The Berry Agency: ‘The time was finally right’
Wednesday, 2 July 2025
In the current publishing climate, traditionally published authors are expected to take on a large proportion of the publicity and marketing of their books, while self-published authors take on all...
Editorial Letter: Epitexts, First Nations representation, and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Wednesday, 25 June 2025
As with all similar publications, Books+Publishing has a set of editorial guidelines and a style manual, designed to ground us in our core purpose and the needs of our audience....
ABIA winner profile: Jeanmarie Morosin
Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Following on from the Australian Book Industry Awards in early May, Books+Publishing reached out to the industry winners to ask them about their career, their challenges, their goals and what...
Amelia Mellor on ‘The Wicked Ship’
Tuesday, 17 June 2025
Melbourne-based author Amelia Mellor’s new middle-grade adventure series, Oceanforged, launches with The Wicked Ship (Affirm, August), a 'rollicking mix of Treasure Island and The Sword in the Stone with a...
What’s so special about special editions?
Wednesday, 11 June 2025
The book as a collectible item seems to wax and wane as a trend. On noticing a distinct waxing interest lately, Books+Publishing (B+P) decided to reach out to some industry...
Olivia De Zilva on ‘Plastic Budgie’
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Tarndanya/Adelaide-based writer Olivia De Zilva’s debut, Plastic Budgie (Pink Shorts Press, August), is described as a ‘sharply funny, sad and sentimental reflection on the people, places and cultural forces that...
On alchemy: B+P reflects on Melbourne Writers Festival 2025
Wednesday, 4 June 2025
This year, several members of the B+P team attended the Melbourne Writers Festival. We asked publishing director Kate Cuthbert and managing editor Ange Glindemann to share their experience. ‘Alchemy’ –...
The quiet revolution of bookshop succession
Wednesday, 4 June 2025
In the independent bookstores of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, a new generation of book lovers is taking the reins. Incoming owners are learning that bookstores are more than just...
Who gets published in Aotearoa? Three key findings
Wednesday, 28 May 2025
A recent Booksellers NZ newsletter shared independent publisher Damien Levi’s analysis of 2023 publishing data on gender and ethnicity in Aotearoa. This analysis follows on from earlier work by writer...
A First Nations writer’s fellowship was withdrawn by Queensland’s government. What’s going on?
Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Jo Caust is an associate professor at the University of Melbourne in the School of Culture and Communication, where she is also an honorary principal fellow. She is a founder-editor...
Emma Pei Yin on ‘When Sleeping Women Wake’
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Canberra-based, British-born Hong Kong-Chinese writer and editor Emma Pei Yin’s debut novel, When Sleeping Women Wake (Hachette, July), is set in 1940s Hong Kong and follows three women whose lives...
Enamoured Books opens in Auckland
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Enamoured Books, Aotearoa New Zealand's first dedicated romance bookshop, opened in Auckland in May of 2025. Founder Ruby Wallace spoke with Books+Publishing about her vision for the shop. Why did you...
The 2025 Visiting International Publishers: Why they’re coming and what they hope to find
Wednesday, 14 May 2025
The 2025 Creative Australia Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) Program is running in Sydney from 19–23 May, coinciding with the Sydney Writers' Festival. The program invites international publishers, scouts and literary...
Publishing industry hopeful following Federal Election
Wednesday, 14 May 2025
With the landmark results of the 3 May federal election, questions have arisen about the future of the literary sector. Following the Books Create Australia election campaign, B+P reached out to the Australian Publishers...
Jasmin McGaughey on ‘Moonlight and Dust’
Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Jasmin McGaughey is a Torres Strait Islander and African American author and editor, and the writer behind Ash Barty’s Little Ash series. Her new young adult novel, Moonlight and Dust...
Creative Australia’s VIPs – a very important program
Wednesday, 7 May 2025
Creative Australia’s Visiting International Publishers (VIPs) program began in 1998, and has since welcomed 307 international guests to Australia from 30 countries. Books+Publishing publishing director Kate Cuthbert spoke with Creative...
Who’s eating publishers’ lunch? The rising costs and shrinking margins of Australian books
Wednesday, 7 May 2025
Alice Grundy is an editor, publisher, researcher and teacher. She has worked on both sides of the publishing industry – holding various trade publishing roles over a 15-year period, as well...
Diversity Arts Australia: ‘How to be anti-racist’ in the book industry
Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Diversity Arts Australia, an advocacy organisation for racial equity in the creative industries, recently launched ‘Anti-racism and the Arts’, a call to action for creative individuals and organisations to address...
Marija Peričić on ‘Foreign Country’
Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Marija Peričić’s first novel, The Lost Pages (A&U), won the Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award in 2017. Her ‘lyrical and haunting’ third novel, Foreign Country (Ultimo, July) is a work ‘vivid and...
Thomas Vowles on ‘Our New Gods’
Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Melbourne-based screenwriter and author Thomas Vowles makes his novel debut with Our New Gods (UQP, June), a ‘twisty and menacing’ psychological literary thriller set in Melbourne’s queer scene that is...
ASA, APA, Copyright Agency, NZSA statement on LibGen: What to do next?
Wednesday, 26 March 2025
In Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, the book industry has been hit again this month by reports of massive numbers of copyrighted publications being used to train generative AI systems,...
Laura Elvery on ‘Nightingale’
Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Brisbane-based writer Laura Elvery (Ordinary Matter) makes her novel debut with Nightingale (UQP, May), a fictional reimagining of the life of Florence Nightingale. Books+Publishing reviewer Kate Dunphy describes it as...
Books+Publishing reviews gain support from Cultural Fund
Wednesday, 5 March 2025
In 2025 for the first time, Books+Publishing’s pre-publication reviews program is being supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund. This is the ideal time to revisit the reviews, their purpose,...
Reading Australian readers: Five insights from the latest Australia Reads report
Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Book industry initiative Australia Reads has released a new report on reading behaviour in Australia, in collaboration with Monash University’s BehaviourWorks research enterprise, as part of a broader campaign to...
Publishers on Christmas 2024 and what they expect from the year ahead
Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Christmas 2024 sales were ‘close to expectations’ for the majority of publishers that responded to Books+Publishing’s annual Christmas survey. In addition to local independents including Allen & Unwin, Books+Publishing received...
Jessica Stanley on ‘Consider Yourself Kissed’
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
London-based Australian writer Jessica Stanley (A Great Hope) returns with Consider Yourself Kissed (Text, April), a compelling novel about love, identity and modern motherhood. Books+Publishing reviewer Emily Westmoreland calls it...
Christmas 2024: Sales up for most booksellers
Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Christmas sales in 2024 were up on the previous year for the majority of booksellers surveyed by Books+Publishing in its annual Christmas survey, which this year received responses from representatives...
Fiona Hardy on ‘Unbury the Dead’
Tuesday, 4 February 2025
Melbourne writer, bookseller, and reviewer Fiona Hardy is known for her children’s books, including the CBCA Notable How to Make a Movie in 12 Days. Now, she makes her adult...
How international book markets performed in 2024
Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Results were mixed for international book markets in 2024. While sales were slightly up in the United States and significantly in Brazil, they were down in France, slightly down in...
Diana Reid on ‘Signs of Damage’
Tuesday, 21 January 2025
Diana Reid follows her bestselling novels Love & Virtue and Seeing Other People with her highly anticipated third novel, Signs of Damage (March, Ultimo), which ‘will appeal to fans of...
