AGT meeting, July 11, 2019

The Authors Guild of Tennessee met on July 11, 2019 at Faith Lutheran Church, Farragut, Tennessee. The meeting was called to order by President Cheryl Peyton at ___11:08____

The following members were present: Jared Jackson, Cheryl Peyton, Jim Hartsell, Ray Strobo, Don Pardue, Patricia Crumpler, Kaye George, Jody Sims, Cyn Taylor, Bobbi Chapman, Danielle Asher, Denise Sherriff, Darlene Underwood, Dick Cross, Tilmer Wright, Donna Habib, Carol McClain, David Curran, Linda Shepherd, Linda Fitzpatrick, Sam Bledsoe, Jody Dyer, and Russ Fine

Guests present were: Nan Klee, Sherry Fine, and Davis Shoulders from Union Avenue Book Store

June minutes. Stand as corrected.

Cyn Taylor once more won the $25 Amazon gift card for reading the most books for the quarter (6).

Treasurer’s report Jim Hartsell reported opening balance: $1,472.80. Closing balance $1,460.40

Brief updates from the following Committee Chairs

Marketing, website, training   Jody Sims advised that National Author’s Day is Nov. 1. The Authors Guild of Tennessee will join with Union Avenue Books to celebrate the occasion. Applications for “featured authors” will begin August 1. An email will be sent out. The selection committee for this honor is a distinguished panel of literary experts. Linda Fitzpatrick will coordinate volunteers as greeters at the event. The bookstore will give a percentage of the sales of that day to Authors Guild.

Membership  Kaye George reported there are currently 4 applications pending for membership.

Publicity Chair  Cyn Taylor advised she has submitted 3 press releases

Retail:   Bobbi Chapman reported that currently AGT has twelve stores displaying and selling our books. At each store, Bobbi will only display 2 titles of each book. She requested authors who manage stores to take Dick Cross’s book RICK’S STORY. Retail price is $5 and it helps those who are either on drugs or are contemplating drugs. Annabell’s in Loudon is now selling our books. We lost the book/gift section of East Tennessee Pharmacy in Lenoir City. And we have lost the bookstore in Maryville. She will contact other venues in Maryville to take its place.

Announcements. Cheryl encouraged everyone to read the short stories by several of our members in this quarter’s Book Shelf eZine.

Program: Cheryl introduced our speaker, Davis Shoulders, the event organizer for Union Ave Books. His talk was on the nature of independent bookstores and his role at the store.

He detailed the process for getting a book into Union Avenue Bookstore:

They need to support the community with their variety of books.

They accommodate a variety of people’s reading tastes.

A lot of small press authors’ books aren’t carried because the bookstore may not be able to access the book.

Our books are shelved next to the best sellers, etc.

They stock the shelves according to their needs.

They do a 60/40 split. 60 to author/40 to Union Books.

Your book must have an ISBN and barcode.

It is somewhat of an inside game. Those already doing well have a better chance.

They only accept books from authors who live in the Knoxville area who are also customers; they stock only two copies of any book; they encourage people to come into the store to purchase; consignment paid on quarterly basis; they don’t currently charge for shelf-space, and they can order via Ingram. They have a Consignment form online

Meeting adjourned at 12:08. Next meeting, August 1, 2019.