Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

News >

Quote of the week

Wednesday, 23 July 2014
‘A bookshop should be a bookshop, right? If you walk in and don’t see books, you lose your faith in the business’—Craig Hildebrand-Burke argues against a radical reinvention of the bookshop in a blog...

Amazon launches ebook subscription service Kindle Unlimited 

Wednesday, 23 July 2014
Amazon has launched an ebook and audiobook subscription service called Kindle Unlimited. The company said in a statement that the service offers ‘over 600,000 books—available on Kindle devices, as well as free Kindle...

Facebook tests ‘buy button’

Tuesday, 22 July 2014
Facebook has announced that it is testing a ‘buy button’ to allow users to purchase items directly from the newsfeed, said the company in a statement. The buy button is...

Bray resigns from A&U 

Tuesday, 22 July 2014
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has announced the resignation of children’s book director Liz Bray. Bray, who joined A&U in 1998 following many years as an independent bookseller, was appointed children’s...

Rights round-up 

Tuesday, 22 July 2014
SalesFiction—HarperCollins has sold US English-language rights to White Gardenia and Golden Earrings (Belinda Alexandra); and Turkish rights to Flowers of Baghdad (Bruce Lyman).Nonfiction—Black Inc. has sold world (ex. ANZ rights) to...

International library news 

Tuesday, 22 July 2014
Self-published ebook platform launches in US librariesSelf-published authors can now distribute their work through a number of libraries in the US as part of the SELF-e ebook platform, a collaboration...

ALIA’s LinkedIn Professional Discussion Series underway 

Tuesday, 22 July 2014
The Australian Library and Information Association’s (ALIA) LinkedIn Professional Discussion Series was launched during Library and Information Week in May 2014, with the series hosted in turn by library professionals Hugh...

Bestsellers this week 

Monday, 21 July 2014
John Green novels and Minecraft manuals continue to dominate the bestsellers chart. The regular and film tie-in edition of The Fault in Our Stars (Penguin) are in first and second place, while...

Bruce Chandler Book Prize winner announced 

Monday, 21 July 2014
Catherine Saxelby’s Complete Food and Nutrition Companion: The Ultimate A-Z Guide (Hardie Grant) has won the Bruce Chandler Book Prize. The prize is awarded by the Australian Institute of Food...

Gorton wins Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal

Monday, 21 July 2014
Lisa Gorton has been awarded this year’s Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal at the Mildura Writers’ Festival in Victoria. The award, which is named after the Australian poet and co-founder of...

Make it snappy: Ana Vivas from Snappyant 

Monday, 21 July 2014
Ana Vivas is a publisher at Scholastic Australia and co-director of Snappyant, which creates interactive children’s book apps for tablet technologies. She shares her career journey. I grew up in a creative...

Shelf talk: Poetry lines 

Monday, 21 July 2014
Spearheading UWA Publishing’s poetry for the next few months is the notable collection Poems 1957-2013 by Geoffrey Lehmann (July), one of Australia’s most distinguished living poets. Poems explores human nature...

On tour: Meet the author Meg Wolitzer 

Monday, 21 July 2014
US author Meg Wolitzer’s first novel for young adults is Belzhar (S&S, September). She will be travelling to Melbourne Writers Festival in August. What would you put on a shelf-talker...

Shelf talk: Memorable memoirs 

Monday, 21 July 2014
For anyone who’s ever considered the expatriate life, Sydney writer Rachel Weiss shares its adventures and challenges in her memoir about life in the Czech capital The Thing about Prague...

Bray says: Philip Bray from Brays Books in Balmain 

Monday, 21 July 2014
Philip Bray, co-owner of Brays Books in Balmain, Sydney, is ‘fast approaching retirement’. He shares his ideas for the future of the book industry. You might expect an old bloke, fast...

On tour: Meet the author Val McDermid 

Monday, 21 July 2014
Val McDermid’s latest book is The Skeleton Road (Little, Brown, September). She is visiting Australia in September. What would you put on a shelf-talker for your book? Gripping storytelling with characters...

Wrapped up in books: Christmas 2014 titles 

Monday, 21 July 2014
Brad Jefferies finds out what publishers have planned for Christmas.Jolly polliesThis Christmas brings a bumper crop of political biographies. One of the most-anticipated is Julia Gillard’s memoir. The former Prime...

Your store: In good company 

Monday, 21 July 2014
Instead of running a solo VIP shopping night this Christmas, Fiona Stager from Brisbane’s Avid Reader is planning to hold a joint event with a number of local retailers. The Shophop...

Talkback: The value of social media 

Monday, 21 July 2014
Is social media worth the time you’re putting into it? Books+Publishing asked three booksellers.Catherine Schulz, manager, Fullers Bookshop Hobart:Social media is hard to quantify. It’s also hard to be consistent...

Shelf talk: New romance 

Monday, 21 July 2014
Rural romance readers are spoilt for choice this month—especially if they love family dramas. Outback Ghost (Harlequin, October) is the third book in the ‘Bunyip Bay’ series by bestselling author...

At your service: Self-publishing support services 

Monday, 21 July 2014
The boom in self-publishing has led to the establishment of a number of different ‘self-publishing support services’. Brad Jefferies reports.Support services for self-published authors come in all shapes and sizes....