Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Authors on tour in May: David Ebershoff, Random House (The 19th Wife) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, HarperCollins(The Thing Around Your Neck)Stuart MacBride, HarperCollins (Blind Eye)Tash Aw, HarperCollins (Map of the Invisible World) Lisa...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
In rights news this week: FictionLittle, Brown has acquired rights to George Dawes Green's Ravens, for international publication in August 2009. Jaki Arthur of Hachette Australia calls it ‘awful and harrowing...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:Google settlement delayed until SeptemberAmazon buys Lexcycle/StanzaCanadian e-reader platform attracts 100,000 users in 160 countriesDuffy to be...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Michael J Fox, he of Family Ties and Back to the Future TV and film fame, comes number one in the Highest New Entries this week with Always Looking Up:...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: Buenos Aires International Book Fair, 23 April-11 MayAustralian Publishers Association AGM, Melbourne, 30 AprilThe George...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Australian authors Margo Lanagan and Julia Leigh are among the finalists for this year's Shirley Jackson Awards (US), given for ‘outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Hinemoana Baker has been announced as Queensland's 2009 Poet-in-Residence. New Zealand poet, musician, producer and creative writing teacher Baker will be based in Queensland from July to September.Premier Anna Bligh...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
The 2009 Emerging Writers' Festival (EWF) program has been launched. The festival, which will take place from 22 to 31 May in Melbourne, will feature a variety of panels, launches,...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Warhaft leaves the Monthly Black Inc. publisher Morry Schwartz has announced the departure of Sally Warhaft, former editor of the Monthly magazine, which is also owned by Schwartz. ‘Sally and...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Leonie Wood has been awarded the Blake Dawson Prize for Business Literature for Funny Business: The Rise and Fall of Steve Vizard (A&U).Wood was awarded the prize, worth $30,000, at...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Lonely Planet has announced the appointment of Richard Samson is the publisher's new general manager for the Asia Pacific region. ‘Richard has a very strong track record in book sales...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Collins Booksellers has announced that its Book City stores will re-brand to Collins Booksellers, commencing in June. ‘At this year's conference, Collins Booksellers announced the group would adopt a single...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
‘They see [the book] as the petrol in the car, while we see it as the wine in the bottle'--Victoria Barnsley, publisher and CEO of HarperCollins UK, speaking at LBF,...

Tuesday, 28 April 2009
WBN correspondent Lachlan Jobbins reports: While fair organisers have yet to release attendee numbers, stand holders at this year's London Book Fair (LBF) generally felt that numbers were slightly down...

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
WBN apologises for the delay in delivering this week's newsletter. This was due to unforeseen technical difficulties. We appreciate your patience--WBN

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Some big names (and none ending in Meyer) are out in force on the top of the charts this week. Wilbur Smith, he of many a swashbuckling tome, has hit...

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair, 17-26 April World Book and Copyright Day, 23 April Buenos...

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
‘Whatever authors want, this is old-fashioned protectionism that helps producers by penalising consumers. The book industry is lucky the Productivity Commission was uncharacteristically kind. End of story'--editorial in the Australian.

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Compared to last year, the number of book trade jobs advertised in WBN has fallen significantly in the first quarter of 2009. According to a survey of the positions vacant...

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Nielsen BookScan has released sales figures for the first 12 weeks of 2009 (to 21 March), showing that the market grew by a very healthy 6.7% by value and 5.6%...

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
As reported in a WBN special bulletin last week, the shortlist for the Miles Franklin award has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Breath (Tim Winton, Penguin) Ice (Louis Nowra,...

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Random House Australia has announced the publication date of Dan Brown's new novel The Lost Symbol as 15 September, 2009. The announcement was made yesterday by Sonny Mehta, chairman and...

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Children’s authors took to the streets in Brisbane last week on Thursday 16 April, in protest against the ‘Coalition for Cheaper Books’, and its stance on an open market being...

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
WBN correspondent Lachlan Jobbins reports: Despite grim economic forecasts and slightly lower registrations (The Bookseller reported registrations down by 2% on last year), the Australians at London Book Fair mostly...

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
FictionScribe Publications' fiction acquisitions editor, Aviva Tuffield, has acquired actor Katie Wall's debut novel I Say Tomato, a romantic comedy about an Australian actress trying to make it in the...

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Simon & Schuster reported a sales decline of 3% in 2008, to US$857.7 million (AU$1216 million), according to Publisher's Weekly, though fourth-quarter revenues were slightly up (from US$242.3 million [AU$343.5...

Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Among the many items added to our Around the World blog in a big update this week:firebombers plead guilty to attacking publisher's housePulitzer Prize winnersUK retailers discount Dan Brown by...