My students often ask me how best to further their writing career and my answer is always the same: Join something! I can’t even count the number of opportunities that have come my way from connecting with the community of other writers. Even one-hour Zoom calls with my fellow Miss Demeanors have led to tips, referrals, advice, comfort and encouragement. Where to start?
- Mystery Writers of America: MWA may be best known as the organization that awards the Edgars, but it does much more. The MWA University teaches writers in all areas of crime writing. It holds symposia, gives scholarships, hosts meetings. It’s open to all writers, published or not yet published. It’s divided into 11 regional chapters, so membership is a great way to meet people writing near you. Full dues are $115 a year, but seniors and students pay less. On a personal note, one of my proudest moments was when I became an active member, which means MWA considers you a professional mystery writer.
- Sisters in Crime: Founded in 1986 to promote “the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers,” SinC now welcomes all genders of writers, but maintains a strong advocacy role. SinC offers a slew of community building features, from chapter meetings to speakers bureaus and support for unpublished writers. (More about that below.) Membership levels range from professional to student, but the most expensive is $60.
- SinC Guppies An on-line chapter of SinC, the Guppy chapter (short for the Great Unpublished, though many of its number have gone on to be published) offers classes on craft, connections to beta readers and “unconditional encouragement.” You have to join up with SinC National in order to take part.
- Short Mystery Fiction Society (SMFS) is an organization for mystery and crime fiction writers. The SMFS awards the Derringers. Membership is free and its daily message board is a font of information about opportunities for short story writers.
- Crime Writers of Color: Founded in 2018 by several award-winning writers of color, among them Walter Mosley and Kellye Garrett, CWC sponsors the Underrepresented Voices Reception at Bouchercon, has a speaker’s bureau and most importantly offers a chance for writers of color to connect. There is a form on the website to fill out for membership.
- International Thriller Writers Although it sounds like it’s just for thriller writers, ITW’s definition of thriller is pretty broad, and includes pretty much anyone who is writing mysteries. A unique focus of ITW is its emphasis on providing ways “”for successful, bestselling authors to help debut and midlist authors advance their careers.” It is the organizer of ThrillerFest, which is in NYC and huge! There are several levels of membership.
- Queer Crime Writers. It was founded in 2019 to promote community and collaboration among authors of crime fiction who identify as LGBTQIA+. Published and unpublished writers are welcome.
What have I left out? What have you joined?
SUSAN BREEN is the award-winning author of The Fiction Class and the Maggie Dove mystery series. She is the 2024 winner of the Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition. Her new novel, MERRY, is forthcoming from Alcove Press in Fall 2025.
I enjoy SinC’s write ins. I get more words written in that hour than any other. In June they will be held everyday.
Good to know! Thank you, Lane.
Thanks for sharing this list! All of these organizations are great, although my favorite is Sisters in Crime. They offer so much to writers at every stage of their career, and their library of recorded podcasts is a terrific resource.
Thank you, Lori. SinC is definitely beloved.
Good advice, Susan! I started writing while working full-time and juggling family life. Back then, I sometimes wondered why I was “wasting” my limited free time making up stories when I still had emails to answer and laundry to fold. Joining MWA—then winning the MWA-NY/Burstein Award for a partial draft of my first book—made a tremendous difference in how seriously I took my own work.
That is huge validation, Mally!
Joining any one of these gives you exposure to their community. Writing is such a solitary pursuit that I think writers sometimes forget the importance of joining and being a part of something where you are treated as a writer
I would add that making yourself go to at least one in person event a year can really stimulate you and help you meet people in person that you only talk to on social media— it’s a great way to make new friendships and gather resources, as well as meeting other writers to review for you or give you blurb if you need them.
That’s so important, Marni. Thank you!
As soon as I got an agent, I joined all of these! It’s been an invaluable experience. So helpful!
Me too, Emilya.
Susan, you left out Queer Crime Writers. It was founded in 2019 to promote community and collaboration among authors of crime fiction who identify as LGBTQIA+. Published and unpublished writers are welcome.
https://www.queercrimewriters.com
I have gotten a lot out of these groups. Right now, I am pretty involved in two chapters of Sisters in Crime 🙂 I would add the Historical Novelist Society for myself! The quarterly magazine is good and there are local chapters.
Susan, you left out Queer Crime Writers. It was founded in 2019 to promote community and collaboration among authors of crime fiction who identify as LGBTQIA+. Published and unpublished writers are welcome.
Thanks for letting me know, Catherine. I’ll add that in.