The meeting was chaired by Gregor Dallas and the minutes were taken by Pamela Lake. Nine members were present. The meeting opened at 6.16 pm.
1. Apologies for absence were received from:
Rod Brockway
Anna Brooke
William Clarance
Alison Culliford
Janet Edsforth Stone
Natasha Edwards
Martin Gregory
Jim Pollard
Noreen Riols
Gill Smith
Emma Vandore
Mark Whitcombe-Power
2. Approval of Minutes of AGM held in October 2008
The minutes were approved, proposed by Gregor Dallas, seconded by Gwyneth Hughes and carried unanimously.
3. Matters arising
(a) Regional committees
Gregor had sent out a circular about SOAF membership. There are approximately 180 members, scattered throughout France. Many of them feel isolated and would like to be able to meet with others. Several of them would be willing to set up committees but at present the only group in existence outside Paris is in Nice. It is run by Carol Howland and is very active. The second largest number of members in France after Nice is in the South-West and Nick Inman would like to set up a group there but it is a huge area and the logistics are difficult.
It was suggested that in Gregor’s next circular, he should suggest the possibility of having a chat room Shelley Power said that we could buy software for such a forum for around £100. Another route would be via the Society of Authors and Gregor said he would write to Mark Le Fanu. Graham Tullis suggested that we could use a chat room that is already hosted and Gregor said that perhaps we could use the Society of Authors web site. Graham said he would also send an email to the Society of Authors.
(b) Blog/web site
Gregor said the blog doesn’t attract many comments although there are a lot of hits and he receives a great many emails from readers of the blog. However, when we had a round table on a definite topic at a First Tuesday meeting, it did generate discussion on the blog. People will react on specific issues.
It was agreed to encourage members via the blog and circular emails. It was suggested that the Society of Authors web site could have a special section on the Paris group. Gregor and Graham will look into this.
(c) Social Security
The talk on Social Security which had been proposed at the last AGM had not taken place because at least fifty people were needed and there had been insufficient interest. In any case, most members were already settled and there was also plenty of information available on this subject on the web.
Gregor proposed that we consider the subject closed, seconded by Pamela Lake and carried unanimously.
4. W.H. Smith deal with Penguin
Gregor explained this deal, by which Penguin have a monopoly on travel guides on sale in W.H. Smith stores in airports, railway stations and motorway service stations. W.H. Smith in Paris, which is author friendly, has refused to take part in this deal and John Toner has become involved in a campaign to stop it. Moreover, the Guild of British Travel Writers has succeeded in getting W.H. Smith to admit that the deal with Penguin is only an experiment. It was suggested that we could have pickets outside Smiths’ Paris shop to explain the deal to customers.
The Office of Fair Trade, as a result of the Competition Act of 1998, has rarely if never found a monopoly in the book trade. The public are being cheated and authors’ livelihoods are being put at risk. After considerable discussion, it was agreed that Gregor would send the following resolution to Mark Le Fanu, proposed by John Kirby Adams, seconded by Shelley Power and carried unanimously:
The Annual General Meeting of the Society of Authors, Paris, is pleased that the National Union of Journalists is playing an active part in the protest against the deal by W.H. Smith and Penguin on travel books and appreciates the support of members of the National Union of Journalists and SOAF. The meeting regrets that it is the opinion of the Head Office of the Society of Authors ‘that nothing more can be done in the light of legal advice’ which appears to derive from the Competition Act of 1998. The meeting believes that the nature of genuine competition and the problem of monopoly and the distribution of books should be further investigated. We also believe that strong action and protest should be organized against this deal.
5, 6, 7, 8 Setting up authors’ cooperatives, help with authors’ web sites, multi-authors events, subjects for discussion at First Tuesdays
As time was running out, it was agreed to group all these topics under Item 8. It was decided as a first step to send out a circular email appealing for members to volunteer their expertise in various fields - setting up web sites, editing, design, etc.
9. Election of officers
Gregor Dallas, Pamela Lake and Gwyneth Hughes were elected to the committee, proposed by Stanley Lover, seconded by Graham Tullis and carried unanimously. Pamela Lake was re-elected as Secretary, proposed by Graham Tullis, seconded by Gregor Dallas and carried unanimously.
As he had come to the end of his three-year term office as Chairman, Gregor had to stand down. However, as there were no other candidates for the post, according to the statutes, he could be co-opted for another year. Gregor was therefore co-opted as Chairman, proposed by Pamela Lake, seconded by Gwyneth Hughes and carried unanimously.
Gregor proposed that we revise our statutes during the coming year and he will write to Mark Le Fanu.
Any Other Business
Shelley Power said she would try to find out whether the Society of Authors has a committee of authors.
Stanley Lover said he did not think our present meeting place at Carrs’ was satisfactory. It was pointed out that we had tried out a number of locations and Carrs was far and away the best. Put to the vote, five people said they were satisfied with Carrs and two were hot. Three members thought we should look for another location and three thought we should not.
Date of Next AGM
The first Tuesday in October 2010.
The meeting closed at 8.31 pm
