‘A service we wish to recommit to and double down on’: Shant Kradjian on Booktopia’s distribution services, staffing, and plans to rebuild trust
Tuesday, 3 September 2024
Shant Kradjian, owner of digiDirect, is the new owner of Booktopia, which began trading again last week. With plans ‘to restore Booktopia with a back-to-basics strategy’, Kradjian says his team...
Major publishers, authors sue over Florida book ban laws
Tuesday, 3 September 2024
In the US, six major publishers, together with the Authors Guild and several bestselling authors, have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of two provisions of Florida’s recently enacted...
Reid launches PR and literary agency
Tuesday, 3 September 2024
Karen Reid, who resigned from Penguin Random House Australia last year after 30 years at the company, has launched a new business, Reid Books PR and Literary Agency. ‘This agency...
APA sustainability survey results, recommendations released
Tuesday, 3 September 2024
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has released the results from its inaugural sustainability survey, along with a set of recommendations for publishers to follow to improve the environmental sustainability of...
S&S acquires Dix memoir
Tuesday, 3 September 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired world rights to The Promise, the memoir of Arnold Dix, an international barrister, scientist and engineer who spearheaded the rescue of 41 trapped...
Indigenous Literacy Day 2024 to include launch of three bilingual titles
Monday, 2 September 2024
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) has called for registrations ahead of its annual Indigenous Literacy Day, which is running this Wednesday, 4 September, and will feature a film, a livestreamed...
Simon & Schuster acquires Cottle YA series
Monday, 2 September 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired world rights to two books in a new YA series by debut author Ruby Jean Cottle, via agents Lou Johnson and Belinda Bolliger...
‘The Meaning of Singleness’ wins 2024 Australian Christian Book of the Year
Monday, 2 September 2024
The Meaning of Singleness: Retrieving an Eschatological Vision for the Contemporary Church (Danielle Treweek, InterVarsity Press Academic) has been named 2024 Australian Christian Book of the Year. The $3000 prize...
Murdoch acquires Goh solo cookbook
Monday, 2 September 2024
Murdoch Books has acquired world rights to the first solo cookbook by Helen Goh, Baking and the Meaning of Life. The publisher described the book as a ‘brilliant modern-day baking...
Davitt Awards 2024 winners announced
Monday, 2 September 2024
Sisters in Crime has announced the winners of the 2024 Davitt Awards for the best crime books by Australian women. The winning titles in each category, chosen from shortlists announced...
Inaugural Shalom Australian Jewish Book Award 2024 winners announced
Monday, 2 September 2024
The inaugural Shalom Australian Jewish Book Award winners were announced at the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival, which ran 21 to 25 August. Michael Gawenda won the Leslie and Sophie Caplan...
Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize 2024 shortlist announced
Monday, 2 September 2024
In the UK, the shortlist for the 2024 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, which celebrates ‘the best popular science writing from across the globe’, has been announced, reports BookBrunch....
Readings chair to run new festival, Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival program launched
Monday, 2 September 2024
A new Carlton-based writers’ festival and the 2024 Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival will both take place this November. Readings chair Mark Rubbo is launching a new literary festival, to be...
PRH global sales, earnings up in first half of the year
Thursday, 29 August 2024
Penguin Random House (PRH) parent company Bertelsmann reported that the publisher’s sales grew 8.5% in the first half of 2024, while operating EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation)...
Muse bookstore closes
Thursday, 29 August 2024
The Muse bookstore in Canberra closed last weekend, after owners Dan Sanderson and Paul Eldon decided not to renew their lease on the establishment, which was also a cafe/restaurant and...
Atlantic acquires Zorn novel ‘Better Days’
Thursday, 29 August 2024
Atlantic Books Australia, a division of Allen & Unwin, has acquired ANZ rights to the novel Better Days by Claire Zorn, in a deal brokered by Grace Heifetz at Left Bank...
Shawline denies allegation of unpaid royalties
Thursday, 29 August 2024
Shawline Publishing Group CEO Brad Shaw, whose company is being sued by author Dan Moon in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for alleged unpaid royalties, has responded to the...
Alyson O’Brien on literacy and trade publishing: ‘It’s lucky for a manuscript for the very young to even make it to an acquisitions meeting’
Wednesday, 28 August 2024
A year ago, when former Bright Light publisher Alyson O'Brien moved from commercial publishing to Raising Literacy Australia, she thought her commercial experience would add value to the organisation; she...
Books+Publishing to produce Australian Book Industry Awards
Wednesday, 28 August 2024
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced that Books+Publishing will ‘take the production reins’ of the annual Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) under a new licensing agreement. In 2025, which...
NLA acquires Wallman’s ‘All Out! Pink Bans and Blue Collars’
Wednesday, 28 August 2024
National Library of Australia (NLA) Publishing has acquired ANZ rights to All Out! Pink Bans and Blue Collars by comics-journalist, cartoonist and labour activist Sam Wallman. As the NLA’s 2023 Creative...
David Dyer recommends
Tuesday, 27 August 2024
The last Australian book I read and loved was Larry Writer’s wonderful The Shipwreck (2022). It tells the dramatic story of the sailing ship Dunbar, which, in 1857, after a...
David Dyer on ‘This Kingdom of Dust’
Tuesday, 27 August 2024
David Dyer’s debut novel, The Midnight Watch (Penguin, 2016), focused on the ship that witnessed the Titanic’s distress rockets but failed to respond. His sophomore novel, This Kingdom of Dust...
SoA demands AI firms seek consent, provide ‘appropriate remuneration’ for use of copyright work
Tuesday, 27 August 2024
In the UK, the Society of Authors (SoA) has written to tech companies, demanding they have the consent of authors before using their work in the development of artificial intelligence...
Dymocks Booragoon/Garden City wins top award at company conference
Tuesday, 27 August 2024
Meg Arnold, store manager of the Booragoon/Garden City Dymocks bookstore in Perth, Western Australia, was awarded the Dymocks Chairman’s Award for Retail Excellence in 2024 during the bookselling chain’s annual...
A&U acquires Tutt’s children’s books
Tuesday, 27 August 2024
Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to Corey Tutt’s children’s titles Caution! This Book Contains Deadly Reptiles (illus by Ben Williams) and Before It Was Called Science, the follow-up to The...
S&S acquires Affirm
Tuesday, 27 August 2024
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) and Affirm Press have announced Affirm will become part of S&S. In a statement, S&S said Affirm Press would continue to maintain its brand independence, operating...
SLQ calls for black&write! publisher EOIs
Monday, 26 August 2024
The State Library of Queensland (SLQ) has called for proposals from Australian publishers to partner with the organisation in delivering the black&write! project for 2025. SLQ said it is calling...
Brisbane to host 2025 BookPeople conference
Monday, 26 August 2024
BookPeople has announced its 2025 conference will take place in Brisbane/Meanjin. The annual conference and trade exhibition event will run from Saturday 14 June to Monday 16 June. This year's...
Croucher wins 2024 YA Book Prize
Monday, 26 August 2024
In the UK, Lex Croucher has won the 2024 YA Book Prize for Gwen & Art Are Not in Love (Bloomsbury YA), reports the Bookseller. Described as a ‘masterclass in teen...
Booktopia resumes trading
Monday, 26 August 2024
The Booktopia website is taking orders again, following the sale of the business and its related assets to Shant Kradjian, owner of Australian consumer electronics retailer digiDirect. ‘We’re back!’ reads...
