or more to get some kind of rule with which we can live, then let's do it. If the rule we write ends up needing to be changed to meet new kinds of publishing options, then let EVERYONE in the org. vote and not just 60 or so people behind closed doors. Yes....this may take a lot of time, but the alternative is to have most of the membership not vote or act as though they don't care (oh, wait.....that's already happening, isn't it?).
As it is, the only thing I've ever been asked to vote for are strike-throughs in the bylaws - wording changes that don't make a whole lot of difference. Important decisions are all made behind closed doors and by people who never offered any clue as to how they'd vote OR that they'd decide whether my books were 'recognized' at all! Since their books usually are recognized and mine usually aren't....well....two plus two always equaled four when I went to school. You figure out whose interests are being best served.
There's another option...........don't recognize anyone BUT authors! Tell publishers/agents that if they want to come to the conferences, there's a certain amount of space....first come, first served and they must pay their own way. Makes sense to me since a majority of pubs and a lot of agents aren't contracting from conferences anyhow. Oh....most of them ask to see the authors' manuscripts, but how many authors actually get contracted due to a conference face-to-face session? If RWA is paying to have pubs and agents there....RWA is, in effect, supporting and recognizing those entities. RWA is saying that 'these publishers and agents are okay'....those who aren't allowed to come 'aren't okay'.
Just my opinion here.....but I'm getting sick of letting someone else protect my rights when they seem to be doing everything to keep me from competing......and I'm paying the same exact dues to get treated this way? My money goes to supporting a system that won't let me compete? Is this even legal under the nonprofit laws of the State of Texas - the same exact laws under which RWA was formed?
As to the RITAS.....the contest should be about the best STORIES....not the way the books are being published or distributed (The way it stands, the RITAS are about hailing a few NY pubs - those who can pay the one grand advance! Again, this is just another way to support certain publishers who put out certain BOD members' books). RWA needs to go look at some of its chapters' contests, find out what those chapters do and then model the RITAS after them; those contests seem to cause so much less angst for some reason. Perhaps that's because all our dues go to the RITA ceremonies when most of us can't compete? And all while certain members tout the RITAS as being the 'industry standard'. The standard of what? How a book is printed and how it gets distributed....NOT whether it's the best story.
Okay....my cauldron stirring on this issue is about done. You decide. As for me.....I'll look out for my own interests. Ms. Pershing.....please don't do me any favors....all you and some BOD members have done thus far is to keep my book from competing against yours in certain venues....why would anyone be afraid of competition? Deep down.........I fear that's what this recognition thing is really all about. You insist that we should all make a fair living from this business while simultaneously telling us that 'your' idea of a fair living is the only one that matters. Members never even knew all this would happen; it was done so conveniently where we couldn't see or hear about it until it was too late.
No wonder the majority is silent.....
No wonder the majority is silent.....
