The CAA National membership committee recently made changes which might make it easier for you to qualify for professional designation. Your self-published work would qualify if it meets 4 of the 6 following criteria.
The work:
- Must be edited by an editor qualified by professional qualifications or experience (provide the name, contact, and qualifications of editor).
- Must have a minimum level of net income of $500 within the past two years (net income after the deduction of costs for printing, distribution, editing, design, publicity, and promotion; provide income and royalty statements).
- Minimum number of 250 units sold within the past two years (provide statement of units sold).
- Must be registered (ISBN, ASIN, or other).
- Cover must be designed by a designer qualified by professional qualifications or experience (provide the name, contact, and qualifications of the designer).
- Interior of the work must be designed by a designer qualified by professional qualifications or experience (provide the name, contact, and qualifications of the designer).
The self-published work may be combined with work from other categories:
- Book Author – Trade or Commercial Publisher, minimum of 25,000 words, except for children’s books
- Poet – minimum of 500 lines
- Periodical or Journal Writer – minimum of 25,000 words in articles or short stories
- Newspaper Writer or Columnist – minimum of 20,000 words total
- Scriptwriter – radio, television or theatre scripts totaling a minimum of three hours playing time
- Writing instructor – minimum of 50 hours teaching time, and this must be combined with another category
- Artist – minimum of 50 illustrations published
- Photographer – minimum of 50 photographs published
- Cartoonist – minimum of 50 cartoons published
- Translator – minimum requirements are the same as for the writing category from which the translations were made
- Technical Writer – minimum of 25,000 words
- Trade or In-House Periodical Writer/Editor – full-time position