Books+Publishing Weekly Book Newsletter
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22 January 2025

 

Thank you for your Christmas survey responses, deadline extended x

Thank you to all the booksellers and publishers who have responded to our annual Christmas survey. We have extended the deadline for submissions to COB... Read more
 
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text logo (a black underlined letter t in a black circle)

 

PRH acquires Text Publishing x

Text Publishing has announced it will become part of Penguin Random House Australia (PRH), effective immediately. In a statement, Text said the acquisition ‘includes all... Read more
 

Ethicool logo

 

Ethicool Books deregistered x

Children’s publisher Ethicool Books has been deregistered. The publisher, which launched in 2020, was founded by Teigan Margetts with the intention of publishing books that... Read more
 
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Aniko Press acquires first title for publication x

Aniko Press has acquired world rights to its first title – The Slip, a debut short story collection from Miriam Webster. ‘The Slip is a... Read more
 

Photograph of Julia Donaldson

 

Bestseller Awards: Donaldson overtakes Rowling in units sold

In the UK, Nielsen BookData and BolognaBookPlus have awarded the annual Bestseller Awards, reports BookBrunch. Based on UK volume sales data, the Bestseller Awards recognise... Read more
 
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PRH acquires Text; Restructure, redundancies at Hardie Grant; Christmas sales up

Penguin Random House Australia has acquired Text Publishing, Hardie Grant has announced a restructure of its marketing and communications team and four redundancies; HarperCollins New Zealand has announced the retirement of general manager Karen Ferns and the appointment of Sandy Weir in the role; the Emerging Writers’ Festival has named Jess Zanoni as its new artistic director and co-CEO, and children’s publisher Ethicool Books has been deregistered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Meanwhile, Christmas sales – those during the four weeks to 28 December 2024 – were up slightly by value compared to Christmas 2023, even as sales for the 2024 year overall were down.

In awards news, several works by authors from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand are longlisted for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award; a manuscript by local author Hollen Singleton is shortlisted for the Novel Prize; Paula Green was named the 2025 recipient of the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal; Aotearoa New Zealand authors were among those recognised in the 2025 New Year’s Honours List; two writers were named recipients of the 2025 Sargeson Fellowship; and Writers Victoria announced the shortlist for the 2025 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship.

In local acquisitions news this week, UQP acquired world rights to a first work of adult fiction by writer and activist Randa Abdel-Fattah; Ulverscroft acquired world rights to Thea Astley’s 1962 novel The Well Dressed Explorer; Melbourne Books acquired world rights to Circus Oz: From the Pram to the World Stage by Jesse Jensen-Kohl, and Aniko Press has acquired its first title — debut short story collection The Slip by Miriam Webster.

In the UK, the London Book Fair has announced its keynote speakers and sessions, unit sales of books by Julia Donaldson have overtaken those of JK Rowling, and the Bookseller reported a ‘small decline’ in the number of independent bookstores in 2024. In the US, meanwhile, TikTok announced it is restoring access to the social media platform after incoming president Donald Trump indicated that one of his first acts will be to issue an executive order granting TikTok owner ByteDance more time to find a buyer of the platform.

In other international book-related news, Publishers Weekly has provided a wrap on how Neil Gaiman’s publishers have responded to the accusations shared in Vulture last week; and Fred Harter wrote for the Guardian on the availability of African literature: ‘Africa has no shortage of celebrated writers – so why is it so hard for African readers to get hold of their books?’

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Diana Reid on 'Signs of Damage' x

Diana Reid follows her bestselling novels Love & Virtue and Seeing Other People with her highly anticipated third novel, Signs of Damage (March, Ultimo), which... Read more
 

 

Diana Reid recommends x

I was completely engrossed by Emily Maguire’s Rapture: it’s immersive, visceral and thrillingly original.
 

Cover of The Lost Book of Magic

 

Rights round-up x

Sales Nonfiction Black Inc. has sold Turkish rights to The Shortest History of Turkey (Benjamin C Fortna) to Say Yayinlari. Rockpool has sold Japanese translation... Read more
 

The cover of The Let Them Theory

 

New Robbins title debuts at number one x

Top 10 bestsellers The Let Them Theory (Mel Robbins, Hay House) RecipeTin Eats: Tonight (Nagi Maehashi, Macmillan) Here One Moment (Liane Moriarty, Macmillan) The Housemaid... Read more
 

 

Australian Football's 100 Year Club: Celebrating Three Great Teams (Andrew Clarke, Gelding Street Press, March) x

Hawthorn’s Hawks. Footscray’s Bulldogs. North Melbourne’s Kangaroos. Australian Football’s 100 Year Club: Celebrating Three Great Teams celebrates the centenary of these three iconic Aussie Rules... Read more

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

 

 

Best, First and Last (Amy Matthews, S&S, March) x

Best, First and Last is a fun romance novel that has everything you could ask for: an unexpected, all-expenses-paid holiday, a charming stranger, a nosy... Read more

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

 

 

Geraldine (Andrea Thompson, Fremantle, March) x

In this heartwarming debut novel, spanning the 1960s to the early 2000s, music journalist and artist manager Andrea Thompson tells the story of Geraldine, a... Read more

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

 

 

How Australian Democracy Works: And Why We Need It More Than Ever (ed by Amanda Dunn, T&H, March) x

At a time when democracy seems under threat globally, Australia’s democratic system is often seen as one of the best. Compulsory voting, democracy sausages and... Read more

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

 

 

Signs of Damage (Diana Reid, Ultimo, March) x

Diana Reid’s third book is an engrossing, meticulously crafted drama that explores memory, trauma, repression and self-preservation, examining how these themes intersect, overlap, are misinterpreted... Read more

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

 

 

Wild Dark Shore (Charlotte McConaghy, Penguin, March) x

In Charlotte McConaghy’s latest novel, the aptly named Salt family are the last caretakers of a seed vault on an ocean-battered subantarctic island. In the... Read more

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

 

 

Ariana Treasure: The Missing Book (Jacqueline de Rose-Ahern, illus Karen Erasmus, Wombat, March) x

Ariana Treasure: The Missing Book is the first in a new series for beginner readers by Jacqueline de Rose-Ahern. Ariana’s family own the Treasure Chest,... Read more

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

 

 

The First Sunrise (Vanessa Stevens, illus Paul Seden, Magabala, March) x

The First Sunrise is the first Mbabaram creation story to be published and was passed down to Mbabaram, Yidinji, Kaanju and Taribelang Bunda woman Vanessa... Read more

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

 

 

The Last Seed Keeper (Paul Russell, EK Books, March) x

In The Last Seed Keeper, the first in Paul Russell’s cli-fi (climate fiction) trilogy of the same name, not a narrative minute is wasted. Tense... Read more

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

 

 

Sunny at the End of the World (Steph Bowe, Text, March) x

Steph Bowe’s Sunny at the End of the World, published posthumously, provides clear evidence of Bowe’s creative skills levelling up. The book is set across... Read more

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

 

 

Read the latest Publishers Weekly x

Books+Publishing is partnering with US trade news magazine Publishers Weekly to provide our subscribers with exclusive access to the weekly digital edition of PW magazine.... Read more
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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