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SoA chief Solomon to step down in April 2024
Nicola Solomon, c.e.o. of the The Society of Authors (SoA), will step down next April after 13 years in the post.
A solicitor with over 30 years’ experience in intellectual property and media law, Solomon took over the leadership of the authors’ trade union in 2011. She will retire at the end of April 2024 and the recruitment process is already underway with the role advertised later this month, to “begin a process that will continue into spring 2024”, the SoA said.
The SoA paid tribute to Solomon and revealed that under her leadership, membership has grown by nearly 40% from under 9,000 in 2011 to 12,400 members today.
The society said in a statement: “The 12 years of Nicola’s leadership has seen a transformation in the SoA – growing not only in size and influence but in its inclusive approach to reach and empower more authors than ever.
“While working with SoA staff and volunteers to extend our core services, Nicola’s work has included a strong emphasis on supporting author communities and connections – bringing thousands of members together in local groups, national events and professional forums – as well as expanding our public affairs capabilities to react swiftly and knowledgably to a changing world, most recently in the area of artificial intelligence.
"We have extended our work in the devolved nations, with employees in Scotland and Northern Ireland now working directly to support and lobby for authors in those areas.
“Nicola’s focus on forging and maintaining strategic alliances across industry has enabled the SoA to achieve real change for authors.”
Her focus has included driving payments for festival appearances, securing PLR on e-books, setting up the AuthorShare scheme to pay royalties on used book sales, initiating the CREATOR campaign for fair contract terms, as well as her work across cross-industry sustainability and EDI forums amongst other activities.
The SoA’s literary estates team “has continued to thrive, providing essential income to support the union’s wider work”, the organisation said.
“The activities of the charities managed by the SoA have also expanded greatly over the past 12 years. Nicola leaves an expanded stable of awards and grants, including the Authors’ Contingency Fund for which she led efforts to raise over £1m during the pandemic and through which the charity continues to award over £300,000 in grants to authors facing financial difficulty each year.
“Nicola leaves a strong, effective and influential trade union well-placed to continue its work to empower, inform and advocate for all types of writers, illustrators and literary translators,” the authors’ body added.
Solomon told The Bookseller how the industry had changed during her tenure: “I am glad to see more emphasis on diversity and inclusivity but very concerned to see the constant fall in the earnings of the ordinary everyday author.
Celebrity culture and a winner-takes-all system make it very difficult for many authors to make a living – and is a huge disincentive to anyone who seeks to make writing a career unless family money can support them.” Median earnings from writing alone stands at just £7,000, research revealed last year.
In terms of the trade’s most pressing issues, Solomon reinforced her concerns about AI: “Of course, the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) – making sure creators can be rewarded for the use of their works by platforms and can control how it is used – and prevent fakes. We all need to stand up together for the power of human creativity.” Last week many authors such as Sathnam Sanghera and Damian Barr told The Bookseller of their distress over the use of their books in AI training systems.
Solomon also urged the trade to consider the climate crisis. “Everyone needs to act now to prevent further damage to our planet,” she told The Bookseller. “We need to take personal responsibility and I would urge everyone to sign up to Publishing Declares and for authors to engage in dialogue with their publishers on this issue through our Tree to Me campaign – Tree to Me – The Society of Authors.”
The departing c.e.o. also urged aspiring and new authors career “to value themselves and their work and to feel empowered to ask questions and negotiate for fair reward”.
“[Authors] don’t have to pay to be published and should be wary of anyone offering to publish for payment,” Solomon added. “That they have publishing choice and that they should weigh up what is best for them and their talents: self-publishing may be a good route for some people. And to join the SoA which offers brilliant personalised advice, great events and community.”
“I will be sad to leave the SoA. It is a fantastic organisation and it has been an honour to serve and empower authors, advising individually and fighting collectively for fair reward and recognition.”
Management committee chair Joanne Harris also praised Solomon’s leadership. The author, who will herself reach the end of her term as chair in 2024, said: “Nicola has been an incredible force for change since the day she joined the SoA.
"Her energy, passion and formidable knowledge of law and industry has led the modernisation of the SoA during a time when developments across the creative industries, falling author incomes and a cost of living crisis, as well as a panoply of existential threats to authors’ careers, have made trade union support more essential than ever. Nicola will be hugely missed, but she can rest assured that she leaves an SoA that is more ready and resilient than ever to serve our members.”
In regards to her next steps, Solomon told The Bookseller that she will spend more time with her family and pursue her many other interests, “and of course read more books”.
Before joining the SoA, she was a solicitor at leading media firm Finers Stephens Innocent, specialising in intellectual property and media law. She studied law at the University of Warwick.
