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Amazon UK begins releasing weekly sales charts

Thursday, 25 July 2019
Amazon UK has this week launched Amazon Charts, a weekly book bestseller list tracking sales and reads of fiction and nonfiction, reports the Bookseller. Its the first time print and...

Vancouver Public Library banned from walking in Pride Parade

Wednesday, 24 July 2019
In Canada, the Vancouver Pride Society (VPS) has banned the Vancouver Public Library (VPL) from walking in its annual Pride Parade, due to the library’s ‘decision to provide a platform...

Constant Reader’s Jay Lansdown to take over Pages & Pages

Wednesday, 24 July 2019
Jay Lansdown, owner of Sydney bookshop The Constant Reader, has agreed to take over the Pages & Pages Booksellers store in Mosman. Lansdown plans to move into the shop in...

National Archives needs funding doubled, 200 extra staff, claims panel

Wednesday, 24 July 2019
A government-appointed panel claims the National Archives needs its funding doubled and an extra 200 staff hired in order to survive, reports the Canberra Times. In a submission made to...

Holiday book haul: Junior Christmas 2019 preview

Wednesday, 24 July 2019
Kelsey Oldham rounds up some local highlights from publishers’ 2019 Christmas lists. (See our adult fiction and nonfiction highlights here.) Aussie favourites Some of our most celebrated Australian children’s authors...

Good tidings we bring: Christmas 2019 preview

Wednesday, 24 July 2019
Sarah Farquharson rounds up this year’s top locally authored Christmas titles. (See our kids and YA Christmas highlights here.) Blockbuster fiction The small press with one of the biggest books...

Booker Prize 2019 longlist announced

Wednesday, 24 July 2019
The longlist for the 2019 Booker Prize has been announced. The 13 books longlisted for the £50,000 (A$88,875) prize are: The Testaments (Margaret Atwood, Chatto & Windus, September) Night Boat...

‘Stone Girl’ wins 2019 Readings YA book prize

Tuesday, 23 July 2019
Eleni Hale has won the 2019 Readings Young Adult Book Prize for her novel Stone Girl (Penguin). Hale’s novel was chosen from a shortlist of six for the $3000 prize,...

UK Booksellers Association launches green bookselling manifesto

Tuesday, 23 July 2019
In the UK, the Booksellers Association (BA) has launched ‘Green Bookselling: A Manifesto for the BA, Booksellers and the Book Industry’, as it calls on the trade to reduce its...

Work begins on new edition of government style manual

Tuesday, 23 July 2019
The federal government’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has appointed Canberra-based communications agency Ethos CRS to lead the development of the seventh edition of the Australian government’s Style Manual, which for...

Wakefield sells debut YA novel to US

Tuesday, 23 July 2019
Wakefield Press has sold world rights (ex ANZ) to debut novel Making Friends with Alice Dyson (Poppy Nwosu) to Walker Books US for a five-figure sum. Wakefield publisher Margot Lloyd...

The Lifted Brow & RMIT non/fictionLab Prize for Experimental Nonfiction shortlist announced

Tuesday, 23 July 2019
Melbourne-based literary magazine The Lifted Brow and RMIT’s non/fictionLab have announced the shortlist for their Prize for Experimental Nonfiction. The shortlisted writers and their works are: Katerina Bryant, for ‘Where...

KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award shortlist announced

Monday, 22 July 2019
The shortlist for the 2019 Kill Your Darlings (KYD) Unpublished Manuscript Award has been announced. The shortlisted authors and their works are: Shelley Burr for ‘Wake’ (fiction) Lisa Emanuel for...

Publishers, authors concerned over Audible’s audio-to-text program

Monday, 22 July 2019
In the US, publishers, literary agents and authors have expressed concern that Audible’s proposed program Captions, which transcribes audio to text alongside its audiobooks, infringes on rights holders, reports Publishers...

Two women awarded Japan’s top literary awards

Friday, 19 July 2019
In Japan, novelists Natsuko Imamura and Masumi Oshima have been awarded two of the country’s top literary awards, reports Kyodo News. Imamura was awarded the Akutagawa Prize for her novel...

Inky Awards 2019 shortlists announced

Friday, 19 July 2019
The shortlists for the 2019 Inky Awards have been announced. The awards are presented by State Library Victoria (SLV) for local and international fiction, poetry, anthologies and graphic novels written...

Thompson wins 2019 Arthur C Clarke Award for ‘Rosewater’

Thursday, 18 July 2019
Tade Thompson’s Rosewater (Orbit) has won the 2019 Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction, reports the Guardian. Set in a future Africa, the events of Rosewater take place in a...

US audiobook sales up 25% in 2018

Thursday, 18 July 2019
In the US, the Audio Publishers Association (APA) has reported audiobook revenue in 2018 grew by 24.5% to total US$940 million (A$1.34b), reports Publishing Perspectives. Unit sales were up 27.3%,...

Odyssey Books celebrates 10th anniversary; announces new imprints

Thursday, 18 July 2019
Small press Odyssey Books is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month. Michelle Lovi founded Odyssey Books on 14 July 2009 and published its first title, Operation Trooplift: Postcards from Home...

Educational Publishing Awards 2019 shortlists announced

Wednesday, 17 July 2019
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced the shortlists for the 2019 Educational Publishing Awards Australia (EPAA). This year's awards feature a new category for scholarly nonfiction book of the...

US libraries to boycott Blackstone audiobooks over new release embargo

Wednesday, 17 July 2019
In the US, a coalition of 44 public libraries in Washington state is organising a six-month boycott of Blackstone Publishing’s digital audiobooks to protest the company’s 90-day embargo on new...

Essex libraries saved after public protests

Wednesday, 17 July 2019
In the UK, Essex county council has dropped its plan to close 25 libraries, following months of protests from locals and support from authors including David Walliams and Jacqueline Wilson,...

Hidden in plain sight: Jane Curry on the role of the editor

Wednesday, 17 July 2019
Ventura Press founder Jane Curry explores the role of the editor. 'Who’s the editor?’ I have only been asked this question once in my career and it was by a...

Book buyer spotlight: James Bennett’s buying team

Wednesday, 17 July 2019
Australian library supplier James Bennett’s 11-strong buying team combines expertise from the bookselling, library and publishing sectors. Buyer Louise Oliver spoke to Books+Publishing for our ‘book buyer spotlight’ series. How long...