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| Categories | Books, news,bookselling, publishing,book reviews |
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| Frequency | Quarterly |
| Circulation | 2900 (January 2018) |
| Founded | 1921; 104 years ago (1921) |
| Company | Books and Publishing Pty Ltd |
| Country | Australia |
| Based in | Melbourne |
| Language | Australian English |
| Website | www.booksandpublishing.com.au |
| ISSN | 2201-5892 |
Books+Publishing (formerlyBookseller+Publisher andAustralian Bookseller & Publisher) is a news outlet reporting on the Australianbook industry.[1] Published as a website with daily newsletters and a print magazine, the outlet produces industry news about publishing,bookselling, libraries,rights sales,literary awards andliterary festivals, as well as author interviews and pre-publicationreviews of Australian and New Zealand books.
Books+Publishing was founded as a magazine in 1921[1][2] by Daniel Wrixon Thorpe as theAustralian 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 continuouslypublished ever since, changing its name toIdeas in the 1937. The name then change toAustralian Bookseller & Publisher in 1971 when the D. W. Thorpe company was taken over by Thorpe's daughter,Joyce Nicholson.[3]
In 1971, the company began publishing theWeekly Book Newsletter—an offshoot of the magazine—containing weekly book-industry news and became colloquially known as theBlue News, because of the blue paper it was printed on.[4][5]
The D. W. Thorpe company was sold to Reed Reference Publishing in 1992, then sold toR. R. Bowker in 2001, and the company became Thorpe-Bowker in 2003.[2] (R. R. Bowker is currently owned byProQuest.)
The word 'Australian' was dropped from the magazine's title at the start of 2006 to becomeBookseller+Publisher, partly in acknowledgement of Australia's growing role as a publishing andbookselling hub for the entire Asia-Pacific region.[6] In 2006 theWeekly Book Newsletter became an online newsletter that is emailed to subscribers and available on the website.
The publication was renamed toBooks+Publishing in 2012,[7] and the newsletterLibrary News that Thorpe-Bowker had acquired in 2007 was folded into the renamed publication. Two offshoot newsletters carrying book reviews, theReviews Newsletter and theJunior Newsletter, began in 2012, and one year later the firstDaily Newsletter was sent out to subscribers containing news about the book industry on a daily basis, which is republished in theWeekly Book Newsletter. TheThink Australian Newsletter andThink 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 entireBooks+Publishing publication, including the magazine, newsletters and website, to Thorpe-Bowker General Manager Gary Pengelly, under the company Books and Publishing Pty Ltd.[8][3] In 2020, the business decided to postpone publishing the magazine,Think Australian and its book-review newsletters due toCOVID-19.[9]