'Inefficiencies in the supply chain, the importance of data and competition for readers' leisure time were big issues raised at this year's leading Edge Books industry forum.
Hopes for an improved supply chain seem to rest of TitlePage, which the Australian Publishers Association is keen to develop, but which is likely to require substantial investment from publishers and booksellers. Changes are already afoot in distribution, with Penguin Random House consolidating its two UBD distribution centres in Melbourne and changing its freight partner from Toll Group to TNT Australia to 'improve service levels and speed to market'.' (Editorial)
'UQP non fiction publisher Alexandra Payne examines the resurgence of feminist books, their viability and the price of moving from the margins to the mainstream.
I have a bookcase at home that tells an abridged history of feminist publishing, from The Second Sex to The Female Eunuch to Bad Feminist and then some. As a publisher and an out and proud feminist, I have often looked at this bookcase and longed for what I thought was the glory days of feminist publishing - the 1970s. How I wished I'd been around to work for The Women's Press or Virago or the Feminist Press in those early years. I wanted it old school.'
(Introduction)
'The Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority (VCAA) recently achieved gender parity in its 2018 VCE English and English as an Additional Language (EAL) text list,which determines which texts Year 12 students in the state will study. Out of the 36 texts on the list 19 are written by women. The announcement is indicative of a broader move towards more equal gender representation among books studied in the class room but it would be a mistake to assume there is no work left to be done.' (Introduction)
'How do you extend the the sales period of a book past its new-release window?
Brad Jefferies spoke to two local publishers and online bookseller Booktopia, which claims to sell a quarter of all backlist titles in Australia.' (Summary)
'In 2007, Angela Meyer started her blog LiteraryMinded.The first Australian book blogger to gain a significant following, Meyer's blog was syndicated by Crikey and its posts invited readers into book launches, reviews, festivals and the pages of the books she loved. 'For a couple of years I had this weird fifteen minutes of fame,' she says now. In the years since, she's reviewed for broadsheet newspapers, chaired events at writer's festivals, and been a guest on ABC TV's Jennifer Byrne Presents.
(Introduction)
John Birmingham's self published novel A Girl in Time - the first in a near-future dystopian series that imagine the US under a Trump presidency - was release in December last year.
The author of best sellers such as He died with a Falafel in his Hand and the 'Axis of Time' trilogy said he came to self publishing after a previous series 'tanked for a bunch of reasons I won't get into,' and suddenly his options for publishing narrowed.' (Introduction)
In Tristan Bancks' middle-grade novel The Fall, 12 year old Sam Garner finds himself investigating a crime after witnessing a body falling from his apartment building. Bancks spoke to Braiden Asciack. (Introduction)
'Emily Rodda's latest novel the Shop at Hooper's Bend is a return to the authors earlier books, where the magic is 'about following your instincts rather than fantasy realms.' (Introduction)
'Mark Brandi's debut crime novel Wimmera is a 'languid and unsettling' story about two boys growing up together in a small town in the 1980's. He spoke to reviewer Deborah Crabtree.
(Publication Summary)
Melanie Cheng's Australia Day is a' bittersweet, beautifully crafted collection' about the conflicts and realisations that occur when people of different backgrounds are brought together. She spoke to interviewer Hilary Simmons. (Summary)
