''Books+Publishing'' (formerly ''Bookseller+Publisher'' and ''Australian Bookseller & Publisher'') is a news outlet reporting on the Australian book industry. Published as a website with daily newsletters and a print magazine, the outlet produces industry news about publishing,

bookselling Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

, libraries, rights sales,

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. ...

s and

literary festival A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers' festival, is a regular gathering of writers and readers, typically on an annual basis in a particular city. A literary festival usually features a variety of presentations and reading ...

s, as well as author interviews and pre-publication

reviews A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a rating to indi ...

of Australian and New Zealand books.

History

''Books+Publishing'' was founded as a magazine in 1921 by Daniel Wrixon Thorpe as the ''Australian Stationery and Fancy Goods Journal'', at a time when there were few Australian retailers solely focused on the sale of books. The magazine has been continuously

published Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, new ...

ever since, changing its name to ''Ideas'' in the 1937. The name then change to ''Australian Bookseller & Publisher'' in 1971 when the D. W. Thorpe company was taken over by Thorpe's daughter, Joyce Nicholson. In 1971, the company began publishing the ''Weekly Book Newsletter''—an offshoot of the magazine—containing weekly book-industry news and became colloquially known as the ''Blue News'', because of the blue paper it was printed on. The D. W. Thorpe company was sold to Reed Reference Publishing in 1992, then sold to

R. R. Bowker R. R. Bowker LLC (trading as Bowker) is an American limited liability company domiciled under Delaware Limited Liability Company Law and based in Chatham, New Jersey. Among other things, Bowker provides bibliographic information on publishe ...

in 2001, and the company became Thorpe-Bowker in 2003. (R. R. Bowker is currently owned by

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

.) The word 'Australian' was dropped from the magazine's title at the start of 2006 to become ''Bookseller+Publisher'', partly in acknowledgement of Australia's growing role as a publishing and

hub for the entire Asia-Pacific region. In 2006 the ''Weekly Book Newsletter'' became an online newsletter that is emailed to subscribers and available on the website. The publication was renamed to ''Books+Publishing'' in 2012, and the newsletter ''Library News'' that Thorpe-Bowker had acquired in 2007 was folded into the renamed publication. Two offshoot newsletters carrying book reviews, the ''Reviews Newsletter'' and the ''Junior Newsletter'', began in 2012, and one year later the first ''Daily Newsletter'' was sent out to subscribers containing news about the book industry on a daily basis, which is republished in the ''Weekly Book Newsletter''. The ''Think Australian Newsletter'' and ''Think Australian Junior Newsletter'' were established in 2017, containing news about the sale of rights of Australian titles for an international audience. In 2018, Thorpe-Bowker sold the entire ''Books+Publishing'' publication, including the magazine, newsletters and website, to Thorpe-Bowker General Manager Gary Pengelly, under the company Books and Publishing Pty Ltd. In 2020, the business decided to postpone publishing the magazine, ''Think Australian'' and its book-review newsletters due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Books+Publishing'' website
1921 establishments in Australia Business magazines published in Australia Literary magazines published in Australia News magazines published in Australia Quarterly magazines published in Australia Book review magazines Literary criticism Magazines established in 1921 Magazines published in Melbourne Professional and trade magazines