Website update--book address changes

Attention authors who have a book listed on our website...

We have made some updates to the website that inadvertently changed the URL (or link address) to your book.  If you've set up a link to your book on our website from some other website or location, you'll have to update your listing to reflect this change.

How do you do this?

1. Go to our online library
2. Find the search block near the top of the page, and enter your book title or author name to find your book.
3. Once your book comes up, click on the title, which will bring you to your book's individual listing on our website
4. The new address will be visible in your browser's address block... that's the new address
5. Copy and paste the new address wherever needed

Sorry for any inconvenience this update caused our members!

If you have any questions, please contact our Awards Directors

2018 Review Season--Six days to go

2018 Season opening soon

The 2018 review season will open in six days--on the 15th of January.  On that date, all MWSA members in good standing will be able to visit our online store and submit their book for review and award consideration for a fee of $40.

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Become an MWSA Reviewer

We're expecting our 2018 season to be even busier than last year's season.  That means we can look forward to even more great books to read, enjoy and review.  However, this also means we'll need more help getting all that reading, enjoying and reviewing  done.

A few points to remember:

• Each book is read by three reviewers
  • If 100 books are submitted, we'll have 300 "review opportunities"
  • That's a lot of reading... the more volunteer reviewers, the better!
• Some reviewers read more than two dozen books last year!
• We get a lot of really fine books each year, and they're yours to keep (or gift to a friend or your local library) 

Adding your book to our MWSA library

Click on the image above to submit your book for the online library

As a service to our members, we're starting up a new program that allows members to add their existing or new book to our MWSA online library.  Unlike our review and award consideration submission--which costs $40--adding one book to our library will be cost-free (another benefit of your MWSA membership).

• Must be a member in good standing
• Only one book added to the library per year without cost
  • If a member wants to add more than one book per year, there will be a $5 charge
• To ensure that we can provide timely service, we are initially limiting the total number of book submissions to 100... first come, first served
• We'll try to get your book added to our library as soon as possible; but it may take a while for our volunteer staff to do all the formatting and uploading

2018 General Membership Conference dates/location approved

The MWSA Board of Directors recently approved convening our general membership conference in Charleston, South Carolina; 8-10 November 2018. 

See the Events section for more details.

MWSA gets ready for 2018 review season

MWSA Awards Director has updated our review scoring and procedures in anticipation of the start of our 2018 review season on January 15th.  The changes include...

• a new, automated scoring spreadsheet
  • reviewers will now get immediate feedback on how their numerical evaluation scores translate into medal equivalent results
  • spreadsheet has internal error-checking
• clarifications for scoring
• changes to technical scoring criteria (spelling, typos, grammar, punctuation, etc.) so that they more closely match evolving editorial philosophy in the publishing industry

The new spreadsheet has been emailed to all MWSA reviewers for comment and testing purposes, and will be ready for duty by the time our submission window opens.

MWSA authors wishing to submit their books for review and award consideration will be able to do so starting on January 15th. 

Please check out the "Review & Awards" section of our website for details.

November 2017 Info Blast

Dear MWSA Member:

A few days ago, we honored all who served in our nation’s military on November 11, Veterans Day. It’s a day rich in history and the story of how the day, originally called Armistice Day, came to be can be found at: https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/celebrate/vetday.pdf.
I’m proud to say that we have had an energizing year, capped with our conference in San Antonio. Thanks again to vice president Bob Doerr and everyone who helped make it a success. Your officers and board members are putting together plans to make 2018 even more beneficial.

A quick recap, in 2017, we:

• reorganized the awards program,. a whopping 79 books were submitted and 45 were judged worthy of award,
• computerized the membership list and got it in strong shape,
• hired a management firm to supervise membership list and take charge of the website,
• adopted new bylaws to make us more efficient, and
• worked on writing workshop programs to help members develop their skills.

In 2018, we will:

• continue improvements to the awards program with enriched communication, accelerating the review process, and give members more bang for their buck,
• build on enhancing member communication through polls, email blasts, etc,
• make significant improvements in the website and social media,
• incorporate more members into working committees,
• develop further writing workshop programs for members,
• and more!

Your officers and board of directors have rededicated themselves to serve you. Our organization is strong thanks to you. And 2018 is your opportunity to show both your support and participation as 2018 is the year we elect new officers and board members. It’s your opportunity to step forward and be a candidate or to sign on to one of our committees.
So, when you receive your renewal notice, send it in pronto. And, while you’re at it, get a colleague to join with you. It will be the best investment you make.

Sincerely,
Dwight Jon Zimmerman
President

PS Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.

New Member Programs

In order to provide more value to our members, MWSA has rolled out two new member benefits:

• Author Interviews Page
• Review Swap Program

Author Interview Program

Provides a members-only, online form for creating and publishing an author interview.  

• Create & customize your own interview
  • Write your interview questions and answers
  • Copy and paste your interview into our easy-to-use online form
  • Submit to MWSA
• MWSA will reformat--but not ed it--your interview and post it on our website
• Link to your interview on your own website to create buzz for your writing efforts

For more details, click on the button below.

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Review Swap Program

Every author knows how important reviews are to their book marketing program.  They also know that--unless you already a well-established author or have an almost unlimited budget--actually getting reviews can be difficult and/or time-consuming.

MWSA has created a members-only blog on our allied website (the one hosted by Wild Apricot) where MWSA member-authors can volunteer to review each others' books.

For more details, click on the button below.