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Zuckerberg founds online book club

Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has launched an online book club and is being described as ‘this generation’s version of Oprah’, reports TechCrunch. Zuckerberg created the Facebook group page ‘A Year of Books’ after earlier...

Government whitepaper to examine online GST threshold

Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Federal assistant treasurer Josh Frydenberg has signalled an upcoming government whitepaper will examine the GST threshold that applies to online overseas sales, in an opinion piece published in the Australian.Frydenberg...

Foley named Victorian Creative Industries Minister 

Tuesday, 6 January 2015
The recently elected Victorian Labor Government announced Martin Foley as the Minister for Creative Industries in December 2014, and has rebranded Arts Victoria as Creative Victoria. Foley, the Member for Albert...

WHSmith acquires Supanews newsagency stores 

Monday, 5 January 2015
Supanews has sold its chain of company-owned and franchised newsagency stores to WHSmith, reports the Courier Mail. However, Supanews managing director Adrian Gaskin told Books+Publishing his business had retained and continues to...

Sheahan-Bright wins 2014 Johnno Award

Friday, 19 December 2014
Editor, writer and academic Robyn Sheahan-Bright has won the 2014 Johnno Award for outstanding contribution to writing in Queensland.The award, which was presented by the Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) on 11 December,...

NSW State Library launches humour-writing prize

Wednesday, 17 December 2014
The State Library of NSW (SLNSW) has announced the launch of the inaugural Russell Prize for Humour Writing to ‘celebrate, recognise and encourage humour writing, and to promote interest in...

Publishers’ perspectives 

Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Publishers are almost unanimous in reporting a boost to sales compared to the same time last year. Yet not all are getting carried away. While half of the respondents to...

Online sales, ebooks and ereaders 

Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Online sales of print books have slowed somewhat for respondents in 2014, compared with Christmas 2013. While 45% of bookshops that sold print books online for Christmas 2013 said sales...

The books: Flanagan, Simsion, Kinney 

Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Booksellers are less impressed by the books this Christmas compared to previous years. Only 65% of respondents thought the Christmas range was ‘strong’, compared to 95% who said the same...

Trade cautious about Christmas 2014 

Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Overall, the trade is in a much more cautious mood for Christmas 2014 than in 2013. While only one percent are expecting a ‘disappointing’ Christmas (the same number as in...

Supply, stock, staff and sales 

Wednesday, 17 December 2014
As always, a number of booksellers have reported issues with the supply of books and speed of deliveries in the lead-up to Christmas, although most seem to be satisfied overall....

Grattan Institute releases PM summer reading list

Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Australian public policy think tank Grattan Institute has released its annual summer reading list for the Prime Minister.The list contains ‘books and articles that we believe the Prime Minister—or indeed...

ASA announces 2014-15 mentorship recipients

Wednesday, 17 December 2014
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has announced the recipients of its 2014-15 mentorships for emerging writers and illustrators, including the inaugural Edel Wignell Mentorship.The 12 applicants awarded mentorships are:...

HarperCollins finalist in Digital Book Awards

Tuesday, 16 December 2014
HarperCollins Australia has been named as a finalist in the 2015 Digital Book Awards. HarperCollins has been nominated in the adult fiction category of the flowable ebook awards for Lunation...

Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2015 shortlists announced

Friday, 12 December 2014
The 2015 Victorian Premier’s Literary awards shortlists have been announced.The shortlisted titles are:Fiction Only the Animals (Ceridwen Dovey, Penguin) Golden Boys (Sonya Hartnett, Penguin) The Snow Kimono (Mark Henshaw, Text)...

Rannard, Drury win NSW Rep of the Year Awards 

Thursday, 11 December 2014
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has announced the winners of its NSW Rep of the Year Awards for 2014.Simon Rannard from Penguin was named City Rep of the Year and...

Nielsen study finds teens lag adults in ebook uptake

Thursday, 11 December 2014
In the US, teen readers aged 13-17 are lagging behind adults when it comes to their uptake of ebooks, according to a study from Nielsen. The study found 20% of teens are purchasing...

Shortlist announced for 2014 T.A.G. Hungerford Award

Thursday, 11 December 2014
The authors shortlisted for the 2014 City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award have been announced. The all-female shortlist consists of: Louise Allan Madelaine Dickie Portland Jones Mihaela Nicolescu Nicole Sinclair....

Sanders to leave ‘Meanjin’

Thursday, 11 December 2014
Melbourne-based literary journal Meanjin is searching for a new editor after Zora Sanders announced she will leave the position in 2015.Sanders, who was promoted from deputy editor to editor in 2013, told...

Fox and Lester top PLR, ELR lists 

Wednesday, 10 December 2014
Books by Alison Lester and Mem Fox have topped the lists of the highest scoring titles in the Public Lending Rights (PLR) and Educational Lending Rights (ELR) schemes.Lester’s Are We...

Apple reveals 2014 top iBooks downloads for UK, US

Wednesday, 10 December 2014
The Apple iBooks store has released lists of the most downloaded books of 2014 in the UK and the US. Reflecting the popularity of film tie-ins, the highest selling paid...