Minutes of SOAF First Tuesday meeting at Carr’s Irish Pub on Tuesday, 1 September, 2009
Minutes taken by Pamela Lake
Present
Gregor Dallas
Pamela Lake
Gwyneth Hughes
Stanley Lover
Anne Morddel
Jim Pollard
Annabel Simms
Pierre Tran
Emma Vandore
Three subjects were discussed at this meeting. The first was W.H. Smith’s deal by which Penguin Books will become the sole supplier of foreign travel guides in Smith’s airport, motorway and railway station outlets. This is a very worrying development which is harmful to authors and so far the Society of Authors in London has not made any protest. However, John Toner, Freelance Officer of the National Union of Journalists has launched a campaign and has written to the Office of Fair Trade. Gregor has written to him expressing his support.
After a lively discussion, the following decisions were made:
1; Check whether Which has taken the matter up.
2. Find out how John Toner’s protest is progressing via the NUJ
3. Write to Head Office, SoA, London, to ask what they intend to do about the matter
4. Check whether there is a travel writers’ association
5. Consider what other bodies could be consulted - for example, the European Commission on the legality of the W.H. Smith/Penguin deal.
The second subject was who will be chairman of SOAF after Gregor Dallas’s three-year term expires this October. An appeal for candidates was made in Gregor’s August email; so far no one has applied for this exciting, unpaid job. A second appeal will be launched this September.
The third subject discussed was self-publishing. Stanley Lover produced a copy of his memoirs, Chronicles of a Timid Lover, which he has self-published in hardback with the firm M.C.T. Biddles. The book is very well produced - good paper, several pages of photographs and an attractive cover design. Stanley ordered 100 copies, intended for family and friends, and they were delivered within one month at a total cost of £946.81p. He may now consider going into paperback and trying to attract a publisher.
Everyone remarked on the excellent quality of the book which was vastly superior to that of other self-publishing firms members had used. Anne Morddel had used Lulu, but only to train herself, before self-publishing entirely on her own. She said that with Lulu she had had to do all the work herself and that they used poor quality paper.
One of the major drawbacks to self-publishing is that it is virtually impossible to get the national press to review one's book. The general feeling of the meeting was that authors should consider getting together in some kind of consortium and creating a joint publishing venture. It has been done before and could be again.
Present
Gregor Dallas
Pamela Lake
Gwyneth Hughes
Stanley Lover
Anne Morddel
Jim Pollard
Annabel Simms
Pierre Tran
Emma Vandore
Three subjects were discussed at this meeting. The first was W.H. Smith’s deal by which Penguin Books will become the sole supplier of foreign travel guides in Smith’s airport, motorway and railway station outlets. This is a very worrying development which is harmful to authors and so far the Society of Authors in London has not made any protest. However, John Toner, Freelance Officer of the National Union of Journalists has launched a campaign and has written to the Office of Fair Trade. Gregor has written to him expressing his support.
After a lively discussion, the following decisions were made:
1; Check whether Which has taken the matter up.
2. Find out how John Toner’s protest is progressing via the NUJ
3. Write to Head Office, SoA, London, to ask what they intend to do about the matter
4. Check whether there is a travel writers’ association
5. Consider what other bodies could be consulted - for example, the European Commission on the legality of the W.H. Smith/Penguin deal.
The second subject was who will be chairman of SOAF after Gregor Dallas’s three-year term expires this October. An appeal for candidates was made in Gregor’s August email; so far no one has applied for this exciting, unpaid job. A second appeal will be launched this September.
The third subject discussed was self-publishing. Stanley Lover produced a copy of his memoirs, Chronicles of a Timid Lover, which he has self-published in hardback with the firm M.C.T. Biddles. The book is very well produced - good paper, several pages of photographs and an attractive cover design. Stanley ordered 100 copies, intended for family and friends, and they were delivered within one month at a total cost of £946.81p. He may now consider going into paperback and trying to attract a publisher.
Everyone remarked on the excellent quality of the book which was vastly superior to that of other self-publishing firms members had used. Anne Morddel had used Lulu, but only to train herself, before self-publishing entirely on her own. She said that with Lulu she had had to do all the work herself and that they used poor quality paper.
One of the major drawbacks to self-publishing is that it is virtually impossible to get the national press to review one's book. The general feeling of the meeting was that authors should consider getting together in some kind of consortium and creating a joint publishing venture. It has been done before and could be again.
posted by SOAF Chairman at 3:19 AM
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