Creative Partnerships

As a children's writer, illustrator, poet, actor or musician, you may have worked with Creative Partnerships.  If you have, and you would like to share your experiences, please contact the Children's Writers and Illustrators Group Secretary, Jo McCrum, at JMccrum@societyofauthors.org 

For more information about the Creative Partnerships Scheme, please visit: www.creative-partnerships.com

Batchconnect website

We recently informed members in the The Author about a new website - batchconnect.com. Set up by the Booksellers Association for authors, booksellers and publishers to communicate directly with each other. 

Since The Author went to press we have been notified that the launch of this website has been delayed and will now go live on 9th January 2009.

Educational Writers' Award - winner announced

Ian Gilbert's The Little Book of Thunks: 260 Questions to Make your Brain Go Ouch! (Crown House Publishing) has won this year's Educational Writers' Award. The award is sponsored by the Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS) and supported and administered by the Society of Authors.

US litigation against Google settled

A dispute has been running for some years in the USA about Google’s Library Project and the company’s presumption that under US law it was at liberty to digitise in-copyright texts without seeking express permission from the rights holder. (Google has not done likewise in the UK or elsewhere; the dispute relates specifically to activities in the USA.) Following three years of litigation brought (separately) by the Authors Guild of America and the Association of American Publishers against Google, a settlement has been reached - subject to approval by the US courts.

To read more detailed notes on the proposed settlement of the American legal proceedings by the Authors Guild and others against Google, please visit the News for Members section of this website.

Medical Book Awards - winners announced

The Society of Authors and the Royal Society of Medicine are delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Medical Book Awards, which were presented by Alexander McCall Smith at a ceremony at the Royal Society of Medicine in London on Wednesday 29th October 2008.

BookBrunch news service

We commend to members BookBrunch, information website and a daily news service for the book industry. The daily bulletins are concise, informative and, for the time being, free!

Update on the National Year of Reading

Since April, when the National Year of Reading launched to the public with the first ever Join Your Library day, well over 500,000 people have joined our public library system, and individual library authorities have worked in a wide variety of innovative and engaging ways to recruit and inspire new and existing members.

Alan Gibbons' Campaign for the Book

Member Alan Gibbons has launched an author-led campaign to raise the profile of public and school library cuts and closures. Alan Gibbons spoke at our recent Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group Conference to raise support for his campaign with a Charter, Campaign for the Book.

Age guidance on children's books

View the statement from the Publishers Association click here

View the results from our CWIG age guidance poll click here

View a report on the age guidance debate at the CWIG Conference click here

The History Press - feedback from members

For much of last year authors and agents had great difficulty with the various imprints owned by NPI, including Sutton and Tempus. Royalties were long overdue, a good many members of staff left and communications were very poor. We pressed NPI very publicly to honour its commitments and improve its performance.

In late 2007 NPI went into administration, as did Sutton and Tempus. The History Press was, formed on 18th December and purchased some assets of the companies. Tony Morris is in charge of the Press; Alan Sutton is no longer involved.

In early June we invited members to report briefly on their recent experiences with the History Press. The range of comments received has been remarkably wide...

Free tax helpline for members

The Society is always pleased to give members routine advice on tax queries - particularly over the tax treatment of professional writers.

In addition, HW Fisher, a firm of chartered accountants specialising in the tax affairs of writers, is now providing a Tax Helpline, free of charge to Society members.

To accompany the helpline, HW Fisher have also produced The Authors' and Freelance Journalists' Guide to Tax 2008, which is available to download (together with our full series of Quick Guides) in the members area of this site.

Please log-in to the members area and click on the 'Quick Guides' link for details of the free tax helpline or to download your copy of the Guide.

The 'Save Kids' TV' viral film hits the BBC

Wombles with American accents feature in the latest part of the campaign to Save British Kids' TV.

As part of its campaign to save British-made children's programmes, PACT (the UK trade association representing independent film, TV, children's, animation and interactive media companies) has released a viral film starring much-loved characters The Wombles.

The hilarious sketch, featuring the Bad Ass Wombles is set in Central Park, New York and aims to highlight the effects of US imports on children’s programming in the UK.

The Authors' Awards 2008

The 2008 prize winners were announced on Wednesday 18th June at the annual Literary Awards Reception.

More than £70,000 in prize money was presented to twenty-three writers at a reception held in the Great Hall at Bart’s in West Smithfield.

The awards were introduced by the Chair of the Society of Authors, Tracy Chevalier, and presented by Terry Pratchett.

Hachette v Amazon

Authors published by the Hachette Group were sent a letter by Tim Hely Hutchinson, the Group Chief Executive, briefing them about a dispute with Amazon over terms.  Amazon has been pressing, once again, to increase the discount that it receives; Hachette is determined to resist making further concessions. 

Pearson royalties

Following the concerns expressed by the Society recently, we had a meeting with Philip Rowe (Pearson’s Royalty Manager). 

PFD

The press had a field day reporting on the many defections of agents from PFD, which had been one of Britain's biggest and most successful literary agencies. The steady stream of news made entertaining copy for readers, but was profoundly unsettling for its clients.

Save PLR funding - sign the petition

A year ago, the Society's Chair, Tracy Chevalier, wrote to the Secretary of the State, James Purnell, urging him to ensure that Public Lending Right was given priority in the Spending Review.  She received a reply from the Minister, Margaret Hodge, saying: 'I am pleased to tell you that we have secured what I believe is a positive outcome for PLR in a tough spending round'.  Those optimistic sentiments were not matched by the facts.

Discovered Authors

We have reported previously on communication difficulties encountered by authors after Discovered Authors moved to its new premises at Blissett House, Roslin Road, London W3 8DH. 'Author Management' can be contacted on 0844 800 5215 and Graham Miller on 0844 800 5216.