Tuesday, 25 November 2008
It's that time of the year again! Over the next week WBN will be hitting the phones to conduct our annual pre-Christmas survey, speaking to as many booksellers as we can...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Among the many stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week: Random US freezes pensions U Minn Press reissues entire backlist UK booksellers suffer from discounting...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
The Productivity Commission today released its issues paper on ‘copyright restrictions on the parallel importation of books', as part of its study commissioned by the federal government. The issues paper...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
The Public Lending Right (PLR) Committee has released its annual report, showing it approved annual payments of over $7 million for the financial year 2007-08. Annual payments of $7646010.58 were...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
The Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) has announced ‘licensing revenue of $107 million alongside payments of more than $90 million to copyright owners'. The agency also announced it had acquired a...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Melbourne University Bookshop (MUB) has announced that it has acquired Standish Prideaux & Pye (SPP) Medical Bookshop. The acquisition will take effect from 5 January next year.‘SPP will continue trading...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Cambridge University Press has reported organic sales growth of 9% for the financial year ended 30 April 2008. When the acquisition of the Japanese wholesaler United Publishers' Services Worldwide is...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
The shortlist for the biennial Tasmanian Book Prize has been announced. In the running for the $25,000 prize, awarded to the best book with Tasmanian content in any genre, are:Van...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
The program for Tasmanian arts festival Ten Days on the Island, which runs from 27 March to 5 April, was launched yesterday. The festival, which encompasses all art forms, will...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Christopher Koch has been awarded the 2008 CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature (‘The Nib') for his novel The Memory Room (Vintage). This is the first time in seven years...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Dymocks Camberwell moves into new centreDymocks Camberwell has moved into the new retail centre The Well in Burke Road, Camberwell in Melbourne. The retail complex, which officially opened last week,...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
It's that time of year again when that hefty tome, the Guinness World Records (2009) boldly makes its first appearance on top of the charts. Not just the Bestsellers either,...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Trade events coming up over the next week, as shown on our events calendar, include: ABA (Victoria) and Thorpe-Bowker Christmas party, Melbourne, 26 November Moscow International Book Fair, 26-30 November Closing date...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Berkelouw Books held a soft opening for its newest Sydney store last Thursday. The Newtown store, in Sydney's inner west, is the eighth outlet in the growing privately owned chain.‘We've...

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
American poet Donald Finkel has died aged 79. His volumes of poems included A Joyful Noise, What Manner of Beast and Not So the Chairs: Selected and New Poems.

Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Publishers/distributors are asked to advise WBN of their Christmas closing dates by Friday 28 November 2008. A full list will appear once only in WBN on 3 December, listing each...

Monday, 24 November 2008
David Malouf's The Complete Stories (Random House) is the winner of the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award. The award, worth $110,000, was announced in Perth on Friday by Culture and Arts...

Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Publishers/distributors are asked to advise WBN of their Christmas closing dates by Friday 28 November 2008. A full list will appear once only in WBN on 3 December, listing each...

Tuesday, 18 November 2008
A Sydney version of Melbourne's well-known Hill of Content bookstore will be opened by Collins Booksellers in Balmain in early December. Collins Booksellers managing director Daniel Jordon sees it as...

Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Among the many stories added to our Around the World blog in the past week: Initial court approval for Google settlementPrepare for the 'either/and' world, says Ingram head 'Bytes not...

Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Book and newspaper sales up 20.5% on 2007Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures for September indicate books are bucking the flat national retail trend. While retail trade figures for the...

Tuesday, 18 November 2008
The YABBAs (Young Australian Best Book Award) were announced this week in Victoria. Best picture storybook went to Uno's Garden (Graeme Base, Viking); fiction for younger readers went to Just...

Tuesday, 18 November 2008
The State Library of Victoria has launched the Summer Read program for 2008. A selection of 20 titles which celebrate the diversity of Victorian writing were chosen by a panel...

Tuesday, 18 November 2008
The 2009 New Zealand Post Mansfield Prize has gone to Jenny Pattrick. The prize is worth NZ$100,000 (A$85,000) and involves travel and accommodation in France for six months, allowing the...

Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Hachette Australia has announced the retirement of Helen Chamberlin, publisher of the Lothian Children's Books imprint. Chamberlin, who has been with Hachette since Lothian Books was acquired by the company...

Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Following the release of the terms of reference for its parallel importation study the Productivity Commission has announced a deadline of 20 January 2009 for submissions. Any interested individuals or...

Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Australian author John Hughes is one of 20 authors longlisted for the inaugural Warwick Prize, worth £50,000 (A$115,000). The prize, run by the University of Warwick, is an ‘international cross-disciplinary...

Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Australian and New Zealand authors are well represented on this year's International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award longlist. Among those listed are Steven Carroll; J M Coetzee, Matthew Condon, Nicholas Drayson,...

Tuesday, 18 November 2008
A familiar street name (to Melbournians at any rate) and now book is atop the Highest New Entries chart this week--Lygon St by Michael Harden. This bustling thoroughfare in the...