Furry Writers' Guild Forum

FWG Admission Requirements Discussion

FWG Ideas and Feedback
#1

Hello FWG Members! As you’ve likely seen in our newsletter (or are maybe seeing in advance as we’re posting this ahead of time to be ready) we would like to bring discussions to the table about changing our admissions policies for the guild. We have been granting associate memberships to new members recently who prove our current standards discount a lot of modern furry writing avenues for making profits or sales.

We have some basic suggestions for ideas we might like to implement below. Please keep in mind these are rough drafts of our ideas. This is why we are asking for your ideas and feedback. We would not be bringing these to a vote until our usual times as well, so we have plenty of time to explore these concepts and even add more if people so choose.

Here is what we have so far:

  • You have made written commissions sales totaling $50 a month or more within a 12 month period

  • You’ve made written commissions sales totaling $500 or more within a 12-month period.

  • Comic writers wishing to join must have written the scripts for at least 1 comic longer than 75 pages OR 3 comics of 25 pages or less. Comics must have been bought by a publisher to qualify.

  • You’ve had a writing-based monthly crowdfunding presence with earnings of $50 a month or more within a 12-month period.

  • You’ve had a writing-based monthly crowdfunding presence net $500 or more in earnings within a 12-month period

  • You’ve had a primarily text-based visual novel sell 25 or more copies priced at 99¢ or more within a 12-month period

  • You’ve had a primarily text-based visual novel net $200 or more in earnings within a 12-month period

Please offer your feedback here, on Telegram, or on our Discord (where we have a specific channel for such things). Commenting on our forums is the easiest way for us to keep ideas, followed by the Discord channel. Keep this in mind when commenting. We look forward to hearing for you!

Interactive Fiction?
#2

Unless I’m misunderstanding this, the first requirement is useless.

There is no possible way you can complete the first requirement without completing the second requirement 2 months earlier. If I’m making $50 a month, I’ll have $500 in 10 months. So there’s absolutely no point to the first one.

Same problem here. The first requirement is useless because you’ll always finish the second one two months earlier. Even if you changed it to $600, there’s still no point to the first one.

Other than that, I’m a non-member (right now), but I like the idea of expanding the requirements so that we can get furries where they are.

#3

I love the idea of including graphic novel authors, but I’m curious why their threshold for membership is lower than text only authors? sales equaling less than 25 a month when the rest require 50 a month?

#4

Unless I’m misunderstanding this, the first requirement is useless.

I think this comes from previous requirements, but maybe it’s worded poorly here. Rough drafts of course, just something we had set up while chatting on t.

The first one is supposed to mean you made $50 in a SINGLE month. You might do that one month, then only make 20 a month after, but you still qualify. Make $500 overall in a whole year? Those smaller months can still add up to qualifying.

We’ve had stuff like that for all the previous requirements so this is an attempt to do the same. Less waiting for people who are interested in joining potentially.

I’m very glad you like expanding the requirements though! We’ll figure out just how to do them.

#5

I love the idea of including graphic novel authors, but I’m curious why their threshold for membership is lower than text only authors? sales equaling less than 25 a month when the rest require 50 a month?

I’d have to tag in I think it was Tempe O’Kun on this? I think he’s the one that had the experience here to offer more ideas. I

Perhaps, however, a general litmus test that could cover everyone equally would be better though. So we don’t have to arbitrarily look at each kind of market or the like,

#6

Ah, I was misunderstanding. “$50 a month” reads to me as $50 each month. Thank you for the clarification.

My gut says that, if the goal is to both get people who have a lot in one month, but aren’t consistent, and who get a lot consistently, then $500 seems a bit high to me. That would mean $41.67 every month for a full year—which seems much harder than a person who gets $8.33 more in a single month, and then $0 the month after.

This seems especially the case for commissions.

But then, I don’t use patreon nor take commissions myself, so maybe that is a fair amount. I should shut up and let the people who actually use Patreon or take commissions weigh in on what’s fair, as they’ll know more.

1 Like
#7

So is this replacing the previous requirements for all members, or is this added to the previous requirements?

#8

So is this replacing the previous requirements for all members, or is this added to the previous requirements?

This would be in addition to previous things.

#9

I love the idea of opening the doors of membership to more folks! I would perhaps change “visual novel” to “interactive fiction piece” to be more inclusive to other interactive fiction authors, as the visual novel label implies a level of graphical interface that may not be the case for entirely text-based works such as Twine games, etc. That’s a small nitpick, though, and would probably only be noticed by IF authors like me. Thank you so much for considering all these ways to accommodate more authors! :blush:

#10

I would perhaps change “visual novel” to “interactive fiction piece” to be more inclusive to other interactive fiction authors

It’s reasons like this we ask for feedback, that kind of thing is incredibly helpful to avoid future problems popping up or more categories to add someday.

#11

Happy to help! The other thing I didn’t think about until now is this:

You’ve had a primarily text-based visual novel sell 25 or more copies priced at 99¢ or more within a 12-month period
You’ve had a primarily text-based visual novel net $200 or more in earnings within a 12-month period

I think these requirements contradict each other. For example, if you have 25 copies sell at $1 each over twelve months, that would just be $25 over the course of a year, rather than the $200 required in the second scenario. I would probably keep the first requirement and scrap the second, to make this route more accessible. I may be misunderstanding this, though. ^^;;

Thanks again!

#12

I think I can help here. $25 over 12 months is $300 in a year.

The second one allows you to not need constant perfect sales every month, high points and low points, to get towards the final goal.

#13

Did we every find out why the barrier is lower for visual/graphic work than strictly text novels? It seems odd since it’s much harder for non visual work to succeed in our niche. Visual stuff has a leg up on text usually.

#14

Truthfully? I’m unsure I have an answer! These were just rough drafts and ideas. If there’s better parameters absolutely suggest them because I’d love to make this even better.

#15

I’d suggest making them equal then. If writer’s need to do 50 in one month, then I’d just make the graphic novel authors have the same amount for qualification. Unless there’s a specific reason for the difference. So 50 copies at at least .99 seems more fair?

#16

With visual work, you might be splitting the earnings with an artist depending on how your agreement is set up with them. If the author of a visual novel has to make the same amount of money, but is already splitting the royalty 50/50 with an artist, then they effectively have to make twice the number of sales to reach the same amount of money as a non-visual creator.

I don’t know what’s best here, but that’s one reason I thought of as to why the standard was different.

2 Likes
#17

Thanks, Fuzz. That’s a valid point. :slight_smile:

#18

I haven’t made more than $50 my entire life from writing, much less each month. It’s occurring to me…I might be in the wrong place. :>

Good luck with your future endeavors!

#19

These are in addition to the previous qualifiers, and are being designed for people who have self-published. You can still qualify by being published in one paying market like an anthology, or two non-paying markets like a conbook story or charity anthology. @LiteralGrill can correct me if I’m wrong on that, that’s from memory.

#20

I posted my thoughts in a separate topic to avoid derailing the discussion in here. Just wanted to say I would love to have comic writers join. Not that I have professional bias there or anything, spend so much time studying them.