Local book markets down; Text Prize discontinued; authors allege Meta knowingly used pirated books
Nielsen BookScan figures show that the Australian and Aotearoa book markets were down in the year just ended, by 3% and 6.6% in value respectively; Nagi Maehashi’s RecipeTin Eats: Tonight (Macmillan) has topped the 2024 Australian Christmas bestsellers list, while in Aotearoa New Zealand it was In Too Deep (Lee Child & Andrew Child, Bantam) that took out number one on the Christmas bestseller list.
Creative Australia revealed the delegates for the 2025 New York Publishers Program; Varuna introduced a new fellowship program; the National Library of Australia announced its 2025 fellows; new independent publisher Spoor Books launched in Aotearoa New Zealand; and Text is discontinuing the Text Prize, with the 2024 recipient to be in the final in the award’s 16-year history.
In other awards news, Vahida Berberovic won the inaugural WestWords Prize for her novel Piggy Tales; Lilian Pearce is the winner of this year’s PF Rowland Manuscript Development Grant; and the longlists for the 2025 Tasmanian Literary Awards and shortlists for the Indie Book Awards and the ABR Peter Porter Poetry Prize have been announced.
Meanwhile, in the US, Reuters reports that a group of authors is alleging Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg approved the use of pirated books to train Meta’s AI systems; and Simon & Schuster has launched Simon Maverick, an audio-first imprint.
In acquisitions, HarperVia acquired world English rights to two novels by Tiffany Tsao, in a pre-empt deal; and Riveted Press acquired worldwide rights to the middle-grade fantasy series Farwood by Jayne McIntyre, in a three-book deal.
Elsewhere in book industry news, Vulture spoke with eight women, including Aotearoa New Zealand resident Scarlett Pavlovich, for its report on allegations of sexual assault against author Neil Gaiman – following a series of accusations initially covered by Tortoise Media.
Category: This week’s news