RNA membership secretary, Alison May, has
popped along today to give us the exciting news about membership changes.
Welcome, Alison.
Responding to
change is one of the hardest things for any organisation to do – organisations
have principles and values that they want to uphold, but at the same time
nobody wants to get left behind while the world cheerily moves on around them.
The Romantic Novelists’ Association is an organisation that exists for two
reasons - to ‘raise the prestige of romantic authorship’ and ‘to encourage and
foster the writing of romantic works'.
For years the RNA
has worked towards these goals by celebrating and promoting the best in
romantic fiction through events like the RoNA awards, and by supporting
writers’ development through the New Writers’ Scheme for new and unpublished
authors, and by providing development and networking opportunities for romance
writers across the country through our meetings, conferences and local
chapters. And for years it was felt relatively easy to identify what made a
professional romance author – traditional publishing was the goal for
new writers and the defining characteristic of our full members.
But over the last
five to ten years the publishing industry has changed. The rise of ebooks and
print-on-demand services has made self-publishing a commercially viable option
in a way that, for the majority of authors, it simply hasn’t been before. At
the same time, many publishers have struggled to adapt to a changing market
place as high street booksellers have declined and the internet has become the
default option for many book buyers. Increasing numbers of entrepreneurial
authors have seen these changes as an opportunity and, by self-publishing,
found a route to get their books directly to readers.
So I’m delighted
that as of this September the RNA has recognised the professionalism of
successful self-publishers and established a new category of membership –
Independent Author Membership – as a route to full membership of the association.
The first Independent Author Members are already signed up and we’re looking
forward to seeing them contribute to the association.
If you’re a
self-published author of romantic fiction you can find the full criteria for
Independent Author Membership on our website:
and I really hope you will consider joining the RNA. It’s one of the
friendliest, most supportive, but also most professional and inspiring,
organisations I’ve ever been a part of, and we look forward to welcoming more
self-published writers to our ranks.
She is also a creative writing tutor and
Membership Secretary for the Romantic Novelists’ Association. You can find out
more about Alison at www.alison-may.co.uk
or by following her on twitter @MsAlisonMay
Thank you, Alison. We look forward to welcoming our new members and meeting them at chapter events, parties and the Summer Conference.
The RNA blog is brought to you by,
Elaine Everest &
Natalie Kleinman
If you would like to write for us please get in touch on
elaineeverest@aol.com
