Member Benefits

Welcome to Mystery Writers of America! For the last eighty years we’ve been the premier organization for mystery and crime writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and folks who just love to read crime fiction. We live under an enormous, diverse tent where everyone is welcome, regardless of where you are in your career, what you write, or who your audience is. We also are known for holding out a hand to help the next generation of writers — the same way someone else helped each of us.

Why not join us? If you do, here’s a list of amazing benefits you’ll be able to take advantage of as a member:

BECOME PART OF A VIBRANT WRITING COMMUNITY:

• Your national dues automatically enroll you as a member in one of our eleven regional chapters, which host monthly meetings and special programs that are educational, opportunities for networking, or just plain good times socializing with friends. Local chapters have their own newsletters and e-mail discussion lists.
• Access to EMWA, a general e-mail discussion list open to members only. Among the resources: a list of libraries looking for speakers.
• Do you have questions about contracts, book tours, agents, foreign rights, movie options or other business matters? Join our Breakout Advanced Level e-mail list.
• Do you write for kids or young adults? Join our Juvenile/YA e-mail discussion list.
•  Self-published? We’ve got an e-mail list for you, too.
• The MWA e-Bulletin, also known as tooting our own horn, is delivered to members when we have special news like announcing Edgar® Award nominees and winners, a call for short story submissions for one of our award-winning anthologies, or to let you know about yet more member benefits.

RESOURCES YOU CAN ONLY FIND AT MWA:

• Ten issues annually of The Third Degree, our news-filled national newsletter that also billboards our members’ latest publications in a column called Vital Signs. See a public version of The Third Degree here.
• Free access to MWA University webinars and content, where some of our best and brightest teach classes on craft and the business of writing. (Non-members pay a fee.)
• Getting started as a writer? We have a national mentor program.
• Need help with your manuscript? Take advantage of our manuscript critique program.
• Do you need help getting the rights back to your book or have a contract issue? We have a Contracts & Grievances Committee, where you can get valuable legal advice. (We don’t have a team of lawyers who can represent you, but we can steer you in the right direction.)
• Discounts from AuthorBytes, a custom website design, development, and hosting company that creates and maintains professional WordPress websites for authors and writers. Over the course of 23 years, AuthorBytes has launched and hosted more than 900 sites for New York Times bestselling, rising mid-list, and debut authors.)

MWA’S EDGAR® AWARDS AND ANTHOLOGIES:

• All MWA members receive invitations to the black tie (“Dress to Kill”) Edgar Awards banquet in New York City each spring. Even if you don’t attend the banquet, you receive a mailed copy of the Edgar Annual, which is filled with essays and interviews about all things Edgar-related. Members also receive e-mailed versions of 2 Edgar-related issues of The Third Degree, listing nominees and winners, along with their book/magazine covers or TV graphics.
• A discount to the Edgar® Week Symposium, where nominees get a chance to talk with some of the best folks in the business about their books and issues affecting writers today.
• An opportunity to submit a short story in one of our anthologies, edited by one of the top mystery authors in the genre. Submissions are either by invitation or as blind submissions judged by an independent committee.
• Every year an enthusiastic and dedicated group of our members give their time and talent to judge (and watch) hundreds of books, short stories, and television episodes before nominating their top choices for the most prestigious prize in the mystery genre, the Edgar® Award. If you join us, we’re always looking for judges.

EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNTS ON RESOURCES FOR WRITERS:

• Subscription discounts for the following publications: Publishers Weekly, The Writer, Writer’s Digest, The Strand, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, & Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.
• Subscription discount rate for Publisher Alley, an online tool for analysis of book sales.
• Subscription discount for industry expert Jane Friedman’s newsletter The Bottom Line, with information you need to know on the business of writing and book publishing.
• Discount on books ordered from Writer’s Digest Books and Writer’s Digest Magazine
• Discount on all books purchased from Murder by the Book, an independent mystery bookstore in Houston, Texas
• Looking for health insurance as a self-employed writer? We have a partnership with LIG Solutions.
• Just for fun: Discounts through Working Advantage, in case you want to take time from your busy writing career. Visit amusement parks, ski resorts, take that cruise, watch a Broadway play or a movie, and take advantage of many more entertainment venues, all at a reduced price.

We hope we’ve piqued your interest and now you’re ready to join us. As an MWA member, you’ll find links that take you directly to these discounts and offers on the Members Only pages. Learn more about becoming a member, and download an application here. And once you’re a new member, we’ll officially welcome you in The Third Degree in a column called — what else? — Fresh Blood.