Budding romance: Lili Wilkinson on ‘Green Valentine’
Wednesday, 1 July 2015
Lili Wilkinson’s latest YA novel Green Valentine (A&U) is a romantic comedy with an environmental twist, that explores ‘the cliché that popular girls are always mean girls’. Read her interview with reviewer Sarah...
Balancing at the precipice: Antonia Hayes on ‘Relativity’
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Author Antonia Hayes has been a bookseller, book publicist and co-director of the National Young Writers’ Festival. Her debut novel Relativity (Viking) is a family drama interwoven with cosmology and quantum...
David and Goliath: Jane Curry on distribution challenges for small publishers
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Jane Curry Publishing recently rebranded as Ventura Press and partnered with Simon & Schuster Australia for sales and distribution. Managing director Jane Curry explains how small publishers can benefit from an...
She sells by the seashore: Meet Annie Grossman from Annie’s Books on Peregian
Thursday, 11 June 2015
‘I have lasted six-and-a-half years after opening in the thick of the GFC, and not just lasted, but grown. I have been accepted enthusiastically by my local community, and even...
On the virtual road: The pros and cons of blog tours
Wednesday, 3 June 2015
Blog tours offer authors the opportunity to promote their books from the comfort of their homes, gaining greater exposure, if not necessarily sales. Andrea Hanke spoke to several children’s and YA authors...
‘We Need Diverse Books’ in Australia
Wednesday, 27 May 2015
A US-led campaign to address the lack of diversity in children’s literature has sparked long-overdue conversations in Australia, writes Danielle Binks. She looks at what local publishers and industry conferences such...
Consumer conflict: Publishers’ direct-to-consumer sales
Wednesday, 20 May 2015
While a growing number of Australian publishers are experimenting with direct-to-consumer sales, they remain wary of stepping on booksellers’ toes. Brad Jefferies spoke to both sides to see what programs...
Alex Ross on book design and the ABDA shortlist
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
The Australian Book Designers Association (ABDA) will announce the winners of the 2015 Book Design Awards at a ceremony in Sydney on 22 May. Books+Publishing asked ABDA president and Penguin...
Kinokuniya’s Hiroshi Sogo on creating a ‘global niche’
Wednesday, 6 May 2015
‘A marketing buzzword in Japan at the moment is “consumption of experience” as opposed to products. We’ve noticed the growing importance in providing consumers with inspiring experience.’ Hiroshi Sogo, director...
Book ideas for Mother’s Day
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
Anthologies on motherhood and an abundance of baking books await this year’s Mother’s Day shoppers. Jackie Tang rounds up some of titles on offer here.
Going their own way: Publishers turn entrepreneur
Wednesday, 22 April 2015
After a successful career at the top of a large publishing house, where do you go? A few publishers have recently turned entrepreneur, utilising their skills and experience in the...
Why small is good: Keiran Rogers on sales by small publishers
Wednesday, 15 April 2015
‘Forget the year of the horse; 2014 was the year of the small publisher. While the internationalisation of book sales and content has caused headaches for some of Australia’s big...
On tour: Meet the author John Scalzi
Thursday, 9 April 2015
John Scalzi, author of Lock In and Redshirts (both Hachette), is travelling to Supernova in Melbourne and Swancon in Perth in April. Read Scalzi’s response to our On Tour questions, which cover The Secret...
My kind-of life: Oliver Mol on ‘Lion Attack!’
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
Lion Attack! (Scribe, May), the first book from Australian writer Oliver Mol, co-winner of the inaugural Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers, is part memoir and part make-believe. ‘When all...
All about ‘Eve’: Rochelle Siemienowicz on her memoir ‘Fallen’
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Rochelle Siemienowicz’s Fallen (Affirm Press, May) is a ‘thought-provoking memoir about religion, marriage and sexuality’ that juxtaposes Siemienowicz’s ‘burgeoning sexuality with her strict Seventh Day Adventist upbringing’. Read an interview...
Sister Act: L-J Lacey on her children’s book and toy shop Three Four Knock on the Door
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Melbourne sisters L-J and Danielle Lacey relocated several times before settling their independent children’s book and toy shop Three Four Knock on the Door in ‘the hub of Port Melbourne’. The sisters also ‘cut...
Keeping up with the kids: Chris Kunz on the Kidscreen Miami conference
Thursday, 12 March 2015
Chris Kunz attended the Kidscreen conference for children’s entertainment professionals in Miami in February, where she found lots of examples of partnerships between children’s publishers and the broader entertainment industry. Read...
The poet’s market: on print sales of poetry titles
Wednesday, 4 March 2015
The poetry scene might be flourishing with slams and spoken-word events, but print sales remain in the low hundreds for most titles, writes Hilary Simmons. Read her article here.
Do publishers save too many high-profile titles for Christmas?
Wednesday, 25 February 2015
‘The first six months of the year can seem rather empty. Mother’s Day cookbooks. A few light fiction releases. A host of debut releases. A couple of big-name literary releases....
What to expect when you’re expecting in publishing
Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Why is such a female-dominated industry as publishing not leading the way when it comes to parental leave? Matthia Dempsey spoke to several publishers about paid parental leave and flexibility in...
On tour: Meet the author Roxane Gay
Wednesday, 11 February 2015
Roxane Gay is the writer of the novel An Untamed State (Corsair) and the collection of essays Bad Feminist (Corsair). She will be a guest of Adelaide Writers’ Week and...
Hardie Grant’s Roxy Ryan reports from Digital Book World
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
‘The ability for booksellers and publishers to articulate, reach and engage readers in their products is something that they can do better than anyone else,’ writes Hardie Grant marketing director...
Authors on income and acquisitions in a changing industry
Thursday, 29 January 2015
‘As in the movie industry, the temptation will be for publishers to concentrate their resources on a very limited number of titles and let the others fend for themselves,’ writes...
‘Visually sophisticated, quirky, funny and daring’: Mike Shuttleworth reports from the Paris children’s book festival
Wednesday, 21 January 2015
‘While it’s true that the French embrace topics and styles that more timid Anglophone picture book publishers would reject, right now, France is producing some of the finest books for...
No more ‘nice’ books: Jackie French’s Colin Simpson Memorial Lecture
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
‘Each time I visit schools I ask the teachers to please close their eyes while the children raise their hands when asked, “Hands up, who hates reading?” At least 30...
What’s coming from page to screen in 2015?
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
Angelina Jolie’s adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken (Fourth Estate), Clint Eastwood’s take on Chris Kyle’s autobiography American Sniper (HarperCollins), and an adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild (Atlantic Books) starring Reese Witherspoon...
What’s publishing in 2015?
Wednesday, 10 December 2014
In the final issue of Books+Publishing for 2014 we asked publishers to share their top titles for the new year. Among the highlights are new books from Kate Grenville, Geraldine...
A splendid assortment: Denise Tilley on the history of Birchalls in Launceston
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
In 1844 Birchalls opened in Launceston, Tasmania, with an advertisement in the local paper promising a ‘splendid assortment of books, stationery, fancy goods, etc’. The store continues to stock an...
Behind closed doors: Rose Michael on the acquisitions process
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Ten years ago, as a lecturer in the publishing and communications program at the University of Melbourne, Rose Michael hosted a debate on the then-contentious topic of whether the marketing...
Cooking the books: behind the scenes with Hardie Grant Publishing online content editor Hannah Koelmeyer
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Hannah Koelmeyer is the online content editor for Hardie Grant Publishing’s Cooked website, which recently won an award for best consumer-facing website at the Bookseller’s Futurebook Innovation Awards. Koelmeyer describes the website as ‘essentially Netflix...
