any illustration society members here?

[John Dollus]

Tim,
Yes, I agree with you. ASAI only puts out a newsletter a couple times a year (disclosure: I was editor of the last one) so it's not what I would call a primary benefit and certainly not a magazine. The AIP books, though, are very beneficial. I don't know offhand what the members discount is but I imagine you would have to purchase quite a few books if you are looking at a direct payback of the membership cost. ASAI members also receive a 10% discount from the CGArchiect Shop so there's another benefit.

[Timothy Richardson]

The books came out here a few years ago, I got three of them fairly cheaply. I tried to get more recent ones through the RIBA bookshop but they had to pay the same as me $35 + $35 postage which is very expensive again. I think there is only an American distributor now. It is a shame because they are really nice.

[Scott Erstad]

I think membership is $170 which works out at £105 which is a lot of money for a magazine! I am not likely to go to the USA for any reason so wouldn't be able to use any of the other benefits. It does seem a lot for overseas membership, I guess in the past postage costs came into it but nowadays most communication is free.

The thinking is that membership offers more benefits than the newsletter. ow you might value these additional benefits and affiliations is your call obviously. http://www.asai.org/MembershipBenefits

I recently started our my own studio. however in my previous place of employment, we would usually have 1-2 contracts having come to us via the ASAI gallery page. So the annual cost of membership each year had been offset by that benefit alone.

Cheers,