Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Book bites: Starting 2020 on the right note 

11 December 2019
Mischa Parkee, teacher and children’s specialist at Sydney’s Better Read Than Dead, shares her top children's picks for the new year. What better way to bring in the new year...

To market, to market: Jane Curry on marketing 

4 December 2019
Ventura Press publisher Jane Curry argues that despite the dominance of multinational publishers, there are still opportunities for small presses to flourish—and sell plenty of copies. This is my final...

New decade, new nonfiction: 2020 nonfiction preview 

13 November 2019
New books by Bruce Pascoe, Julia Baird, Melissa Davey and Miranda Tapsell are among next year’s most anticipated releases. Sarah Farquharson rounds up the best locally authored nonfiction to look...

Balancing act: Gavin Burbidge’s career journey

13 November 2019
Gavin Burbidge is an account manager at Penguin Random House Australia and a constant figure on the ABA’s shortlists for Victorian rep of the year. He shares his career journey....

Diversity in UK publishing: what’s changed?

7 November 2019
In 2017 BookBrunch feature writer Julie Vuong reported on the UK book industry’s efforts to encourage diversity. Two years on, she considers the industry’s progress. Here we are: two years...

My life in books: Tim Gott from Devonport Bookshop 

7 November 2019
Tim and Anne Gott have owned the Devonport Bookshop for almost 25 years. In his bookseller’s diary, Tim shares stories from his bookselling career and observations on Devonport’s urban renewal....

Long-term appeal: Marketing a series 

7 November 2019
How—and to whom—do publishers market books as part of series? Bec Kavanagh spoke to Hardie Grant Egmont and Scholastic about their approaches to creating buzz that transforms into longevity. In two...

Justin Ractliffe on reaching heavy and light readers

30 October 2019
Penguin Random House ANZ publishing director Justin Ractliffe travelled to the United States earlier in 2019 to study consumer insights and data as part of his Copyright Agency Cultural Fund...

Best book forward: 2020 fiction preview 

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

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....

Taking stock: Hachette’s Next Stock Date system 

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...

Book designer spotlight: Imogen Stubbs

15 October 2019
A love of publishing sparked by the Professional Writing and Editing course at RMIT led to studying graphic design, eventually landing Imogen Stubbs a job at Text Publishing, where she...

All bases covered: Karys McEwen on book design 

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

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 

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...

Book designer spotlight: Michelle Mackintosh

2 October 2019
Michelle Mackintosh is a freelance book designer, as well as a writer, illustrator and Japanophile (she’s co-written four books on Japan with her husband, writer and DJ Steve Wide). She...

Jane Harrison on Blak & Bright 

25 September 2019
This year’s Blak & Bright festival—the second after the inaugural festival in 2016—ran from 5–8 September in Melbourne. The festival had about 2500 people attend its sessions, up from the...

Book designer spotlight: Hazel Lam

25 September 2019
Hazel Lam began her career as a motion graphics designer before moving into publishing, and has spent the past six years working for HarperCollins. Her cover for The Lost Flowers...

Book industry orgs support climate strike

18 September 2019
Booksellers, publishers and other industry organisations across Australia are participating in the global climate strike, taking place on Friday, 20 September. With almost 100 locations across Australia registered to strike,...