Postage costs and the Australian book industry: a history
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) believes the biggest threat to bookshops and other local retailers is postage costs. It offers this example: ‘It costs in excess of ten times more...
‘The Hoopla’ creators launch teen website with books section
The creators of The Hoopla have launched a new website for teenage girls called Birdee, which features a dedicated section about books. Birdee publisher Jane Waterhouse told Books+Publishing that the website’s books section,...
Why is it cheaper to post a book from overseas than within Australia? Australia Post, the Royal Mail and the cost of shipping books
The Australian book community is well aware of the growing importance of international online retailers such as Amazon and UK-based the Book Depository (which could soon become one company if...
The week that was: Friday round-up
The longlist of that iconic award, the Miles Franklin was announced this week, with the ratio of male to female authors—that’d be nine men versus three women—troubling some (especially following...
Australian book trade critical of PC draft report
As reported in a WBN special bulletin on Friday, the Productivity Commission has recommended that some of Australia's ‘parallel importation restrictions' (PIRs) be retained, but that the current 90-day rule...
APA on draft PC report
Australian Publishers Association spokesperson Jose Borghino writes: 'The PC estimates the Australian publishing market at $2.5 billion, whereas we have extrapolated from the last ABS stats available (2003-4) and say...
Henry Rosenbloom on the Productivity Commission’s draft report
Henry Rosenbloom writes: 'This is a deeply cynical and political document. Its central recommendation is unworkable and absurd, and is based on neo-liberal theory and not industry evidence. 'It is...
Bad news for Australian authors
The ALAA writes: 'The Australian Literary Agents' Association (ALAA) believes that the Productivity Commission's draft report on Australia's Restrictions on the Parallel Importation of Books released on Friday 20 March...