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SFWA President: Russell Davis
Fellow SFWA Members:
It is with no small amount of personal surprise that I find myself writing this statement to ask for your support as I run for the office of President of SFWA.
I want to begin this statement with a brief summary of my experience in both the publishing and corporate worlds. To date, I have written and sold nearly twenty novels, published primarily under pseudonyms, including David Cian, D.L. Lawson and Christopher Tracy. (Due to contractual obligations, I cannot reveal all of the names I have written under.) I have also sold over thirty short stories. I have been the editor or co-editor of more than a dozen anthology titles, numerous short-story collections and well over a hundred novels. I currently own a book packaging company, Morning Storm Books, and I also do some freelance consulting work in business operations and marketing. Prior to that, I was the editor for two fiction lines at Five Star Publishing: the romance and women’s fiction line, as well as the science fiction and fantasy line. Throughout my career, I have worked with both for-profit and non-profit businesses, and have held positions ranging from Media Director to Business Development Director to Owner.
My first volunteer position with SFWA was as the chair of the old ePiracy Committee, and I continued to serve as a member until I was appointed to the Board as the Western Regional Director by current President Michael Capobianco. More recently, I agreed to serve as the chair of the new Copyright Committee, at least until the new officers step in. Should I win the seat of President, I will find a qualified volunteer to replace me; should I lose, the new President will have the right to review all committees and their chairs and may choose to replace me at that time. In either case, until that time, I will continue to serve in that capacity. The issues involving copyright infringement are far too complex in scope for our organization to choose a path of inaction or, worse still, a path that creates more problems than it solves.
SFWA is an organization at a crossroads, and the path we choose now will have significant consequences in the future. Continuing on our present course may lead to the fracturing of our organization, while using the past as our only guide may lead us into permanent irrelevance in the much-changed world of publishing. In order to thrive, we must embrace the difficult process of change, both internal and external. In this way, we can more effectively serve our members and our goals as an organization. I believe these changes to be our best hope of not only growing, but also growing stronger, and ensuring our continued relevance to the publishing community at large.
I have seen references to SFWA as an association, but the simple fact is that SFWA is a non-profit corporation. It is time that we begin to run it as a business. Our bylaws clearly lay out our purposes, but our ability to carry out these important and valuable purposes has become hampered by our own internal battles. The members deserve an organization that fulfills the purposes stated in the bylaws, provides the services that are wanted and needed by the members, interacts with and gets positive results from the publishing community and takes successful actions in the public sphere.
Sadly, the toxic and often non-salient argumentative atmosphere that prevails online, the constant brush fires and flamewars, have created a situation where the leadership of SFWA - both past and present - is forced to address emergencies (real and/or perceived) rather than focus their energies on running, growing and ensuring that the business of SFWA gets done.
As President, there are a number of key tasks that I will address, including: Working with the Reincorporation Committee to finalize the process of reincorporating in another state, reinvigorating a new Bylaws Committee that will work with the Board and the membership to develop the new bylaws such a move would require, developing with the Board a set of solid operating procedures that will work in tandem with the new Bylaws to ensure that SFWA can operate as a successful non-profit business and assist in areas like institutional memory and member interaction.
Related to these goals, I will also review every existing SFWA committee to ask four key questions about each. Is the committee active and has a matrix of measurable, attainable goals and objectives? Does the committee duplicate the work or interests of another committee? Should the committee be designated as either a standing or an ad-hoc committee? And finally, does the committee needs to be dissolved or reinvigorated with new leadership or members? The answers to these questions will help determine the future of the various committees, and help streamline services to our members.
Externally, there are many other challenges that must be addressed, including the completion and publication of a solid SFWA Handbook, developing and getting sold more SFWA-branded anthology titles, expanding our conversations with the publishing community at large, and developing key partnerships with other writing organizations so that when issues relevant to us all arise, we can stand together and present a united front.
I decided to run for many reasons, but core to my decision was a question that I think needs answering: How can we successfully conduct business and interactions outside of SFWA, if our own house is not in order? In short, I do not believe we can. To be able to deal with the massive multi-media corporations that own much of publishing today we must be able to command their respect - they must know we are serious about dealing with them, rather than serious about dealing with flamewars and public relations disasters that minimize our credibility among our own members and in the publishing industry. My promise to the members, should I be elected, is this: I will respect our history and intend to make full use of the wisdom of the past presidents and officers, and I will make certain the members voices are heard... but I will also move us forward. If we are to be relevant to publishing in the 21st century, organizational change is not only required, it is inevitable.
The road ahead is not easy. Changes of this nature are always difficult and sometimes frightening. There will be other contenders for this important position, and I look forward to engaging with them on the issues, while remaining positive in my campaign approach. I will be an active, focused President that believes in teamwork and leadership guided by the needs of our organization and our members. I will work towards lifting the online atmosphere of SFWA out of pointless, non-salient arguments and attacks and into a state of resourcefulness and open discussion that can lead to positive changes for our organization. And I promise that I will work to accomplish our goals in a methodical and open manner, remaining dedicated to the best-interests of the membership and SFWA itself throughout my term.
I look forward to the coming campaign and answering any questions you may have. Thank you for your time, attention and - hopefully - your vote.
Sincerely,
Russell Davis
It is with no small amount of personal surprise that I find myself writing this statement to ask for your support as I run for the office of President of SFWA.
I want to begin this statement with a brief summary of my experience in both the publishing and corporate worlds. To date, I have written and sold nearly twenty novels, published primarily under pseudonyms, including David Cian, D.L. Lawson and Christopher Tracy. (Due to contractual obligations, I cannot reveal all of the names I have written under.) I have also sold over thirty short stories. I have been the editor or co-editor of more than a dozen anthology titles, numerous short-story collections and well over a hundred novels. I currently own a book packaging company, Morning Storm Books, and I also do some freelance consulting work in business operations and marketing. Prior to that, I was the editor for two fiction lines at Five Star Publishing: the romance and women’s fiction line, as well as the science fiction and fantasy line. Throughout my career, I have worked with both for-profit and non-profit businesses, and have held positions ranging from Media Director to Business Development Director to Owner.
My first volunteer position with SFWA was as the chair of the old ePiracy Committee, and I continued to serve as a member until I was appointed to the Board as the Western Regional Director by current President Michael Capobianco. More recently, I agreed to serve as the chair of the new Copyright Committee, at least until the new officers step in. Should I win the seat of President, I will find a qualified volunteer to replace me; should I lose, the new President will have the right to review all committees and their chairs and may choose to replace me at that time. In either case, until that time, I will continue to serve in that capacity. The issues involving copyright infringement are far too complex in scope for our organization to choose a path of inaction or, worse still, a path that creates more problems than it solves.
SFWA is an organization at a crossroads, and the path we choose now will have significant consequences in the future. Continuing on our present course may lead to the fracturing of our organization, while using the past as our only guide may lead us into permanent irrelevance in the much-changed world of publishing. In order to thrive, we must embrace the difficult process of change, both internal and external. In this way, we can more effectively serve our members and our goals as an organization. I believe these changes to be our best hope of not only growing, but also growing stronger, and ensuring our continued relevance to the publishing community at large.
I have seen references to SFWA as an association, but the simple fact is that SFWA is a non-profit corporation. It is time that we begin to run it as a business. Our bylaws clearly lay out our purposes, but our ability to carry out these important and valuable purposes has become hampered by our own internal battles. The members deserve an organization that fulfills the purposes stated in the bylaws, provides the services that are wanted and needed by the members, interacts with and gets positive results from the publishing community and takes successful actions in the public sphere.
Sadly, the toxic and often non-salient argumentative atmosphere that prevails online, the constant brush fires and flamewars, have created a situation where the leadership of SFWA - both past and present - is forced to address emergencies (real and/or perceived) rather than focus their energies on running, growing and ensuring that the business of SFWA gets done.
As President, there are a number of key tasks that I will address, including: Working with the Reincorporation Committee to finalize the process of reincorporating in another state, reinvigorating a new Bylaws Committee that will work with the Board and the membership to develop the new bylaws such a move would require, developing with the Board a set of solid operating procedures that will work in tandem with the new Bylaws to ensure that SFWA can operate as a successful non-profit business and assist in areas like institutional memory and member interaction.
Related to these goals, I will also review every existing SFWA committee to ask four key questions about each. Is the committee active and has a matrix of measurable, attainable goals and objectives? Does the committee duplicate the work or interests of another committee? Should the committee be designated as either a standing or an ad-hoc committee? And finally, does the committee needs to be dissolved or reinvigorated with new leadership or members? The answers to these questions will help determine the future of the various committees, and help streamline services to our members.
Externally, there are many other challenges that must be addressed, including the completion and publication of a solid SFWA Handbook, developing and getting sold more SFWA-branded anthology titles, expanding our conversations with the publishing community at large, and developing key partnerships with other writing organizations so that when issues relevant to us all arise, we can stand together and present a united front.
I decided to run for many reasons, but core to my decision was a question that I think needs answering: How can we successfully conduct business and interactions outside of SFWA, if our own house is not in order? In short, I do not believe we can. To be able to deal with the massive multi-media corporations that own much of publishing today we must be able to command their respect - they must know we are serious about dealing with them, rather than serious about dealing with flamewars and public relations disasters that minimize our credibility among our own members and in the publishing industry. My promise to the members, should I be elected, is this: I will respect our history and intend to make full use of the wisdom of the past presidents and officers, and I will make certain the members voices are heard... but I will also move us forward. If we are to be relevant to publishing in the 21st century, organizational change is not only required, it is inevitable.
The road ahead is not easy. Changes of this nature are always difficult and sometimes frightening. There will be other contenders for this important position, and I look forward to engaging with them on the issues, while remaining positive in my campaign approach. I will be an active, focused President that believes in teamwork and leadership guided by the needs of our organization and our members. I will work towards lifting the online atmosphere of SFWA out of pointless, non-salient arguments and attacks and into a state of resourcefulness and open discussion that can lead to positive changes for our organization. And I promise that I will work to accomplish our goals in a methodical and open manner, remaining dedicated to the best-interests of the membership and SFWA itself throughout my term.
I look forward to the coming campaign and answering any questions you may have. Thank you for your time, attention and - hopefully - your vote.
Sincerely,
Russell Davis