Industry Truth 10 of 30

The Association Shield: The Moral High Ground

Tales From A Harrogate Caravan

At a Glance

• Focus: The argument that industry associations protect the trade's reputation rather than the authors it claims to represent.
• Includes: Membership, codes of conduct, complaints, and the trade's moral high ground.
• Who it's for: Authors who expected an association to take their side and found it would not.

A badge in a glass frame, hanging on a cold wall.

The Industry Way

They hide behind memberships in various "Associations of Authors' Agents" to claim professional integrity. They use these shields to suggest that because they are "accredited," their bad treatment of writers is somehow the industry standard and therefore untouchable. If you complain, they point to their bylaws and tell you that you don't understand how the business works.

Tales From A Harrogate Caravan Way

We don't need a badge from some publishing club to publish your book. We just publish it.

The Full Story

Professional associations are often used to create an "us versus them" mentality. They use their status to dismiss legitimate complaints from writers as "unprofessional" or "ignorant." This is a classic tactic of gatekeeping: define the rules, join a club, and then use your club membership to ignore anyone who questions the system. We reject the industry’s manufactured moral high ground. We judge ourselves by the only metric that matters: the success, respect, and well-being of the writers we collaborate with.

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