Weekly Book Newsletter (end March 2022)
6 May 2015

James Patterson pledges $100,000 to Australian and New Zealand bookstores

US author James Patterson has announced he will donate a total pool of $100,000 to Australian and New Zealand bookstores to spend on projects to get children reading.... Read more
 

Scholastic to move Omnibus to Sydney office

Scholastic will move its Adelaide-based children’s book imprint Omnibus to its Sydney office over the next eight months. A Scholastic spokesperson would not say why... Read more
 

ALS Gold Medal 2015 shortlist announced

The shortlist for the 2015 Australian Literature Society (ALS) Gold Medal has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: The Golden Age (Joan London, Vintage) Drones... Read more
 

Jane Curry Publishing rebrands as Ventura Press, announces new partnership with S&S

Jane Curry Publishing (JCP) will rebrand as Ventura Press from 1 August this year, timed to coincide with a new sales and distribution partnership with Simon... Read more
 

Clunes Booktown Festival attracts over 18,000 x

Around 18,000-20,000 people attended this year’s Clunes Booktown Festival on 2-3 May in the central Victorian town of Clunes. Clunes Booktown director Tess Brady told Books+Publishing that ‘Omar Musa was... Read more
 

Inaugural Melbourne Art Book Fair attracts 16,000 visitors

The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) has announced that the Melbourne Art Book Fair will become an annual event, after the inaugural fair attracted 16,000... Read more
 

Dick Smith to sell Kindle Voyage x

Amazon has announced its Kindle Voyage ereader is available to order in Australia through Dick Smith. The Voyage, which was released in the US and the UK... Read more
 

QWC appoints Woods as new CEO

The Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) has appointed Katie Woods as its new CEO, replacing Meg Vann, who stepped down from the position in February. Woods... Read more
 

Anthology with focus on disabled characters meets US$13,000 Pozible target

A crowdfunding campaign for an anthology of apocalypse-survival fiction with a focus on disabled characters has reached its US$13,000 (A$16,595) target on crowdfunding website Pozible.... Read more
 

New podcast focuses on contemporary Australian poetry

A new podcast series with news and interviews about the contemporary Australian poetry scene has launched. The Australian Poetry Podcast is hosted by poets Robbie... Read more
 

New Zealand Book Council launches books podcast

The New Zealand Book Council (NZBC) is producing a new monthly podcast discussing new release and classic New Zealand books. ‘Talking Books’ is hosted by... Read more
 

New ABIA sponsors announced; award funding up 24%

Dymocks, 3M Cloud Library and JCDecaux have been announced as the major sponsors of this year’s Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs), with overall funding for... Read more
 

Locus Awards 2015 finalists announced

The finalists for the 2015 Locus Awards for science-fiction and fantasy writing have been announced, and include several Australians. Garth Nix has been nominated in... Read more
 

Quote of the week

‘As a reader, venturing only to the front of the bookshop is a bit like visiting Europe or Asia or Africa in five days. Exploring... Read more
 

Rights round-up x

Sales Children’s—Hardie Grant Egmont and Little Hare have sold Greek rights to Zac Power: Sky High (H I Larry); US rights to A Billie B... Read more
 

Bestsellers this week

Fiction and health-related cookbooks are dominating this week’s bestseller charts, with six fiction titles and three health books in the top 10. The fiction list... Read more
 

Children’s Choice Book Awards 2015 winners announced in the US

In the US, the winners of the 2015 Children’s Book Council (CBC) Children’s Choice Book Awards have been announced. The awards, which are voted on... Read more
 

Publishers support Obama initiative with $250m ebook donation

A group of US publishers will donate more than US$250 million (A$316.25 million) worth of ebooks for use by low-income students as part of a... Read more
 

Ondaatje Prize 2015 shortlist announced

The shortlist for the 2015 RSL Ondaatje Prize, an annual award of £10,000 (A$19,361) for ‘a distinguished work of fiction, nonfiction or poetry evoking the... Read more
 

Edgar Allan Poe Awards 2015 winners announced

In the US, the Mystery Writers of America has announced the winners of the 2015 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, which honour ‘the best in mystery... Read more
 

Coutts wins 2015 Wellcome Book Prize

In the UK, The Iceberg by Marion Coutts (Atlantic Books) has won the 2015 Wellcome Book Prize, worth £30,000 (A$57,745), for the best new work... Read more
 

Kobo signs first publishing deal

In Canada, Kobo has signed its first publishing deal, acquiring a book by Kevin Donovan on radio presenter Jian Gomeshi, who is awaiting trial in Canada for sexual assault,... Read more
 

UK audiobook sales more than double in five years x

In the UK, the sales of audiobooks in the UK has more than doubled over five years according to figures released by the Publishers Association... Read more
 

Gideon Haigh’s ‘Certain Admissions’

One evening in December 1949, young Beth Williams accepted an invitation to dinner from John Bryan Kerr, a former radio star she originally met in... Read more
 

Cunningham wins 2015 Calibre Prize

Sophie Cunningham has won the ninth Australian Book Review (ABR) Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay. Cunningham’s essay ‘Staying with the trouble’, which describes ‘an epic walk up... Read more
 

NT government to fund new Library Management System x

The Northern Territory government has committed $541,000 in its 2015-16 budget to fund a new Library Management System (LMS), which will be rolled out across... Read more
 

Victorian government announces library funding

The Victorian government has allocated new funding to libraries in its 2015-16 state budget. In addition to the $55.4 million to support a major redevelopment... Read more
 

International library news x

American Library Association co-founds new copyright coalition In the US, the American Library Association (ALA) has joined nine national groups across the private and public... Read more
 

Kinokuniya’s Hiroshi Sogo on creating a ‘global niche’ x

‘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... Read more
 

Blacklock to leave Scholastic x

Omnibus publisher Dyan Blacklock will leave Scholastic on 19 May. (See news.)
 

QWC appoints Woods as new CEO x

The Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) has appointed Katie Woods as its new CEO, replacing Meg Vann. (See news.)
 

Convery appointed deputy editor of ‘Overland’ x

Stephanie Convery has been appointed deputy editor of Overland. Convery is a long-time contributor to the publication.
 

Society of Editors (NSW): Online Editing and Web Content Strategy x

The Society of Editors (NSW) Inc. will run an online editing and web content strategy workshop on Wednesday, 20 May from 9.30am to 4.30pm. Presented... Read more

David Kilcullen Australian Tour for Quarterly Essay 58, ‘Blood Year: Terror and the Islamic State’ x

Leading international military strategist and counterinsurgency expert, David Kilcullen, will tour Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane from 20-23 May 2015.

As Australian soldiers head back to Iraq, David Kilcullen, a key architect of the 2007-8 Iraq troop surge, has written an authoritative Quarterly Essay, Blood Year: Terror and the Islamic State. In May, Kilcullen will visit Australia to give his unique perspective on the risk, the region and the way forward.

Last year was a ‘blood year’ in the Middle East—massacres and fallen cities, collapsed and collapsing states, the unravelling of a decade of Western strategy. We saw the rise of ISIS, the splintering of government in Iraq, and foreign fighters—many from Europe, Australia and Africa—flowing into Syria at a rate ten times that during the height of the Iraq War. What went wrong?

In Blood Year, Australian-born Kilcullen calls on twenty-five years’ experience to answer that question. This is a vivid, urgent account of the War on Terror by someone who helped shape its strategy, as well as witnessing its evolution on the ground.

While on tour, David Kilcullen will be interviewed on ABC 7.30, 3AW Drive, 2UE and 4BC Alan Jones Show and ABC local radio PM. There will be print coverage in the weekend Age, Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian, and more media will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Orders for Blood Year (ISBN 9781863957328, RRP $22.99) can be placed with United Book Distributors on orders@unitedbookdistributors.com.au or 03 9811 2555.

www.quarterlyessay.com

 

Promote Your Title at BEA x

Have you thought about promoting your title to a global audience?

Book Expo America (27-29 May 2015) is one of the biggest global trade fairs.

Promote your book without the expense of attendance.

Limited advertising opportunities are available through the PW Show Daily.

For more information email Andrew.Thornley@proquest.com.

 

Changes to Hachette Australia’s SA and WA Account Managers x

Hachette Australia would like to announce that Debbie Somers has resigned from her position as Account Manager for South Australia to go travelling. Her last day will be 13 of May and Hachette would like to thank her for her wonderful service over the last nine years in the role and wish her the best for the future. Marie Isaacson, one of Hachette’s West Australian Account Managers, will take up the position of South Australian Account Manager. Marie has many years of experience in WA and SA, both with Hachette and other publishers, and looks forward to reconnecting with old friends in the South Australian book trade.  Todd Griffiths will remain as the West Australian Account Manager and will take on the responsibility of managing all lists within that territory with his usual enthusiasm and focus.

 

Jane Curry Publishing Rebrands as Ventura Press, Distributed by Simon and Schuster Australia x

Leading Sydney independent publisher Jane Curry Publishing (JCP) are excited to announce that from 1 August 2015, the company will be rebranded as Ventura Press. Joining us on this new venture are Simon and Schuster Australia who will be distributing the JCP backlist and all new Ventura titles.

Jane Curry would like to thank the team at NewSouth Books and TLD for their support and dedication to the JCP list over the last three years.

The strategic decision to rebrand JCP will ensure the continued growth and expansion of the business, allowing greater flexibility to work with more Australian authors across a variety of genres.

As each JCP backlist title is reprinted, it will bear the new Ventura logo and will be assigned a new ISBN.

Simon and Schuster Australia will supply all orders from 1 August 2015.

Orders are to be directed to United Book Distributors
Phone: 1800 338836
Fax: 03 8537 4497
Email: orders@unitedbookdistributors.com.au

NewSouth Books will stop shipping JCP titles on 31 July 2015.

Simon and Schuster and UBD will not be responsible for returns of titles invoiced by NewSouth Books.

For further information please contact Publishing Manager Jasmine Standfield at jasminestandfield@janecurrypublishing.com.au

 

Hachette Australia Congratulates Favel Parrett and Inga Simpson x

Everyone at Hachette Australia is thrilled to congratulate Favel Parrett for When the Night Comes and Inga Simpson for Nest on being shortlisted for the 2015 Australian Literature Society (ALS) Award.

Congratulations Favel and Inga!

To order copies of When the Night Comes (ISBN: 9780733626586) and Nest (ISBN: 9780733632341) please contact Alliance Distribution Services customer service on toll-free fax 1800-664-477 or tel (02) 4390 1300.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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