Best book forward: 2020 fiction preview
Wednesday, 30 October 2019
New books by Evie Wyld, Kate Mildenhall, Alice Pung and Jamie Marina Lau are among next year’s most anticipated releases. Sarah Farquharson rounds up the best locally authored fiction and...
2020 vision: Kids’ and YA title preview
Wednesday, 23 October 2019
New books from favourites including Melina Marchetta, Sally Morgan and Jessica Townsend are slated for 2020 publication, alongside debuts by Danielle Binks and Georgina Young that are already generating buzz....
To market, to market: B+P magazine issue 4 out now
Tuesday, 15 October 2019
Our final print issue of the year has arrived, featuring Michael Grant’s high-action YA thriller Hero (Hardie Grant Egmont) on the cover—the finale to the ‘Monster’ trilogy and a farewell...
Taking stock: Hachette’s Next Stock Date system
Tuesday, 15 October 2019
Hachette’s Next Stock Date system aims to provide booksellers with timely, accurate data. After spending more than two years developing it, Hachette has offered to share what they’ve learned with...
All bases covered: Karys McEwen on book design
Wednesday, 9 October 2019
Karys McEwen discusses the subtle ways that book design impacts students and librarians. Book design is not something that I spend a lot of time considering, or at least that...
Quiet achiever: Jessica Horrocks’ career journey
Wednesday, 9 October 2019
Jessica Horrocks, designer and production coordinator at Text Publishing, was recently named Emerging Designer of the Year at the 2019 Australian Book Design Awards. She shares her career journey. Having...
The information age: Children’s reference books
Wednesday, 2 October 2019
In a time of internet fatigue, young readers are turning back to books as authoritative sources of information. Danielle Binks investigates. George Orwell is said to have stated, ‘In a...
Drawn to writing: Rove McManus on ‘Disgusting McGrossface’
Wednesday, 18 September 2019
Aussie television personality Rove McManus makes his foray into children’s books with picture book Disgusting McGrossface (Scholastic, September) and younger readers novel Rocky Lobstar (Scholastic, October). Kelsey Oldham spoke to...
We don’t need a map: The growth in illustrated travel titles
Wednesday, 11 September 2019
Travellers are looking beyond traditional guidebooks for recommendations and inspiration—and publishers are finding new niche audiences in a shifting travel market. Andrea Hanke investigates the growth in illustrated travel titles....
Scaling new heights: H M Waugh on ‘The Lost Stone of SkyCity’
Thursday, 5 September 2019
H M Waugh’s middle-grade fantasy The Lost Stone of SkyCity (Fremantle Press, October) is set in the mountainous worlds of the Dirt and the Ice. Reviewer Catherine Moller spoke to...
Place of exchange: Jane Stratton on Lost in Books
Wednesday, 4 September 2019
Lost in Books is a multilingual children’s bookshop in Fairfield, Sydney. A project of the Think+Do Tank Foundation, the shop’s mission is to celebrate and support multilingual literacy and creativity....
Following the impulse: Anna Krien on ‘Act of Grace’
Thursday, 29 August 2019
Almost a decade in the making, Anna Krien’s debut novel, Act of Grace (Black Inc., October), is described by reviewer Brad Jefferies as ‘an ambitious and compelling study of trauma’....
Puffin grants in New Zealand
Wednesday, 28 August 2019
As part of Puffin’s upcoming 80th anniversary, the publisher offered grants valuing up to NZ$5000 each to bookstores to fund initiatives to get kids reading. Brad Jefferies chatted to three...
Story you can hold: Tyson Yunkaporta on ‘Sand Talk’
Wednesday, 21 August 2019
In Sand Talk (Text, September), researcher and arts critic Tyson Yunkaporta looks at global systems from an Indigenous perspective. Reviewer Karen Wyld said the book ‘offers fuel for timely discussions...
Baker & Taylor’s retail exit
Wednesday, 14 August 2019
In early May, Baker & Taylor (B&T) announced it was closing its retail wholesale business—choosing instead to focus on the library market. Brad Jefferies asked local booksellers what this means...
Judging a book by its cover: Jane Curry on the influence of Instagram
Wednesday, 7 August 2019
Ventura Press publisher Jane Curry argues that the biggest influence on design trends this decade has been Instagram. With 5000 new titles a month released into the Australian market, what...
Books by design: B+P magazine Issue 3 out now
Tuesday, 6 August 2019
Issue 3 of Books+Publishing magazine is here, featuring Tyson Yunkaporta’s Sand Talk (Text, September) on the cover. Inside, Yunkaporta speaks with reviewer Karen Wyld about his motivations, his wood carving...
Making time to read: Australian Reading Hour
Wednesday, 31 July 2019
This year Australian Reading Hour will publish a range of affordable children’s books to be sold in the lead-up to the 2019 event. Brad Jefferies spoke to ARH chair Louise Sherwin-Stark. The...
Taking control of your TBR pile: Mischa Parkee’s top picks for forthcoming children’s titles
Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Mischa Parkee, primary school teacher and children’s specialist at Sydney’s Better Read Than Dead, shares her top picks for forthcoming children’s titles. There comes a time when any reader must...
What we’re reading in winter
Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Sarah Farquharson: During the Easter break I read and loved Ashleigh Young’s collection of personal essays Can you Tolerate This? (Giramondo), so I’m looking forward to picking up a copy...
All hands on deck: Inside The Little Bookroom with Michael Earp
Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Situated in Melbourne’s inner north, The Little Bookroom is Australia’s oldest dedicated children’s bookshop. In his bookseller’s diary, children’s literature specialist Michael Earp reveals how a combination of experience, new ideas...
It’s not easy being green: Adelaide’s Pop-up Bookshop boycots HEDS
Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Adelaide’s Pop-up Bookshop co-owner Kate Treloar tells Books+Publishing why she decided to boycott a major book distributor on environmental grounds. In June, Adelaide’s Pop-up Bookshop announced on Facebook that it...
Holiday book haul: Junior Christmas 2019 preview
Wednesday, 24 July 2019
Kelsey Oldham rounds up some local highlights from publishers’ 2019 Christmas lists. (See our adult fiction and nonfiction highlights here.) Aussie favourites Some of our most celebrated Australian children’s authors...
Good tidings we bring: Christmas 2019 preview
Wednesday, 24 July 2019
Sarah Farquharson rounds up this year’s top locally authored Christmas titles. (See our kids and YA Christmas highlights here.) Blockbuster fiction The small press with one of the biggest books...
Hidden in plain sight: Jane Curry on the role of the editor
Wednesday, 17 July 2019
Ventura Press founder Jane Curry explores the role of the editor. 'Who’s the editor?’ I have only been asked this question once in my career and it was by a...
Beyond just sales: Connecting to customers and communities through events
Wednesday, 10 July 2019
Sarah Farquharson speaks to two independent bookshops about how they make connections with customers and their communities through events. The owners of BooksPlus, in the NSW town of Bathurst, and...
A writer’s life for me: Andrew Daddo on ‘Atticus Van Tasticus’
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Atticus Van Tasticus, Andrew Daddo and Stephen Michael King’s illustrated middle-grade adventure (Puffin, September), follows a 10-year-old whose grandma gifts him a pirate ship. Kelsey Oldham spoke with Daddo about...
Is YA okay?: The state of Australian young adult literature
Wednesday, 3 July 2019
With reports from the UK showing a sharp decline in sales of YA fiction, Jackie Tang explores whether the Australian market is experiencing similar changes. When UK trade publication the...
Natural habitat: Kate Goldsworthy shares her career journey
Wednesday, 26 June 2019
Over the past 10 years, Victoria-based editor Kate Goldsworthy has worked for a wide range of publishers, both in-house and as a freelancer. She shares her career journey. Since early...
Change maker: Sally Rugg on ‘How Powerful We Are’
Wednesday, 19 June 2019
LGBTIQ rights activist Sally Rugg led the GetUp campaign for marriage equality for five years and is now executive director at change.org. Rugg’s first book, How Powerful We Are (Hachette,...
