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Author Gregor Dallas has accused the Society of Authors of not doing enough to defend its members from large publishers which are cutting back on range and creating a "national scandal" with the declining quality of their books.
Dallas, a historian and chair of the SoA’s France group, has put himself forward for a position on the SoA’s management committee, forcing the first election at the body for several years.
"We’re going through a major crisis in publishing and authors are suffering a great deal," said Dallas. "I see marginalisation and poverty and good books which are not being published. Authors are angry. The SoA could point out to the public that there has been a precipitous decline in the quality of books in the past 10 years, be vocal about it. They could question publishers over the way they are selecting books at the moment."
Author Mary Hoffman said she heard authors echo these complaints a lot and that it was an interesting line. She said: "I could wish publishers had been more supportive of authors and not gone down the road of deep discounting. But that’s the past. The only way forward is for writers and publishers to work together."
Writer Nicola Morgan, a former Scottish chair of the SoA, said: "I agree that life is very difficult for many writers and there is a narrowing of choice and a cheapening of what we do. There are times to speak out robustly about this and times to work more persuasively behind the scenes. What I like about the SoA is its ability to do both at the right times."
But agent Claire Alexander of Aitken Alexander branded Dallas’ stance "foolish". She said: "It’s true that the big corporate publishers are narrowing their range. But they’re businesses. And it’s never been more easy for authors to find ways to readers outside of the big publishers, through independents and through e-books and print-on-demand."
Nicola Solomon, general secretary of the SoA, declined to comment on Dallas’ election campaign. She said: "Our job is to further the rights and interests of authors and you can see the work we do on our website."