Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Sales Nonfiction—Austlit has sold Tay Bridge Disaster: The People’s Story (Robin Lumley) to the History Press in the UK in conjunction with the Abner Stein Agency. Children’s—Scholastic has licensed US...

Monday, 18 February 2013
Big Nate’s sloppiness is getting out of control and has gotten his best friend into trouble. Will Big Nate clean up his act or flip out? Young readers are clearly enjoying Big...

Monday, 18 February 2013
Napkins bearing 300-word micro stories are currently available at Riverbend Books & Teahouse, along with several other bookstores and cafes around Brisbane, as part of a flash fiction napkin project....

Monday, 18 February 2013
Australian children’s publisher Ice Water Press has been placed into receivership and is no longer trading. Insolvency recovery firm Grant Thornton was appointed as the receiver for the company on...

Friday, 15 February 2013
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has launched a new service offering ebook conversions and direct sales through its website. ASA executive director Angelo Loukakis told Books+Publishing that the Authors...

Friday, 15 February 2013
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has completed its review of the proposed merger of Penguin and Random House, clearing the merger of the two publishers ‘unconditionally’. Thomas Rabe,...

Thursday, 14 February 2013
Publicist and literary agent Benython Oldfield from Zeitgeist Media Group has been appointed as festival publicist for the 2013 Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF). SWF said in a statement that Oldfield...

Thursday, 14 February 2013
Reading Time, the quarterly journal produced by the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA), is unlikely to continue in its printed form in 2014, the organisation has confirmed. The decision...

Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Margaret Dunkle, children’s librarian, bookseller, author, reviewer and life member of the Victorian branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA), has died in Ubud, Bali, aged 91. Virginia...

Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Sales Fiction—HarperCollins has sold German translation rights to Amber (Deborah Challinor); Spanish translation rights to Destined to Feel and Destined to Fly (Indigo Bloome); Polish translation rights to Destined to...

Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Ebooks sales accounted for 18% of overall sales at Hachette Australia in 2012, compared to 12% in 2011. Hachette Australia managing director Matt Richell told Books+Publishing that ‘as with many...

Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Christchurch writer, book judge and former librarian Bill Nagelkerke has won the 2013 Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award. The award recognises Nagelkerke’s contribution to New Zealand writing for...

Wednesday, 13 February 2013
‘Literary commentators often bemoan that there is not enough interest in the Australian classics. As publishers we have accepted the responsibility to bring these books back to the fore’—HarperCollins publishing...

Tuesday, 12 February 2013
The Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) has relaunched its Writers on Rafts appeal to help raise funds for Queenslanders who have been adversely affected by Cyclone Oswald and recent flooding across...

Tuesday, 12 February 2013
HarperCollins is launching a new series of Australian classics called A&R Australian Classics. The series, which combines ‘traditional and contemporary’ literature from writers such as Miles Franklin, George Johnston, Eleanor...

Tuesday, 12 February 2013
Australian Consolidated Press (ACP) Books has changed its name to Bauer Media Books, following the sale of parent company ACP Magazines to Bauer Media Group in the second half of...

Tuesday, 12 February 2013
New Zealand novelists Hamish Clayton and Tanya Moir are the recipients of the 2013 Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship, reports Booksellers New Zealand. Clayton and Moir will each receive NZ$20,000 (A$16,300)...

Monday, 11 February 2013
Diet books are doing well on the charts this week. Your Best Body by Michelle Bridges (Viking) is number one on the highest new entries chart and number two on the fastest...

Monday, 11 February 2013
Darren Busuttil has replaced Ian Ashmore as managing director of Parragon Publishing Australasia. Busuttil, who was previously sales and marketing manager for Parragon in Australia and New Zealand, was appointed...

Thursday, 7 February 2013
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has launched an advisory service to help its members prepare for contract negotiations and develop a strategy to improve their contracts. The ‘one-on-one phone consultation service’,...

Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Melbourne bookseller Readings has opened up a pop-up bookshop at the newly established School of Life in the inner-city suburb of Collingwood. The pop-up store, which is open on Friday...

Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Chris Bowen has been appointed as the new Federal Minister for Small Business, the fourth Small Business Minister to be appointed in the role in the past 18 months. Prime...