I just watched a video interview with Sara Paretsky, one of the founding women of the Sister’s in Crime group, that I found to be enlightening. I really haven’t thought much about why the group was created or what their goals were when they first started. I just thought that they were a support group for women crime writers and those who create stories about fictional women crime fighters. It turns out that they were a lot more than that in the beginning and we hope they will do a lot more for them in the future. It is just a shame that we have to have a whole separate group to address the issues that women crime writers face in the world of publishing and even the public at large. Yes, females comprise 50% of the population but even today a large percentage of them are not really thought of as equals to men in any field let alone in writing crime novels.
https://jbmstore.jolenesbooksandmore.com/downloads/the-secret-adversary-by-agatha-christie
We know that there are Horror Writer’s Association, Sci-Fi Writing Organizations as well as Romance Writers Groups and Western Fiction Writers. I guess there is a writing organization for just about any type of major genre out there. Not only do these groups help writers in that field with publishing information, marketing ideas, conferences with others in the field and yearly awards for the best in the groups. They can also help with other aspects of writing life such as qualifying members for their own group health insurance, discounts on office supplies or even lobbying government agencies as a group to make changes in the laws that might affect these members.
https://jbmstore.jolenesbooksandmore.com/downloads/the-mysterious-affair-at-styles-by-agatha-christie
The Sisters in Crime group started out with just a handful of women writers but quickly grew into the thousands so that they could advocate for women crime writers with publishing companies, libraries, increase reviews with book sellers as well as a system of support and hope for those who haven’t published yet. Today is much the same but just a little bit more for it’s members. True they are only about 3600 strong across the country with 51 chapters spread out over the U.S. but they are a feisty group. Here is some information directly from their website:
Our mission?
Promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers.
Our Vision
To serve as the voice for excellence & diversity in crime writing.
What do we offer our members?
- Our monthly SinC Links — a digest of “news you can use” about the mystery business.
- Our inSinC, the Sisters in Crime Quarterly magazine.
- Sisters in Crime National Listserv where members connect and share experiences, advice and information.
- Discounts for Members (see Special Member Offers).
- An institutional presence at national and regional book events, mystery conferences and festivals with opportunities for individual author participation and/or distribution of promotional materials.
- Regional chapters, including The Guppies, an online support and critique group for unpublished writers.
- Reports from our annual publishers summit. Each year we tackle a new issue in the business, 2016 was diversity in publishing.
- An on-going mystery review project that monitors media coverage of female and male authors, the Monitoring Project.
- Networking, mentoring, and fun!
So whether you are a female mystery writer or just an avid fan you can join in on the fun and be a member of the National group and the local chapter today.
Celebrating 30th Anniversary of the Sisters in Crime Organization
