Features | Books+Publishing

Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Friday, 1 February 2013
In September and October 2012, Bowker Market Research conducted its second Global eBook Monitor survey, repeating its January 2012 survey in Australia, India, the UK and the US, and adding...

Your store: Notions Unlimited promotes on YouTube

Friday, 1 February 2013
Notions Unlimited Bookshop in the beachside suburb of Chelsea, Victoria, has recently created three YouTube videos to promote its store and reach out to members of its local community. One...

Designing in a digital world

Friday, 1 February 2013
Now that ebooks have established themselves in the market, are they changing the way designers work? Drew Turney reports. One of the more ambitious ebook projects of the past year has...

The proof is in the printing: Print-on-demand and short-run digital

Friday, 1 February 2013
Publishers regularly extol the virtues of print-on-demand (POD) and short-run digital printing. Eloise Keating asked several publishers to share recent examples of their benefits. Black Inc.’s US choice for POD...

Tree change: Melissa Lucashenko on ‘Mullumbimby’

Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Melissa Lucashenko’s novel Mullumbimby (UQP) is the story of one woman’s attempt to build a new life in country Australia. Reviewer Max Oliver describes it as ‘a modern tale of...

Christmas cracker: Robert Gott on ‘The Holiday Murders’

Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Described as a compelling page-turner that is also ‘a little grisly’, Robert Gott’s novel The Holiday Murders (Scribe) follows a 1943 homicide investigation through the streets of Melbourne. The author...

Textual healing: Forthcoming mind-body-spirit titles

Thursday, 13 December 2012
From supergrains to creative seeds, Shannon Wood rounds up forthcoming titles in the mind-body-spirit genre. Shape up While weight-loss titles are popular all year round, summer is the peak time...

Turning up the volume: Innovation at Bolinda

Thursday, 13 December 2012
It’s a small and often overlooked part of the book market, but audiobooks are showing no signs of decline. Andrew Wrathall spoke to Bolinda CEO Rebecca Herrmann about the company’s...

Bookseller’s diary: Nicole Maher of Great Escape Books

Thursday, 13 December 2012
The population of Aireys Inlet may be small in winter, but there’s plenty to keep bookseller Nicole Maher busy throughout the year. The owner of Great Escape Books and co-organiser...

The main events

Thursday, 13 December 2012
With the right preparation, author events can be a win-win for booksellers and publishers. Eloise Keating asked Text Publishing publicity manager Jane Novak and Hardie Grant Egmont publicity manager Jennifer...

Editor’s picks: Summer 2012/13

Thursday, 13 December 2012
Andrea Hanke kicks off another reading year with new fiction from Kate Atkinson and Karen Russell, true stories of shopping and online dating, and some standout YA. Life after Jackson...

Shelf talk: New romantics

Thursday, 13 December 2012
In 2012 it might have been overshadowed by erotic fiction, but there’s certainly no drought in rural romance. In January, Loretta Hill follows up her popular debut The Girl in...

Shelf talk: New kids on the block

Thursday, 13 December 2012
In picture books, Chu’s Day by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury, January) is a playful comedy of errors by a consistently surprising author. And Adam Rex’s bold, colourful illustrations only heighten the...

Shelf talk: Listen up

Thursday, 13 December 2012
Bolinda’s forthcoming audiobook releases include, in nonfiction, The Great Race by David Hill (read by Paul English, February), a thrilling historical account of the race between the English and the...

Trouble in Tassie: Poppy Gee on ‘Bay of Fires’

Thursday, 13 December 2012
A murdered girl washed up on a Tassie beach, and its impact on a small community, are the subjects of Poppy Gee’s debut novel. She spoke to Catherine Schulz. Given...

Second act: Karen Foxlee on ‘The Midnight Dress’

Thursday, 13 December 2012
Karen Foxlee suffered from severe ‘second novel syndrome’ while working on her suspenseful drama The Midnight Dress. She spoke to Melanie Barton. How did it feel to work on your...

Sober thoughts: Jill Stark on ‘High Sobriety’

Thursday, 13 December 2012
In 2011 ‘binge-drinking health reporter’ Jill Stark decided to take a break from alcohol, and write a book about it. She spoke to Paula Grunseit. What place has alcohol had...

Remote possibilities: Independent booksellers in regional Australia

Thursday, 13 December 2012
Publishing student Bridget Morales has surveyed over 50 independent booksellers in regional Australia to find out how they are faring at a time when online bookstores and ereaders are increasingly...

Diary of a (digital) sales rep: Anne Treasure

Thursday, 13 December 2012
What does a sales rep for a digital-only publisher do all day? We spoke to Anne Treasure, digital marketing executive at Momentum. What was your original job description? Has it...

On tour: Meet the author Kevin Powers

Thursday, 13 December 2012
What would you put on a shelf-talker for your book? ‘A portrait of a soldier in Iraq.’ You can see that self-promotion does not come naturally to me. What is the...

Lucky ’13: Publishers’ top picks for 2013

Thursday, 13 December 2012
Local fiction Richard Flanagan’s first novel in five years is Random House publishing director Nikki Christer’s pick for 2013. She describes The Narrow Road to the Deep North (August) as...

Diary of a sales rep: Mandy Wildsmith

Thursday, 13 December 2012
Hardie Grant Books sales rep Mandy Wildsmith has spent 18 years on the road in Victoria and Tasmania. She shares five days from her diary. MONDAY The alarm screams although...

My Identifiers: A new identity for the ISBN Agency

Thursday, 13 December 2012
The newly launched My Identifiers platform will help publishers manage their ISBNs and market their books, reports Eloise Keating. Thorpe-Bowker has officially launched the My Identifiers platform—a new website for...

Talkback: The Penguin/Random House merger

Thursday, 13 December 2012
What are the potential implications of a merger between Penguin and Random House for the business models of small, independent publishers? Bookseller+Publisher spoke to three publishers. Henry Rosenbloom, publisher, Scribe ...

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Ebooks in Oz: An update