Publishers on Christmas 2024 and what they expect from the year ahead
Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Christmas 2024 sales were ‘close to expectations’ for the majority of publishers that responded to Books+Publishing’s annual Christmas survey. In addition to local independents including Allen & Unwin, Books+Publishing received...
OverDrive – ‘libraries can create new readers’
Wednesday, 19 February 2025
In the lead-up to the 2025 ABIAs, Books+Publishing is in conversation with the event's major sponsors about the status of the industry, what excites them about the future, and what they have...
Jessica Stanley recommends
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
I’m reading a book about psychotherapy called The Talking Cure, published by Macmillan in 2019. One of the authors has a therapy podcast I’m obsessed with called Three Associating (I...
Jessica Stanley on ‘Consider Yourself Kissed’
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
London-based Australian writer Jessica Stanley (A Great Hope) returns with Consider Yourself Kissed (Text, April), a compelling novel about love, identity and modern motherhood. Books+Publishing reviewer Emily Westmoreland calls it...
Libraries ready to feel the love
Friday, 14 February 2025
A global day of celebration, Library Lovers' Day (LLD) is celebrated every 14 February to recognise libraries, library workers, and library users. First celebrated in Australia in 2006 by the...
Christmas 2024: Sales up for most booksellers
Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Christmas sales in 2024 were up on the previous year for the majority of booksellers surveyed by Books+Publishing in its annual Christmas survey, which this year received responses from representatives...
Copyright Agency – ‘Australia has a world-class copyright system’
Wednesday, 5 February 2025
In the lead-up to the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA), Books+Publishing is in conversation with the event's major sponsors about the status of the industry, what excites them about the...
Fiona Hardy recommends
Tuesday, 4 February 2025
Honestly, I think Australian fiction is the strongest out there. This country has amazing writers, and I’ll almost always try to pick out an Australian to read, not out of...
Fiona Hardy on ‘Unbury the Dead’
Tuesday, 4 February 2025
Melbourne writer, bookseller, and reviewer Fiona Hardy is known for her children’s books, including the CBCA Notable How to Make a Movie in 12 Days. Now, she makes her adult...
How international book markets performed in 2024
Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Results were mixed for international book markets in 2024. While sales were slightly up in the United States and significantly in Brazil, they were down in France, slightly down in...
Diana Reid recommends
Tuesday, 21 January 2025
I was completely engrossed by Emily Maguire’s Rapture: it’s immersive, visceral and thrillingly original.
Diana Reid on ‘Signs of Damage’
Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Diana Reid follows her bestselling novels Love & Virtue and Seeing Other People with her highly anticipated third novel, Signs of Damage (March, Ultimo), which ‘will appeal to fans of...
Lucy Sussex recommends
Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville, which captures the female Australian voice and experience so well – just like Mary Fortune.
Megan Brown recommends
Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Natasha Lester’s The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard. I really enjoyed it because it weaves fact and fiction together, but not in a forced way or in a way that tries...
Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex on ‘Outrageous Fortunes’
Tuesday, 14 January 2025
Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex bring Mary Fortune, one of Australia’s most prolific yet overlooked woman crime writers, and her criminal son, George, to light in their book Outrageous Fortunes...
A year of Australian audiobooks: 2025 preview
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Audiobook lovers have plenty of local content due in 2025. Here, we round up the Australian titles highlighted by local audio publishers Bolinda and Wavesound. All our 2025 Books+Publishing preview feature articles...
New year 2025 preview: CYA
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
From the witchy to the wistful, from the fact-filled to the fantastical, publishers have pulled together their lists of highlighted children's and young adult titles for 2025. Read on to...
New year 2025 preview: Poetry
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Publishers highlight forthcoming poetry books from well-loved voices in the field—like Kirli Saunders, Omar Sakr, Grace Yee, Antigone Kefala and Eileen Chong—as well as titles from some poets newer to...
Kate Kemp recommends
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
I recently read and loved The Wakes by Dianne Yarwood. I am instantly drawn to books about women reinventing themselves at various ages. This book is a wonderful exploration of...
Kate Kemp on ‘The Grapevine’
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
Kate Kemp’s debut, The Grapevine (Hachette, February 2025), unravels the mystery of a murder in 1970s Canberra, revealing hidden secrets and buried tensions within the close-knit community of Warrah Place....
New year 2025 preview: Nonfiction
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
As we head towards 2025, publishers are preparing to send a wide array of new nonfiction titles out onto our bookshelves. Among the titles publishers are keen to highlight, booksellers...
‘I do, in fact, belong here’: Looking back and forward with the 2024 Open Book interns
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
First run as a pilot program offering two internships in 2022, the Open Book paid internship program is a joint sector initiative that aims to foster cultural and linguistic diversity...
‘There is nothing else quite like it’: Terri-ann White on Sharjah
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
Publishers and literary agents from 108 countries participated in this year’s Sharjah Publishers Conference, and Upswell publisher Terri-ann White was an Australian representative to the conference. She writes on the...
New year 2025 preview: Fiction
Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Unpublished manuscript prizes, hotly contest auctions, agents, slush piles, or authors wooed from rival publishing houses—wherever they came from, these are the fiction titles publishers are excited about for 2025....
Amplify Bookstore’s summer reading recommendations
Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Amplify Bookstore is an independent online bookseller specialising in books by Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) authors, founded by Jing Xuan Teo and Marina Sano. Here, they share...
Karina May recommends
Tuesday, 19 November 2024
The best rom-com I’ve read this year is The Wedding Forecast by Nina Kenwood. It’s everything I’d want in a rom-com—addictive, delightful and featuring New York. I was also lucky enough to...
Karina May on ‘That Island Feeling’
Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Karina May is an avid romance reader and journalist turned author of ‘lively love stories for wanderlusters’, including Never Ever Forever and Duck à l’Orange for Breakfast. Her fourth novel, That...
Sophie Clark recommends
Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Dark Heir by C S Pacat! I blame the brilliance of that book for the world-class reading slump I’ve been in for much of this year. It was quite simply...
Sophie Clark on ‘Cruel Is the Light’
Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Tasmanian-based author Sophie Clark went from working for the Australian Senate to being a member of the Pitch Wars class of 2021. Her debut novel, Cruel Is the Light (Penguin,...
Melissa Garside recommends
Tuesday, 5 November 2024
I recently read Lights Out, Little Dragon by Debra Tidball and illustrated by Rae Tan. Debra and Rae have created a delightfully humorous and beautifully illustrated picture book. I was...
