Latest News

Here are bits and pieces from the trade press.

25 September 07:
Deborah Adelaide's 11th novel has been bought - for Australia & NZ publication only - at auction by Picador for six figures. Congratulations to her agent, Lyn Tranter and to Rod Morrison, the new publisher at Picador, for taking the plunge.

8 August 07:
The Australian Society of Authors today (8 August 07) condemned Angus & Robertson booksellers for its proposed imposition of a 'pay to display' fee on over 70% of the membership of the Australian Publishers Association.

'This is an outrageous insult to Australian authors,' Executive Director Dr Jeremy Fisher said. 'Only yesterday the Australia Council highlighted the parlous state of Australian literature in education. Now, the private-equity owners of Angus & Robertson, Pacific Equity Partners, are trying to bully their smaller suppliers into paying for the 'privilege' of shelf space in Angus & Robertson-owned stores. They are hurting not only these publishers but also their authors. Angus & Robertson is stealing money from Australian authors, whose average income is only $11,000. Why, that's an amount which is probably even less than the daily income of the directors of Pacific Equity Partners.'

In a proforma letter to its suppliers, Angus & Robertson makes the extraordinary statement that 'over 40% of our supplier agreements fall below our requirements in terms of profit earned'. It seems they only want to stock books from publishers (and authors) with guaranteed saleability. If this is their attitude, the ASA calls on all bookbuyers to boycott Angus & Robertson-owned stores because their proposed policy is such an insult to Australian authors.

Note: Angus & Robertson franchisees are not subject to the company policy. The ASA does not call for a boycott on Angus & Robertson franchisees.

Susan Wyndham's blog in the Sydney Morning Herald contains the letter sent to Tower Books by A&R. Here's the link:

http://blogs.smh.com.au/entertainment/archives/undercover/index.html

19 June 07:
Discussing Meanjin magazine's proposed move to MUP's office, its editor Ian Britain said: "Being a literary editor requires considerable privacy so that we can discuss copy with some of the very highest level authors in the land. Seemingly petty things, like whether something should be a comma or a semicolon, ensures the quality. That simply could not happen in an open-plan office."

That's just being "precious", says Ken Gelder, a professor of literary studies at the university. "If you're an editor you should know where a flaming comma goes."

Gelder resigned from the Meanjin board after voting for the Melbourne University Press plan, "exasperated" by Britain's "stupid arguments". - SMH, 19 June 07

7 May 07: Fourth Estate editorial director Clare Reihill says, "In publishing, there are always periods when jackets look the same. All classics look like this now." She responded to claims that their newly published book of Tolstoy's War and Peace (on the right) looked too much like the Penguin translation (on the left). Its translator, Tony Briggs, said publishing with a similar cover to his was an attempt to capitalise on its success. He also said the Fourth Estate version "should not even be called War and Peace. It was an abandoned draft titled All's Well That Ends Well; that it never went near a publisher and that 200,000 words are missing, along with the main ideas. (Times, via Publishers Lunch)

23 April 07: "I am surprised and delighted to receive your illustrated postcard last week. My small work of 195 pages (THE UNCOOL SALESMAN) is as yet unrewarded, probably because it is considered too wild in its structure and style to satisfy disciples of a Department of Similitude, too woolly to satisfy those who like their readings to be full of self evident truths. All I need is to find enough money to take up your kind invitation." - Rodney A. Potts, 34 Tattersall Drive, Kyneton Victoria 3444. If you wish to see Mr Potts' work in print, please contact him for further details.

4 April 07: Publishers and Booksellers bring rare insight to the process of book creation. This seminar, produced by the Australian Publishers Association, gives an overview of the whole publishing process. An opportunity to meet professionals in the industry and to relax and converse with them at the end of the day with a glass of wine. $460 fee. Melbourne Tuesday 15 May, Sydney Friday 18 May. See the APA website for details - http://www.publishers.asn.au

10 Nov 06: From 1 January, the annual subscription is $149. However, our web service providers have not yet implimented the change. Until they do, the membership fee is still $99 but we don't know for how much longer.

3 Oct 06: The annual Frankfurt Book Fair opens tomorrow. This is the largest gathering of the book industry ever. We represent a selected few independently published books at this trade fair and next week's MIPCOM in Cannes, the gathering of pitchers and buyers for television.

5 Sep 06: Our new phone number is 02 9337 3601. We have relocated our office to 1 Moore Street, Watsons Bay 2030. Please note: meetings are by appointment only.

23 August 06: Rockpool Publishing is a new venture begun by Gary Allen (book distributor) and Lisa Hanrahan (former prod.mgr. at Random House). Mind-body-spirit plus family titles. They are looking for ms. See our database for contact details.

5 June 06: Tip of the week & one half! Cover layout trick: 6mm+130mm+6mm+130mm+6mm = B format book, 100 pages, 6mm spine, 6mm bleed. And it is 6mm+200mm+6mm tall!

22 May 06: Network at this year's Sydney Writers' Festival. Meet editors, publishers and authors, including JER Prince, whose poetry collection Trojan Moments will be launched Thursday. Walsh Bay.

15 May 06: It's easy to 'publish' very very short print runs of 1 or 2 books. Go to our Trade Secrets page.

8 May 06: Put a ruler up against your screen and match the screen size to the ruler to line up items.

1 May 06: Trim the page layout to its final size to see what it will REALLY look like.

24 April 06: Bulky book cream paper is best for a mass market feel. White offset is especially good when your book includes photos. Both papers cost the same.

10 April 06: Bar codes are .eps format. Treat it like a photo and 'place' it on your cover layout with a white background. Do not scale it!

3 April 06: Avoid a title starting with "The" or "A" to be sure your book is indexed and catalogued correctly.

27 March 06: If your book and its packaging weighs less than 500g and is thinner than 20mm, to post it will cost just $2.45 anywhere in Australia. Click on this link Distribution Costs for the page on postage costs.