‘Moments in Australian Publishing’ is not intended to be a chronological study of all book publishing in Australia by Australian publishers. Instead, the intent of the research was to look at what prompted the emergence of independence, what threatened or threatens it, who were and are some of the agents of change, what is happening today and what does the future hold?
Putting it in perspective
Historically, Australia was a lucrative colonial marketplace for British book publishing and booksellers. Today, Australia is still a relatively small marketplace for books in English, and is dominated by the huge British, American and trans-global publishing houses. It is only in educational book publishing that Australian publishers have been truly profitable.
A Tarrif Board inquiry into the Australian publishing industry, conducted in 1945-6, concluded ‘ High grade Australian work can and does find a ready market, not only in Australia but also in other parts of the world’.
Educational publishing did expand post World War 11 but other publishing was not strong enough to be viable and independent.
Australian Pride
In the 1960s the beginnings of an Australian creative landscape were starting to form. Patrick White and Manning Clark were published and received favorable reviews. Composer Peter Sculthorpe returned from England to compose great works, the Australian Ballet Company was formed and universities started to teach Australian literature. Allen Lane, founder of Penguin Publishing England said in 1961:
‘My own feeling is that Australia is about to emerge, speaking from a publishing point of view, into a creative phase in place of an absorbent one’.
The FW Cheshire bookshop in Melbourne was well stocked in Australian books. The company supported such authors as Alan Marshall and Robin Boyd. By 1969 Penguin Australia had published 27 books by Australians.
Change
In the 1970’s there was a greater sense of nationalism and rapid growth in Australian publishing. Independent publishers such as McPhee Gribble, Lonely Planet and Outback Press were emerging pacesetters. Many changes were occurring in society, politics, technology and travel. Now more confident about its place in the world, the Australian identity was being reflected in the books written and published by Australians. The voices of young writers were being heard via Currency Press. One writer was David Williamson whose works include The Removalist, Don’s Party and The Club. His plays reflected the changes in society and politics and they were seen on the stage and screen.
Image from Homesick.com.au
'Our literary culture has been shaped by our history, our luck, our misfortune, our connections to the past and our visions of the future. … Writing and reading have blossomed over time, and we are less inclined to fear how our literary culture compares to those overseas. Indeed, we have established our own identity, a desire to communicate this to the world and the ability to do so. We have turned from importers of culture to exporters.’
State Library Exhibition “The Independent Type” 2009.
For the Australian publishing industry, the 1970’s became a global era. Gough Whitlam’s government offered grants for Australian publishers. There were about 40 Australian publishers in the early 70’s, not all lasted the distance.
Paperbacks were beginning to be published. British publishing companies were starting to concentrate efforts on Australian publishing programs. ‘Australian Penguins’ now became just ‘Penguins’ and Australian children’s books and fiction were being published by Collins.
Seeds of Success
'Like the bush banana, our organisation spreads the seeds of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and South Sea Islander cultures, publishing and promoting Indigenous literature in Australia and throughout the world'.
Magabala is an independent corporation that was established to record, promote and pass on Aboriginal traditions and culture in book form. Formed in 1987, it is the oldest independent Indigenous publishing house. Magabala produces books across a range of genres.
Bush banana image courtesy www.aboriginalartstore.com.au
The Lonely Planet phenomenon
Maureen and Tony Wheeler arrived in Sydney in 1972 after travelling across Asia with 27 cents between them. People were constantly asking them how they did it and shortly after they decided to put together a guidebook and publish it themselves. The notes were handwritten and typed on a borrowed typewriter at a kitchen table. The first Lonely Planet guide was called Across Asia on the Cheap, the first print was 1500 copies and they initially sold several hundred copies at Angus & Robertson.
Image from The Lonely Planet Collection University of Melbourne
Lonely Planet was an early adopter of technology and switched to using computers in the early 1980’s. In 1988 they moved to desktop publishing and started to draw maps with computer software. Wishing to get into the American market they were told “It hasn’t worked for anyone else, why should it work for you?’”
In 1993 Lonely Planet were approached by Microsoft about producing a digital version of their guidebooks. Today, they are the world’s biggest travel guide publisher. They moved travel publishing online via www.lonelyplanet.com which has become one of the most popular travel websites in the world. There is also a travel TV production company and a digital photo library.
Other stories
McPhee Gribble
This independent publisher nurtured young Australian writers from the mid 1970’s. Kathy Lette, Helen Garner, Kaz Cooke, and Tim Winton are some of the authors with a distinctive Australian voice, published by a company that wanted to be an international company, but eventually sold to Penguin in 1989.
Scribe Publications
An independent Australian book publishing company established in 1976 by Henry Rosenbloom, Scribe publishes about 70 books a year. He is a forthright and fierce supporter of Australian writers, content and territorial copyright.
Allen & Unwin
Originally a British company that began publishing in Australia in 1974, now Australian owned since 1990, Allen & Unwin publishes annually about 250 fiction, non fiction, academic, professional titles as well as books for children and young adults.
Today and the future
There are small, medium and large Australian publishing companies. More than 60 % of the books bought in Australia, originate in Australia but we import more books than we export. Moreover, Australian writers are becoming bestsellers overseas and winning prestigious awards.
A look into the history of books, communication, libraries and publishing cannot be complete without mentioning the ‘E’ word.
E Ink - E book - E Reader - E publishing - M book - Self Publishing - Publishing Online - Print on Demand
Photo courtesy of www.thecreativepenn.com
Google “self publishing” and there is a plethora of websites offering advice on how to self publish books and online content. It is estimated that there exists 100 million blogs online. An author in the United States published his novel on Twitter.
I have a serialized novel delivered to my iphone at 7am each morning – an M book. You can purchase “Twitter Secrets For Your Business” Ebook right now on the internet.
BookPOD provides authors who are self publishing their book printed in three days. Angus and Robertson has installed a Espresso Book Machine that prints a paperback on demand in minutes. Dymocks stocks 130,000 e-books.
When its all said and done, they are still books aren’t they?
Photo courtesy www.asaauthors.org
Bibliography
Munro, C & Sheahan-Bright, 2006, Paper Empires: A history of the book in Australia 1946-2005, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, Queensland.
McPhee, H 2001, Other people’s words, Pan McMillian, Sydney.
Education Resource 2009, State Library of Victoria, viewed 1 September, 2009,
http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pdfs/programs/it-education-resource.pdf
Wheeler, M & T 2005, Once while travelling, Penguin, Camberwell, Vic.
Whitton, R 2007, The Australian Writer’s Marketplace, Quensland Writers Centre, Brisbane.
Magabala 2006, Magabala, viewed 31 October, 2009,
http://www.magabala.com/.
Spunc 2009, Spunc, viewed 3 September, 2009,
http://spunc.com.au/.
Scribe 2009, Scribe, viewed 9 September 2009,
http://www.scribepublications.com.au/.
Allen @ Unwin 2009, viewed 12 September 2009,
http://www.allenandunwin.com/.
