Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Forthcoming events 

Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: Professional Publishing in Asia 2008 Conference, New Delhi, 31 Jan-1 FebTo view these and more...

RiP Sandra Harvey 

Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Journalist and author Sandra Harvey has died aged 49. Sandra wrote five books on crime and criminal investigation and last year was awarded The Crime Writers Association Ned Kelly Award...

RiP Brian Clouston 

Tuesday, 22 January 2008
John Collins writes: Brian Clouston AM (1925 - 2008)One of the larrikin publishers who survived and prospered in the sixties, Brian Clouston helped break some of the bounds of Empire...

Global bestsellers 

Tuesday, 22 January 2008
A number of different year-end bestseller lists from around the world published recently demonstrate the wide variety of titles that become successful in different markets.Zusak ranks in European chartsAccording to...

CAL reports half-billion-dollar milestone 

Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) has announced a milestone, with its 2006-07 distribution bringing the total returned to rightsholders since CAL's establishment in 1989 to over half a billion dollars.At $134.3...

New Australian social networking website for book-lovers 

Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Sydney-based company Amity Agency has launched what it says is Australia's first ‘Web 2.0 community for book-lovers,' www.booktagger.com. Booktagger is intended as ‘a community where members can create a visual...

WBN post-Xmas survey 

Tuesday, 22 January 2008
WBN published the results of its post-Christmas survey as a Special Bulletin last Friday, showing that over 90% of those surveyed had an ‘excellent' or ‘good' Christmas. For the full...

Macmillan warehouse getting back on track 

Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Problems at the Macmillan Distribution Services (MDS) warehouse that began late last year caused many booksellers headaches over the busy Christmas period.‘We suffered from a strange series of unfortunate events,...

Gaining insights into the expanding Indian market 

Monday, 21 January 2008
Bookseller+Publisher will shortly be covering two important events of interest to those seeking to gain insights in the expanding Indian book market.On 31 January, the 'Professional Publishing in Asia 2008'...

WBN post-Xmas survey on its way 

Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Due to the volume of responses we've had to our post-Xmas survey, the number-crunching is taking a bit longer than expected. We will publish the results of the survey as...

Quote of the week 

Tuesday, 15 January 2008
'We looked at it on its own merits and we decided not to publish it for legal reasons'--Pan Mac's Annie Coulthard explains why we're not all reading the unauthorised bio...

Around the world 

Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Among the items added to our Around the World blog recently:Romantic novel award shortlist'W00t' crowned 'word of the year'Fanfic writers call for copyright shake-upShould libraries 'back-up' DRM-protected e-books?Amazon pays millions...

In brief 

Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Woolies named world-class retailerWoolworths has made it into the top 25 of a list of 250 ‘world-class' retailers. The Deloitte 2008 Global Powers of Retailing report, which identifies the 250...

Promotions at Random House NZ for Moynahan and Ferns 

Tuesday, 15 January 2008
The Random House Group has announced the promotion of Michael Moynahan (pictured) to chairman of Random House New Zealand (RHNZ). In addition to his new responsibilities in New Zealand, Moynahan...

New international role for Roberts at Murdoch 

Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Murdoch Books has announced that Amanda Roberts will move to a full-time role as international sales director, with ‘direct responsibility for the sales initiatives in the USA, the UK and...

New Borders website gets off to a good start 

Tuesday, 15 January 2008
A new website quietly launched by Borders late last year has had a very successful first Christmas, ranking as the most-visited book retail website in Australia in November and December,...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 15 January 2008
The bestsellers have gone to the movies this week. Ian McEwan's Atonement takes top spot, as the film takes off around the country amid all the hype about that green...

RiP Isobel Bennett 

Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Louise Egerton from Allen & Unwin writes: Author and marine zoologist Isobel Bennett has died, aged 98. An honorary Master of Science, an Officer of the Order of Australia and recipient of...

Around the world 

Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Among the stories recently added to our Around the World blog:Seinfelds sued over cookbook plagiarism claimsWinning author refuses Nestle Prize chequeMan Booker judges announcedPratchett has Alheimer'sHP8 rumoursFor more details, click...

Quote of the week 

Tuesday, 8 January 2008
'This woman is another kind of nut. You know, she thinks she invented vegetables. And she is accusing my wife of stealing her mashed-up carrots'--comedian Jerry Seinfeld defending his wife...

In brief 

Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Blake Dawson business literature prize shortlistFour book have been shortlisted for the 2007 Blake Dawson prize for business literature. They are National Market, National Interest (Edna Carew, A&U), Indecent Disclosure:...

International guests for Storylines festival 

Tuesday, 8 January 2008
New Zealand's Storylines festival has announced that UK author/illustrator Babette Cole and Australian author Carole Wilkinson will head the guest-list for its 2008 event.Storylines 2008 will be held in venues...

Orbit/QWC speculative fiction manuscript development program 

Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Following last year's announcement that Hachette's speculative fiction imprint Orbit was setting up an Australian division, Orbit and the Queensland Writers' Centre have announced a manuscript development program for aspiring...