Join the CWA

Who can join?

We offer full membership for those in the UK and overseas who have had published a full length work of crime fiction or non-fiction, and provisional membership for those who have a contract from a recognised publishing house but have not yet had their work published. If you are an author based outside the UK you are equally welcome.

For those who work primarily within the industry – publishers, editors, agents, bloggers and reviewers – we also have associate and corporate membership categories.

The CWA has reciprocal agreements with the Society of Authors, the Historical Writers’ Association and Crime Writers of Canada to give a 20% discount on the first year’s CWA subscription to members of those organisations. This discount will be applied after your membership has been approved.

CWA membership eligibility is for life. If you have been a CWA member previously, and wish to re-join, there is no need to apply. Simply contact the Membership Secretary.

Explore our member benefits

Which membership level is right for you?

Prices listed below cover one year’s worth of membership which can be renewed annually.

You can choose whether to receive the printed version of our monthly Red Herrings magazine, or a digital version. Details are included below.

Full membership – with printed monthly magazine from only £89 pa

What you get	Cost (printed)	Cost (digital)
Open to writers who have published: at least one full–length (65,000 words) novel or non-fiction book with a crime theme or published serials, short stories or feature articles with a crime theme, equivalent in total to a book-length work or a feature film script or a number of shorter screenplays with a crime theme, approximating to a book-length work or a published audiobook or collection of audiobooks that approximate a book length work or a book-length crime themed graphic novel or a full-length play with a crime theme, produced in the professional theatre or radio or television scripts, which have been broadcast, and which approximate to a book-length work. Books for young people can be used to qualify, as long as the total word count for the one or more qualifying works equals or exceeds 65,000 words.	UK: £89 Europe: £124 Rest of world: £134	£79

What you get

Cost (printed)

Cost (digital)

Open to writers who have published:

at least one full–length (65,000 words) novel or non-fiction book with a crime theme

or published serials, short stories or feature articles with a crime theme, equivalent in total to a book-length work

or a feature film script or a number of shorter screenplays with a crime theme, approximating to a book-length work

or a published audiobook or collection of audiobooks that approximate a book length work

or a book-length crime themed graphic novel

or a full-length play with a crime theme, produced in the professional theatre

or radio or television scripts, which have been broadcast, and which approximate to a book-length work.

Books for young people can be used to qualify, as long as the total word count for the one or more qualifying works equals or exceeds 65,000 words.

UK: £89
Europe: £124
Rest of world: £134

£79

Which application form should you use?

If you have a traditional publishing contract with a recognised publisher, and have not contributed to the cost of publication, fill in the Traditionally Published Author Membership form. Check our list of recognised publishers in this dropdown:

List of recognised publishers

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

(If your publisher is not on this list, but you have a traditional contract with them and make no financial contribution to the cost of publication, you may still apply accordingly. We’ll ask for more details after your application is submitted to confirm eligibility.)

If you are independently or self-published, or have contributed to the costs of publication with a third party or hybrid publisher, complete the Self-Published application form.

Provisional membership – with printed monthly magazine from only £89 pa

What you get	Cost (printed)	Cost (digital)
Open to crime writers with a valid contract, whose first book will be published within the next two years. Provisional membership is open to those, who when their book is published, will qualify for full membership. If the book on the basis of which provisional membership has been granted is not published at the end of two years, then this membership will automatically expire. Provisional membership will automatically convert to Full membership when your book is published.	UK: £89 Europe: £124 Rest of world: £134	£79

What you get

Cost (printed)

Cost (digital)

Open to crime writers with a valid contract, whose first book will be published within the next two years.

Provisional membership is open to those, who when their book is published, will qualify for full membership.

If the book on the basis of which provisional membership has been granted is not published at the end of two years, then this membership will automatically expire.

Provisional membership will automatically convert to Full membership when your book is published.

UK: £89
Europe: £124
Rest of world: £134

£79

Apply

Associate membership – with printed monthly magazine from only £99 pa

What you get	Cost (printed)	Cost (digital)
Open to those who, in their profession or occupation, are associated with the genre – including publishers, editors, literary agents, crime reviewers, booksellers and those connected with the production of members’ work, whether in print, online, on stage, in film, radio or television.	UK: £99 Europe: £129 Rest of world: £139	£89

Apply

Corporate membership – with printed monthly magazine from £144 pa

What you get	Cost (printed)	Cost (digital)
Open to companies and organisations, such as publishers and literary agencies, whose activities are to a large degree concerned with crime writing. Corporate Members can receive up to five printed copies of each issue of Red Herrings included in the printed membership. Please tell us how many you’d like. Extra copies can be ordered at an extra cost.	UK: £144 Europe: £169 Rest of world: £179	£134

What you get

Cost (printed)

Cost (digital)

Open to companies and organisations, such as publishers and literary agencies, whose activities are to a large degree concerned with crime writing.

Corporate Members can receive up to five printed copies of each issue of Red Herrings included in the printed membership. Please tell us how many you’d like.

Extra copies can be ordered at an extra cost.

UK: £144
Europe: £169
Rest of world: £179

£134

Apply

Emerging Author membership – with printed monthly magazine from £45 pa

Emerging Author membership is open to writers who, at the time of application:

Do not have a book published (or self-published)
Are not represented by an agent
Have demonstrated a serious interest in crime writing, for example through enrolment in or completion of an academic course focussed on crime writing
Authors who are longlisted or shortlisted for the CWA Emerging Author Dagger from 2021 onward are also eligible for Emerging Author membership

For more information on the benefits and limitations of Emerging Membership, please click here.

What you get	Cost (printed)	Cost (digital)
Access to our members-only publication, Red Herrings Access to the CWA Emerging Authors newsletter Special discounts available to all CWA members Special CWA Emerging Authors graphics An Emerging Authors profile in our searchable author database	£45 pa	£40 pa

Apply

Renewing your membership

If you have not chosen an auto-renewing membership, or your membership has lapsed, you don’t have to fill out a new application. Simply contact admin@thecwa.co.uk and request a membership renewal.