Yes, that’s right. Two writing-oriented Blog entries tonight! This second one is Nick Mamatas’s fault. Before going further, you’ll want to read this entry on his Livejournal. So, go do that. Then come back here. I’ll wait.
Done? Okay, good. Now, I don’t know the author who posted that. Perhaps she meant well. Perhaps she doesn’t know any better. But Nick is absolutely right in pointing out that it is exactly this type of stance and behavior that makes many professional authors grouse about the Stoker Award (mostly in private but sometimes in public). So what follows isn’t an attack on her. It is meant for the many who also perpetuate this type of nonsense.*
As you can see from the pic above, I’ve got eight awards, including two Bram Stoker Awards. You know what a Bram Stoker Award is? It’s a haunted house statue that the doors frequently fall off of. They are a bitch to dust around, attract chocolate fingerprint smudges from curious toddlers, and make perfectly serviceable paperweights. That’s ALL they are. That’s all any award is. A material object that you put on a shelf and then have to dust around.
The physical award isn’t important. What’s important is why you received the award. For example, right next to my Stokers in the pic above, you’ll see an award bestowed upon me by the men and women of the 509th Logistics Fuels Flight at Whitman Air Force Base (home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber). They gave me that many years ago for the Books For Troops program I used to run. To express their gratitude, these men and women pooled their money and commissioned that award, and let me tell you, it remains the single-most thing I am proud of in my fifteen-year career. The award itself is also a bitch to dust around, and it has a tendency to fall over anytime my cat or toddler jumps too hard, but the sentiment behind it means the world to me. I’m proud of that award because of why I received it.
I used to be proud of my Stokers, too, because the Stokers used to mean something. They meant that your peers — most of whom were well-read and knowledgeable and knew their roots — had judged your work to be superior. These days, not so much. The vast public perception is that the Stokers are now nothing more than a shill’s game — a primary election where the majority of the candidates promote their eligibility for a paperweight instead of the Presidency, and the electorate expects and encourages this behavior by grubbing for free books and patting the backs of those who pat theirs. Knowing that, it’s hard to feel the same sense of pride toward those two haunted houses as I do that award next to them.
Contrary to popular opinion, a Stoker Award will not help you sell a book or a movie. They do not mean you’ll get a bigger advance or better royalty rates. They do not sell extra copies of your books. To achieve these things, one does what writers have always done to achieve them. You write, submit, negotiate, and market.
Or, if none of those things are important to you, and what you want is a perfectly serviceable paperweight that is a bitch to dust around, then instead of spending your time writing, negotiating, and marketing, just keep doing what so many writers these days seem to be doing.
*Nick noted in his Blog entry that he has grown kind in his old age. So have I.
Postscript: This should go without saying, but I’m obviously not implying that every single person up for a Stoker or voting in the Stokers engages in these practices. They aren’t. Sadly, there are enough, however, who do, and thus, taint the entire process.
Postscript #2: For another take on the Stoker Award and what the statue is good for, read this by Mike Oliveri.
That “Joyce” letter has to be on the most galling dim-wittedest pieces of moron shit I’ve ever come across.
The reason I dropped my HWA membership long ago was because of the insane fixation on awards. I got letters and phone calls and even a few faxes from writers “subtly” suggesting that I vote for them. I was embarrassed for both of us. I couldn’t handle it any more so I quit.
I’m a member of the Mystery Writers of America and was for a long time a member of the Western Writers of America as well. I never had a single incident like the ones I cited above. There’s a possibility that the arm twisting went on but that I was unaware of it. But I doubt it. The nominees were announced by a committee and I never heard anything more about them until the winners were announced months later.
I’ve won a few awards and lost many, many more. It’s great to win but when I lose I honestly just shrug and forget it. Occasionally I’ll wonder why this story or novel one when–to my giant brain–there were others that were better, maybe even including mine. But when you consider the vagaries that rule any kind of voting process you realize it’s a waste of time to brood on them.
That “Joyce” letter is one vile piece of scribbling. There’s no better way to make friends with writers than to try and shake them down for free books.
Ed
I’m the world’s worst proof reader. The sentence that begins with “Occasionally I’ll wonder” should (obviously) read “Occasionally I’ll wonder why this story or novel won when–to my giant brain–there were others that were better…”
I’m taking on proofing jobs. $175 an hour.
Ed
I’m having a great time with this. Not. I went back and read through the pieces about the Joyce letter and realized that I may have said a few nasty things about a person who doesn’t have them coming. I apologize Joyce. You may well be innocent of the proper way to handle these matters and don’t need some old fart drawing down on you.
Since this is my third letter, Brian, have I created your blog’s first mini-series?
Ed: I’d pay real money for a mini-series by you to feature here!
They still give out Stokers? How odd.
This was my first time really involved in the ins and outs of the Stoker awards process and I did have to scratch my head a little. It was nothing like I imagined it to be. Seemed to be a lot of petitioning for votes, and I noticed that a lot who petitioned the most got nominations, even if their work was less than stellar. That being said, there are some great books on the list (Ron Malfi’s Floating Staircase comes to mind), but I’ve come away from the entire process disenfranchised.
This person shouldn’t be allowed to vote based solely on the first fault Nick found. Then again, she’s now part of the organization who collectively gave an award for best novel to a rip-off a couple of years ago. Okay, maybe not a rip-off, but something painfully familiar.
“The nominees were announced by a committee”
I really think the Stokers should just be juried awards.
I’M NOT AN HWA MEMBER BUT I WANT FREE BOOKS PLEASE SEND THEM TO ME AND I’LL TELL YOU IF I WOULD HAVE VOTED FOR YOUR BOOK IF I WAS A MEMBER BUT I’M NOT A MEMBER I JUST WANT FREE BOOKS IT’S LIKE AN HWA STOKER AWARD FANTASY LEAGUE AND I’M ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS NOW!!!
Wow. Just wow. The author of the “Joyce” letter seriously need to slapped upside the head and then forced to Read Twilight every day for the rest of her life.
People like that are the main reason why I absolutely refuse to join clubs, associations, co-ops, or really any other group identity type thing. And if I never win any type of award? Well good. That just means I suck at ego stroking. Yay me!
Other than that Brian, those Stoker awards are kind of cute. And as I understand it…they also make great missiles for hurling at cats who get into things they shouldn’t.
Great post, Brian! I have no interest in joining the HWA because of bullshit like that. What the hell ever happened to integrity? It doesn’t take a whole lot of bad ink to taint something that could be meaningful.
P.s.– When I pick up more jobs on my paper route I’m hiring Ed Gorman as a proofreader. His rates are reasonable. Plus he writes interesting serials. Haha.
The doors fall off? That ain’t right.
I just rejoined the HWA after taking several years off. Upon visiting their message board, I found myself filled with rage over the Stokers and the way the membership approaches the awards. I had to swallow that down, though, because right now that’s just the nature of the beast. It needs to change, yeah, but I’ve done nothing up until this point to facilitate said change.
The Joyce letter, as ridiculous and insulting as it is, just reflects the current attitude of the Stokers process.
The problem I have with the Stokers… and the HWA… and even WHC is that these things seem to put writers in the mindset of selling and marketing only to other writers. Do I want writers to read my stuff? Sure. But they are a small percentage of the audience I want.
Again, this is just me complaining. I think it needs to change. But I don’t have a solution. That’s not very helpful, is it?
By the way, anyone who says they haven’t accidentally called the HWA the Horror Writers of America is full of bull chips.
blah blah blah, at least there are still awards for horror books even if half the nominations are crap. I found out about Brian Keene through the Stokers. I read every nomination every year. Some I like some I hate. There is still the Shirley Jackson & Black Quill awards. I wish the stokers were as good as they used to be but they are not, oh well….
If you’re writing for awards, you’re doing it wrong.
“these things seem to put writers in the mindset of selling and marketing only to other writers. Do I want writers to read my stuff? Sure. But they are a small percentage of the audience I want.”
i agree with this wholeheartedly. i think this is a trap a lot of people fall into, because they’re more familiar with/aware of internet communities where the writers go and not so much the readers. This seems more common in horror than in other commercial genres, and I wonder if that’s because there is a much greater divide between the most commercially successful writers in horror and the next level down, as opposed to other genres.
And again, I was a member of the HWA for years — I was even a board member — and my feeling over the years is that the HWA can be as much of a powerhouse for horror writers as other genre organizations are for their genre writers — with change. With decisive action. I don’t know much about what’s going inside the group nowadays, but I remember offering suggestions back then for what I would have liked to see, what I think I and other writers would have needed out of membership, back then.
AAAND, I still think the Stokers should be entirely juried. Try it for a few years. Provide a smaller voting body with the works to make an informed decision. Do it like the SJAs, maybe.
Just my little ol’ two cents. With a side of toast.
” because they’re more familiar with/aware of internet communities where the writers go and not so much the readers.”
What this should have said was, ” because they’re more familiar with/aware of internet communities where the writers go and not so much where or how to reach readers, online or elsewhere.”
I suspect Mary and Ed Gorman are gonna right that serial together!
Ha! This week on briankeene.com, Ed Gorman and Mary SanGiovanni tackle the issues, starting with writing organizations and awards!
The conclusion I’ve drawn is that most members either don’t participate at all in the awards, don’t read horror, or only read a small wading pool of horror. Worse than years before…much worse.
I can’ imagine asking King or Koontz or anyone, for that matter, to send me free books, as, otherwise they obviously don’t understand the importance of the awards, and I could not possibly vote for them … (lol) On the other hand, all of those notables, despite having books out, are oddly absent from the ballot this year.
Like Brian, I have a couple of these to dust around…and in the spirit of what he said, it’s not the little haunted house that matters…it’s that something was read – and appreciated. At least I hope so. Awards aren’t important… feeling as if you’ve EARNED an award is.
When I first joined HWA lifetimes ago…it was an award judged by horror writers who were actively writing, actively pursuing professional careers as authors, and, who, if you asked them, could list nearly every important horror novel written in a ten year span and discourse on the ups and downs, style, and probably tell you what editor at what house bought it. Now I meet more and more people who don’t seem to have read much of anything…and I have come to the conclusion Mary is right. Juried is probably the way to go, and only then if you can mount a viable jury…otherwise I think I’ll sit back and read the miniseries here instead.
-DNW
Mary Sangiovanni + Ed Gorman = Lovecraftian Western/Crime/Noir awesomeness.
WIN!
Just sayin….
“it was an award judged by horror writers who were actively writing, actively pursuing professional careers as authors, and, who, if you asked them, could list nearly every important horror novel written in a ten year span and discourse on the ups and downs, style, and probably tell you what editor at what house bought it. Now I meet more and more people who don’t seem to have read much of anything…”
In the opinion of someone who’s still TRYING to read all those books, this right here is probably the biggest indictment against what’s wrong with the HWA that really strikes a chord with me.
Indictment of? Maybe Ed could proofread for me….
I advocate the same as Mary – the awards should be entirely juried.
But it shouldn’t stop there. It shouldn’t be just about the jury member not being on a jury where their own work is being considered. Personal relationships enter into it as well. I can point out at least one jury-selected nominee who has a rather close personal relationship with one of the jurors.
Great post, Brian, and lot of great replies. I read the Joyce Letter post on Facebook and thought, “Seriously? I decide to give HWA one more try, and then I find out this shit is still going on?” I let my membership lapse years ago because not only wasn’t the organization doing much for pros, but given its increasingly circle-jerk amateurism, I didn’t think there was anything I could contribute. Not anything anyone would care about, anyway. But I am going to try it one more time. Wish me luck.
I haven’t won any significant awards (unless you count the Authorlink Award for Best Genre Novel I received some years, and I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t). Given the people in HWA twenty years ago, if I’d been only nominated for an award then, I would’ve felt honored by the recognition. If it happened today . . . well, lets just say I agree with Mary. I’d like to see the organization try a juried award.
“The problem I have with the Stokers… and the HWA… and even WHC is that these things seem to put writers in the mindset of selling and marketing only to other writers.”
Truth. Social media (mainly Twitter, I think) and the whole KDP trend is really exacerbating this trend, too. So many people seem to think that “networking” means “I’m only interested in your work if you’re interested in buying mine.”
There’s a reason the Stokers have been called “The Stroker Awards” for close to twenty years now. I must say that the type of behavior exhibited by the writer of the “Joyce” letter is a thousand times worse now than it was when the award began to be referred to as “The Strokers” by a rather small group of pros (who weren’t necessarily HWA members at the time).
Maybe the Stokers should be co-sponsored by Shocklines. Both seem to be on similar downhill trajectories.
And David Wood FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve never been a member of the HWA, but I was made aware of a lot of the shit that went on through the years (I would sometimes visit the boards with a friend’s username — oh no, how awful of me!), and the Stoker award is the main reason for the ridiculousness and why I never felt the need to join. From the outside it looks all cool and glamorous, but when you see all the shit that goes on inside the organization, it makes you feel embarrassed even if you’re not a member. In fact, it seems the HWA’s only purpose nowadays is to keep the Stoker Award going strong, instead of what it’s truly meant to be, which is a organization designed to support and nurture horror writers.