News | Books+Publishing

Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

News >

‘You Can Change the World’ sold in multiple territories

Wednesday, 5 February 2020
Pantera Press has sold rights in several territories to Lucy Bell’s You Can Change the World, an illustrated practical guide ‘designed to empower kids to make changes in their lives...

Williams steps down as Wheeler Centre director

Tuesday, 4 February 2020
Michael Williams will step down from his position as the Wheeler Centre director, after 10 years in the role. ‘Being part of establishing, defining and shaping the Wheeler Centre over...

Kitty Flanagan wins inaugural Favourite Australian Book award

Tuesday, 4 February 2020
Kitty Flanagan has won Booktopia’s inaugural $5000 Favourite Australian Book award, for her book 488 Rules for Life (A&U). The award, which replaces Booktopia’s annual Australia’s Favourite Author poll, was...

Brill’s forthcoming novel ‘Symphony for the Man’ optioned for film

Tuesday, 4 February 2020
Sparkplug Films has optioned the film rights to Sarah Brill’s forthcoming novel Symphony for the Man (Spinifex, March). Spinifex describes the novel as ‘a poignant and gritty tale of homelessness...

Furphy Literary Award goes national, offers $15k prize

Tuesday, 4 February 2020
A new national short story prize called the Furphy Literary Award is launching in 2020 with a $15,000 first prize, making it the richest prize for a short story in...

Pascoe withdraws from Perth and Adelaide festival events

Monday, 3 February 2020
Author Bruce Pascoe has withdrawn from scheduled appearances at Perth Festival and Adelaide Writers’ Week, citing a need to return to his bushfire-affected home in East Gippsland. Pascoe announced he...

Taipei book fair postponed due to coronavirus

Monday, 3 February 2020
The Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE), originally scheduled for 4–9 February, has been postponed until 7–12 May as a result of the spreading coronavirus epidemic. The Ministry of Culture, Taiwan...

Brasch joins Melbourne Jewish Book Week as festival director

Monday, 3 February 2020
Writer and teacher Nicolas Brasch has been appointed festival director of Melbourne Jewish Book Week (MJBW). Brasch is the author of more than 400 books, mainly for children and young...

Amazon net sales up by 20% in 2019

Monday, 3 February 2020
Amazon has released its full-year financial results for 2019, reporting a net sales increase of 20% on the previous year. The company's financial results for 2018 showed a net sales...

The books: Lukewarm response to ‘backlist Christmas’

Friday, 31 January 2020
The most mentioned nonfiction, fiction and children’s titles in the 2019 Christmas survey were all books by local authors. Charlotte Wood’s The Weekend was the most mentioned fiction title, ahead...

The publishers: ‘A spread of titles enjoyed the spoils’

Friday, 31 January 2020
Christmas sales in 2019 were close to expectations, or better than expected, for all Australian publishers surveyed by Books+Publishing. More than half of publishers reported sales were ‘about the same’...

BookScan figures: Volume up, value down

Friday, 31 January 2020
There was marginal growth in the sales volume of books and a three percent drop in value in the lead-up to Christmas 2019, compared to the same period in the...

Christmas 2019: Sales up despite mixed feelings, climate chaos

Friday, 31 January 2020
Books+Publishing received feedback from representatives of nearly 100 bookshops around Australia for its annual Christmas survey. According to the results of the survey, for the first time in four years...

Macmillan employees banned from attending DBW conference over ebook embargo

Friday, 31 January 2020
Digital Book World (DBW) has banned Macmillan employees from attending its 2020 conference in solidarity with the American Library Association’s (ALA) campaign against the publisher's restrictions on new release ebooks....

Caffoor to leave Text

Friday, 31 January 2020
Text rights manager Khadija Caffoor is leaving the company to return to the UK. Caffoor has worked in rights at Text since 2016. Caffoor told Books+Publishing she'd decided ‘it was...

Play ‘Counting and Cracking’ wins $100k Victorian Prize for Literature

Friday, 31 January 2020
Sydney playwright S Shakthidharan and associate writer Eamon Flack have won the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature for their play Counting and Cracking (Belvoir and Co-Curious) at this year’s Victorian...

Booktopia buys Co-op assets; campus stores to close

Friday, 31 January 2020
Online bookseller Booktopia has bought ‘various’ assets of the Co-op Bookshop from the administrators of the University Co-operative Bookshop. As previously reported by Books+Publishing, the University Co-operative Bookshop, which included...

‘Books that matter and books that sell’: Industry predictions for 2020

Thursday, 30 January 2020
A rise in books tackling climate change and sustainability, personal development and wellbeing titles, and ‘uplifting’ fiction and nonfiction are all predicted by senior figures from across the book trade. Books+Publishing...