AGT Monthly Meeting for July 2024

 The Authors Guild of Tennessee held their monthly meeting on Thursday, July 11, 2024, at the Faith Lutheran Church in Farragut. Social time started at 10:30 and the business meeting at 11:00.

The following members were present:

Bill Barbour, Stan Borgia, Bobbi Chapman, Gayle Curtin, Danita Dodson, Russell Fine, John Forcum, Kaye George, Leoma Gilley, Jim Hartsell, Wes Hibbert, Ernie Lancaster, Jerry Morton, Cheryl Peyton, Nancy Pressley, Ron Pressley, Art Stewart, Rebecca Tucker, Jeri Weems, Joelle Whitewolf, Victoria Winifred, and Curt Young.

Visitors: Sherry Fine, Elaine Jungk.

Welcome – Cheryl.

June Minutes: Extensive minutes of the June meeting have been approved online.

Treasurer’s report:  Russ

Balance as of June 1      $1,828.75

Balance as of May 31      2,031.86

Income:                                $15 cookbooks.

Book sales:

Little Drugs                      $ 71.40

Winsome Stroll                $ 14.00

Preferred Pharmacy         $178.50

Total Payments:

Trade show equipment –     $16.67

Author payments –              $56.20

Pending Transactions         $0.00

 

Reports by members and Committee Chairs:

1. Gayle Curtin shared resources and tips for creating bookmarks, business cards and other marketing tools.
2. Authors in Grocery Stores — Victoria Winifred. She tried this at the Maryville Kroger. She chose her own hours (she did 12-6) on 4 days. There is an annual fee of $75 and registration of each book one-time charge of $25. There are no additional fees for the year. Kroger will send you newsletters with tips. You are the only author in the store. You can charge full price for your books and you get 60%. Victoria sold as many books as she usually sells at a festival and more on some days. She strongly recommends it. They do have restrictions on subjects, like politics.
3. Festival Facts – Nancy P., Bobbi. They advised to look at the regularly updated spreadsheet that’s sent out, especially for new members. Last year AGT did 3 festivals, this year we have 33. Next year it is up to 45 and growing. If the price is low enough, 3 authors is the limit so everyone can be seen, and we aren’t competing with each other. The cost will be $58 for 3 days at the Christmas Fair with 40’ of selling space. There is space for 2 more authors.
4. Bobbi noted upcoming show: “Salty Dog” Festival, World’s Fair Park on July 19-21
5. Membership – Cheryl reported we have five new members since our last meeting and has sent around the contact information.
6. Retail — Cheryl reported on the IGA store in Townsend where the manager, who built the bookcase, is enthused about selling our books.
7. Grant application – Art has a telephone conversation scheduled tomorrow with the E TN Arts Council. He will learn more about how to write proposals that align with their focus.

Speaker 

AGT member, Wes Hibbert was our speaker. Wes used his background in teaching Native American history at Roane College for the past several years to draw on historical examples and to offer suggestions about things we should consider when we present history or include historical background in our writing.

Does history have to be chronological all the time? No. He suggested including a poem of one’s experiences in WWI at the beginning of a book about the experiences in that war. King Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain financed Christopher Columbus for reasons of greed. Columbus didn’t find any of the things the royals wanted. He had 3 ships, one of which was ruined. Columbus wrote in his journal about how helpful and friendly the natives were, and that made them easier to capture. He invented the transatlantic slave trade.

When writing history, you should be writing the truth of what happened, but that isn’t easy. Today it is hard to know what is the truth. News reports on different sources about the same event do not coordinate. Old books might be the best place to go as they are unaffected by current politics. The victor most often writes the history.  History repeats itself, so we need to know it for the future as well as the past. People in classrooms today are afraid of what they can or can’t say. Teachers can be fired for using the wrong pronoun. You need to know your audience: high school students? College students? Choose appropriate words for your audience. Students want to see things from real life, especially young people. There are over 300 treaties made by the US Legislature, and it was constitutionally part of the law. We broke absolutely every one of them. Some of the legal battles are still being fought in the courts today.

Adjournment:

Meeting adjourned at 12:13 p.m. The next meeting is set for Thursday, August 1^st at Faith Lutheran Church, beginning at 10:30 a.m. for social time and book exchange.

Respectfully submitted,

Leoma Gilley, Secretary