"There were probably, what, 300 science-fiction members in the SFWA, of whom probably a hundred were active members in the sense that they were selling something every year, or every couple years"
About this Quote
The key phrase is “active members,” immediately defined not by prestige, awards, or influence, but by sales cadence: “selling something every year, or every couple years.” That’s a working writer’s metric, blunt and unromantic. Pournelle is quietly puncturing the romantic fantasy of the genre as a bustling meritocracy. In his framing, SFWA membership can look like a club, but the real line runs between those who publish consistently and those who don’t. “Active” becomes a proxy for economic survivability.
Context matters: Pournelle came up in an era when the SF field was professionalizing while still being structurally fragile - dependent on a limited set of magazines, paperback lines, and later, a handful of publishing imprints. His numbers imply a bottleneck: many aspirants, few sustainable careers. Subtextually, it’s also a warning about gatekeeping and legitimacy. If only a small cohort is “selling” regularly, they inevitably shape norms, votes, and institutional priorities. The genre’s future-facing rhetoric collides with an old-world reality: a tiny labor market, policed by output.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Pournelle, Jerry. (2026, January 16). There were probably, what, 300 science-fiction members in the SFWA, of whom probably a hundred were active members in the sense that they were selling something every year, or every couple years. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-were-probably-what-300-science-fiction-95538/
Chicago Style
Pournelle, Jerry. "There were probably, what, 300 science-fiction members in the SFWA, of whom probably a hundred were active members in the sense that they were selling something every year, or every couple years." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-were-probably-what-300-science-fiction-95538/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"There were probably, what, 300 science-fiction members in the SFWA, of whom probably a hundred were active members in the sense that they were selling something every year, or every couple years." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-were-probably-what-300-science-fiction-95538/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
