The Society of AuthorsThe British authors’ organization, with a membership of over 7,000 writers. Membership is open to those who have had a book published, or who have an offer to publish (without subsidy by the author). Offers individual specialist advice and a range of publications to its members. Has also campaigned successfully on behalf of authors in general for improved terms and established a minimum terms agreement with many publishers. Recently campaigned to get the Public Lending Right fund increased from £5 million to £7 million for the year 2002/2003. Regularly uses input from members to produce comparative surveys of publishers’ royalty payment systems. http://www.societyofauthors.org/ has issued a call for unity among its members and says it has investigated allegations it failed to support gender critical members but has found no basis for complaint. The development followed a second open letter issued by critics of SoA chair Joanne Harris.
In the wake of the attack on Salman Rushdie, Harris faced calls to go in an initial open letter which called her position "untenable" and claimed the society "failed to come to the defence" of authors like Gillian Philip, Rachel Rooney, Julie Bindel, Onjali Rauf and Kate Clanchy when they received death threats. The letter, hosted on Bindel's Substack page, has been signed by more than 270 people, around 50 of which are not from the industry.
