If you sell fiction in the U.S. then you have to worry about the same rights and contracts issues that any author living here does. SFWA’s mission is to inform, support, promote, defend and advocate for our members. This ranges from having members-only areas where you can talk to colleagues to the Emergency Medical Fund to conducting audits on members behalf. More importantly, having a large group means that we can advocate for conditions within the genre in ways that an individual member can’t, such as the work we are doing about the Google Book Settlement. By joining, you contribute your weight to making science fiction and fantasy stronger for the entire community.