Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Victoria votes for ‘Three Dollars’ 

Tuesday, 27 February 2007
Elliot Perlman's Three Dollars (Picador) was voted Victoria's favourite story set in Victoria in the inaugural Reading Victoria program at the State Library of Victoria. The library's reader development program...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 27 February 2007
Hardie Grant Egmont is targeting young girls with big dreams in some of its latest releases. And it seems to be working. Total Girl Star School and Go Girl! Music...

RiP Joseph Low 

Tuesday, 27 February 2007
Joseph Low, an American children's book illustrator best known for his 1981 Caldecott honor book Mice Twice (S&S), has died at the age of 95. Low also created illustrations for...

Bestsellers this week 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Penguin brings a little romance to the charts this week with two new titles in the top 10 bestsellers. Plum Lovin' is a between-the-numbers novel in Janet Evanovich's popular Stephanie Plum...

Jane Palfreyman joins Allen & Unwin 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Allen & Unwin has announced the appointment of former Random House executive publisher Jane Palfreyman as publisher. ‘I have always been a huge admirer of Jane and the stellar list...

Regional CWP shortlist announced 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
The 2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize best book and best first book awards regional shortlists have been announced. The following books have been shortlisted for the South East Asia and South...

ABA launches Certificate II & III bookseller training 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has announced the launch of a specially tailored Certificate in Retail Operations for booksellers. The certificates (II and III) have been developed in partnership with the...

Berkelouw expands to QLD and Vic 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
The Berkelouw family, which operates three Berkelouw Booksellers stores in New South Wales, will open a fourth store in the Melbourne suburb of Armadale in late March, with a further...

Reed to sell Harcourt Ed 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Reed Elsevier has announced it is looking for a buyer for Harcourt Education, which has operations in Australia and New Zealand as well as in the UK, US and South...

McGraw-Hill profits down 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
McGraw-Hill Education (MHE), which has operations through Asia, Europe the US and South America, as well as in Australia and New Zealand, reported a drop in total revenue of 5.5%...

Collins launches Ford Street Publishing 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
The independent press Hybrid Publishers, established in 1998, is to launch a new imprint, Ford Street Publishing, with the release in June of Before the Storm by Sean McMullen. Author Paul...

Writers at Como takes the heat 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Scorching temperatures in Melbourne did not keep the city's booklovers away from this year's Writers at Como festival, held from 16 to 18 February at the historic Como House. ‘If...

Around the world 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Among the stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:IPA, PEN and AAP condemn Turkish penal codeDisney loses Winnie the Pooh copyright caseGoogle loses Belgian newspaper...

APA Book Design Awards shortlist 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
The finalists in the 55th Australian Book Design Awards have been announced. See below for a full list of nominated titles (cover/internal designer and publisher listed in brackets). The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony...

Wiltshire and Herron merge 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Publisher and distributor Herron Books and remainder wholesaler Wiltshire Books are set to merge on 1 March.‘Both businesses have a strong background in value books and it is a natural...

Private equity bid for Funtastic? 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Funtastic has been approached by a potential takeover bidder, believed to be a private equity group.Funtastic ‘has only just commenced considering the proposal' from the unnamed bidder and ‘has had...

The Nile offers a different online bookselling model 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Australia and New Zealand both have new, dedicated online bookselling sites with the launch of TheNile.com.au and TheNile.co.nz.‘The Nile aims to provide Australian and New Zealand consumers with domestic alternatives...

Mixed signals in consumer and business confidence stats 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
A number of recent surveys into the retail sector and consumer trends have produced conflicting results.The Australian Bureau of Statistics retail trade figures for December 2006 showed an increase in...

Perth Writers’ Week preview 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
The 2007 Perth Writers' Week, part of the Perth International Arts Festival, begins on Thursday 22 February.Offering ‘a full week of insightful conversation and the opportunity to connect with favourite...

Aussies nominated for horrific prize 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Two Australian writers have been nominated for the Bram Stoker Awards, a key international prize for horror authors presented by the US-based Horror Writers' Association.Stephen King expert Rocky Wood has...

RiP Elizabeth Jolley 

Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Literary agent Jenny Darling writes: ‘It is with much sadness I am writing to let you know that Elizabeth Jolley passed away last week.‘I had the privilege of working with...

Around the world 

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Among stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week:Wal-Mart faces lawsuit from two million womenTime Warner adds $530 million to Lagardere's bottom lineFour publishers take half...

Baker & Taylor to buy AMS? 

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Advanced Marketing Services (AMS), the US-based parent company of Australian distributor Bookwise, has entered into a letter of agreement with book distributor Baker & Taylor to allow B&T to purchase the...

Overstock and Remainders Fair comes to Melbourne 

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
The annual Overstock and Remainders Fair (OARF), facilitated by Bookwise Australia, was this year held in Melbourne at the Rydges Hotel on 11 and 12 February. The third OARF, which...

Forthcoming events 

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: the Writers at Como festival, which runs from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 February; and...

‘Online’ conference ‘a great success’ 

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
More than 1000 library and information professionals gathered in Sydney from January 30 until 1 February for Online, the biennial conference examining the future of the industry. Conference convenor Kay...

Libraries get cuddly for Valentine’s Day 

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Two of Australia's leading library bodies have combined to launch a special promotion for Valentine's Day, highlighting Australians' dedication to libraries.Public Libraries Australia and ALIA are holding Library Lovers Day...

Pearson subject of private-equity takeover? 

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Speculation has been mounting in recent weeks over a possible takeover bid for Pearson, parent company of Penguin and Pearson Education. A Reuters report on 17 January 2007 noted that...

DataPage delay shelves TitlePage NZ launch 

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
‘Small technical issues' that have emerged in the final development of DataPage have delayed the service's launch in Australia and put back the proposed launch of the TitlePage service in...

Change of date for ABIAs 

Tuesday, 13 February 2007
The second annual Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA), previously scheduled for 25 July 2007, will now be held the evening before on 24 July. The decision was a joint one...