are you a memeber of scbwi?

McMich said:

Hi everyone-
I’ve recently been looking into joining scbwi since the local chapter meets in a library down the street from my house. Is anyone here part of scbwi? Do you find it helpful? Any info on it would be helpful. I’m a typically shy person, but want to give publishing a try (since I got an encouraging request for a partial on a MS recently).

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I've been a member for 2 years and have found it very helpful, especially in connecting with other writers. The regional conference is awesome, and this year I tried one of the national ones, too.

But if you are typically shy and just starting to dip your toes into the getting published pool, then I highly recommend SCBWI.

Now, a lot of people think it will give them instant leads and connections to editors and agents. It won't.

But it will give you information (most helpful for newbies) and connections to other writers and a supportive writing community. And, in the long run, through conferences, may help you meet some agents and editors and published writers. At most conferences there are opportunities for critiques and for meeting agents and editors. But the connections to other writers and sense of a writing community are very helpful when you are starting out.

~suki

Yes, I'm a member. I think it's a worthwhile organization to join, but, frankly, I haven't found it to be that helpful. That's probably my fault since I haven't participated as much as I could have. You only get back what you put in, and I haven't put much into being a member of SCBWI.

I joined this year and I've found it very useful. I get useful articles and news through tweets, and our regional rep is great. Last year she arranged for Laura Rennert to come and talk to us and a major publishing house editor is coming in a couple of months, too. There are get-togethers every couple of months. I find the newsletters very informative, and the message boards sometimes contain messages from agents looking for particular things. I'm planning to go to the conference in New York in January - looks fantastic.

The best thing for me so far is the guide to publication they send out. After sending my queries willy nilly for about ten months, I sat down with the guide, and contacted about six agents that I thought were far better matches than I'd ever queried before. Two of them asked for partials, and yesterday one of those asked for a full. I haven't heard back yet from some of the others.

A well-known author visited my school last year, and he urged me to join. On top of all the other benefits, it's another network. Now I add that I am an active member of SCBWI on my queries.

I'm very glad I joined.

I'm a member. I actually joined after I sold my book, so I didn't use it in that regard...but I'm going to my regional conference this year.

I've been a member for a few years now. I found two of the members of my crit group that way. I've also attended several of their annual national conferences (NYC twice and LA for the first time this summer) and loved them. I'm now addicted to the LA conference since you learn so much there and it's great for networking. And Trocadero's right. Make sure you mention in your queries that you're a member. A number of agents are also members of the organization. If you attended any of the conferences, also mention that, even if that particular agent wasn't in attendance. It just shows how serious you are about your craft (this was the recommendation of a number of editors and agents at the LA conference.).

Good luck with your decision!

I'm a member, and I find the workshops and conferences to be very informative. If you plan to attend your regional meetings, I think you'll find it worthwhile. For those who don't intend to attend events, I doubt it's worth it. The AW boards and the Blue Boards are far more useful than the SCBWI boards, in my opinion.

I just joined last month, so I haven't even gotten my welcome packet yet. I did submit a request to be added to the "looking for a critique group" and have already found 3 other people interested in a YA critique group. We're meeting this week to see if we're compatible, and if this works out I'll feel like I've gotten my money's worth.