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Open Pitches website to match topics to writers

Wednesday, 2 July 2014
A new website has launched to help editors find writers for particular topics. The Open Pitches Tumblr was created following a conversation on Twitter involving Zora Sanders, editor of Meanjin, and Simon Collinson, online editor of the Lifted Brow,...

Andrew Carnegie Medals 2014 winners announced 

Tuesday, 1 July 2014
The American Library Association has announced the winners of the 2014 Andrew Carnegie Medals. Donna Tartt won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction for The Goldfinch (Abacus) and...

ACT Book of the Year eligibility changed 

Tuesday, 1 July 2014
Entrants to the 2014 ACT Book of the Year award must reside within the ACT’s boundaries under changes made to the award’s guidelines. Previously, entries were open to authors living...

Rights round-up 

Tuesday, 1 July 2014
SalesFiction—HarperCollins has sold Greek rights to Tuscan Rose (Belinda Alexandra). Text has sold UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding ANZ and Canada) and French rights to The Snow Kimono (Mark Henshaw) to Tinder...

Hellen appointed publisher at A&U NZ 

Monday, 30 June 2014
Jenny Hellen has been appointed to the newly created position of publisher at Allen & Unwin New Zealand.Hallen joins the company from Random House New Zealand, where she has worked...

Bestsellers this week

Monday, 30 June 2014
The standard edition of The Fault in Our Stars (John Green, Penguin) and the film tie-in edition of the same title are first and second respectively on the bestsellers chart...

Jaivin wins 2014 NSW Writers’ Fellowship 

Monday, 30 June 2014
Sydney writer Linda Jaivin has won the NSW Writers’ Fellowship for mid-career and established writers, offered annually by Arts NSW. The $30,000 fellowship will allow her to research her new...

Pearson tops global publishing ranking

Monday, 30 June 2014
Pearson has once again topped the ‘Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry’, an annual survey of publisher revenues, compiled on behalf of Livres Hebdo, Buchreport, the Bookseller and Publishers Weekly....

Gale joins Scribe 

Monday, 30 June 2014
Scribe Publications has announced the appointment of Sarina Gale as part-time sales coordinator. Gale is a bookseller at The Sun Bookshop in Melbourne and has previously worked as a marketing...

Magarey Medal 2014 shortlist announced

Monday, 30 June 2014
The titles shortlisted for the biennial $10,000 Magarey Medal for Biography have been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Kitty’s War (Janet Butler, UQP) Eilean Giblin: A Feminist between the Wars (Patricia...

Howard to join HarperCollins 

Monday, 30 June 2014
HarperCollins has announced the appointment of Matt Howard to the newly created role of ABC Books campaign manager. Howard has worked as a publicist at NewSouth Books for four-and-a-half years....

Hachette launches new website 

Friday, 27 June 2014
Hachette Australia has launched a new consumer website that provides personalised content based on user interaction, said the publisher in a statement.The homepage is designed with stacked boxes containing book...

US book sales relatively flat in 2013 

Friday, 27 June 2014
In the US, book sales were relatively flat in 2013, falling by less than 1% from US$27.12 billion (A$28.8 billion) in 2012 to US$27.01 billion (A$28.7 billion) in 2013, according to statistics from BookStats, reports...

Australia Council funds literature projects with Asia 

Friday, 27 June 2014
The Australia Council has funded two new literature projects under the Creative Partnerships with Asia Program. The LITERARY COMMONS! project will bring together writers from Australia and India, including Alexis...

B&N to separate Retail, Nook Media businesses 

Thursday, 26 June 2014
In the US, Barnes & Noble has announced plans to separate its Retail business and its Nook Media business, which includes its college bookstores, into two public companies, reports Publishers...

Patterson to donate £250k to UK indie booksellers

Thursday, 26 June 2014
In the UK, author James Patterson has pledged £250k (A$451,363) to independent booksellers to encourage children to read, reports the Bookseller. Patterson made the announcement ahead of Independent Bookseller’s Week...

Co-op announces changes to executive team 

Wednesday, 25 June 2014
The Co-op has announced changes to its senior executive team.Head of general merchandise Adam Jones has been appointed to the newly created role of general manager, leading the merchandise, marketing and...

Oakley Library launches My Cup of Tea community talks 

Wednesday, 25 June 2014
Oakey Library in Toowoomba, Queensland, has embarked on a bimonthly series of free community talks called My Cup of Tea. The series launched with Priscilla Sutton, who spoke about her life as...

ABS releases stats on library funding 

Wednesday, 25 June 2014
State and territory governments spent $367.3m on libraries in 2012-13, up slightly from $355.7m in 2011-12, according to an Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) report.The Cultural Funding by Government, Australia, 2012-13...

Smith to leave Paper Plus 

Wednesday, 25 June 2014
Rob Smith, CEO of Paper Plus in New Zealand, has announced that he will leave the company on 8 August.‘It has been an honour to lead the Paper Plus Group...