Anne Skyvington
  • Writing
    • A Change of Blog Title
    • An Article in Quadrant Magazine
    • A Guest Post by Ian Wells
    • An Aussie bloke remembers: Guest post by Ian (Harry) Wells
    • a father’s tale … by Ian (Harry) Wells
    • “Snakey” by Roger Britton
    • A Guest Poem: “First Loves” by Roger Britton
    • At the Swimming Pool
    • A Modern True Story
    • A Story of a Special Child
    • What I learnt from writing a novel…
  • Mythos
    • A FAIRY STORY
    • Anthropos Rising
    • A Grain of Folly
    • The Myth of Persephone and Demeter
    • Candidly Yours…
    • A Story of a Genteel Ghost told by Roger Britton
  • Travel
    • Adriatic Romance … Rijeka to Titograd
    • 5 or 6 Things About Valencia
    • A Bird’s Eye View
    • 7 ancient artefacts in the British Museum
    • A Tuscan Village Holiday
  • Australia
    • A Country College Residence
    • Alone not lonely in Apartheid South Africa
    • A Young Adult Novel: My French Barrette
    • A Sydney Icon or Two
    • 5 things about Coogee
  • Nature
    • Black Swans Surfing
    • Blackbird Mythology: Crows and Magpies of Australia
    • A Kit Home Goes Up in Vacy
  • Poetry
    • a funny thing happened …
    • An ancient mystic: Rumi
    • A Window into Poetry
    • A Love Sonnet by Ian Harry Wells
  • Memoir
    • Always something there to remind me…
    • A Well-Loved Pet
    • Ancient Stories from Childhood
    • Voices From the Past
  • Publishing
    • A Useful Site for Readers and Indie Authors: Books 2 Read
    • Highs and Lows of Self Publishing
    • How I Created My Debut Novel
    • 5 Further Publishing Facts
    • 5 Facts I Learnt About Self/Publishing
  • Contact Us

Anne Skyvington

The Craft of Writing

  • Writing
    • A Change of Blog Title
    • An Article in Quadrant Magazine
    • A Guest Post by Ian Wells
    • An Aussie bloke remembers: Guest post by Ian (Harry) Wells
    • a father’s tale … by Ian (Harry) Wells
    • “Snakey” by Roger Britton
    • A Guest Poem: “First Loves” by Roger Britton
    • At the Swimming Pool
    • A Modern True Story
    • A Story of a Special Child
    • What I learnt from writing a novel…
  • Mythos
    • A FAIRY STORY
    • Anthropos Rising
    • A Grain of Folly
    • The Myth of Persephone and Demeter
    • Candidly Yours…
    • A Story of a Genteel Ghost told by Roger Britton
  • Travel
    • Adriatic Romance … Rijeka to Titograd
    • 5 or 6 Things About Valencia
    • A Bird’s Eye View
    • 7 ancient artefacts in the British Museum
    • A Tuscan Village Holiday
  • Australia
    • A Country College Residence
    • Alone not lonely in Apartheid South Africa
    • A Young Adult Novel: My French Barrette
    • A Sydney Icon or Two
    • 5 things about Coogee
  • Nature
    • Black Swans Surfing
    • Blackbird Mythology: Crows and Magpies of Australia
    • A Kit Home Goes Up in Vacy
  • Poetry
    • a funny thing happened …
    • An ancient mystic: Rumi
    • A Window into Poetry
    • A Love Sonnet by Ian Harry Wells
  • Memoir
    • Always something there to remind me…
    • A Well-Loved Pet
    • Ancient Stories from Childhood
    • Voices From the Past
  • Publishing
    • A Useful Site for Readers and Indie Authors: Books 2 Read
    • Highs and Lows of Self Publishing
    • How I Created My Debut Novel
    • 5 Further Publishing Facts
    • 5 Facts I Learnt About Self/Publishing
  • Contact Us
PublishingWriting

Publishing Streams in Australia

written by Anne Skyvington October 19, 2017
waterfall-streams

A Seminar I Attended

In July I attended an excellent seminar held at the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) in Ultimo, Sydney, titled “Pitch Perfect”. The convenor, Emily Booth, an editor from Melbourne company, Text Publishing, led the workshop on how to pitch our manuscript to agents and publishers. One of the most helpful pieces of information, as well as the guidelines on synopsis writing and pitching, was a classification of principal publishing firms:

There are three main publishing streams in Australia:

Large Traditional Houses:

Interested mainly in already published authors, or those with a social presence, such as Bill Clinton, whose books will sell in the thousands:  Not available to new authors, unless you have an agent: also called The Big Five:

Random Penguin House is an example; Hachette; Pan Macmillan; Harper Collins; Simon & Schuster.

Independent Publishers:

Emily Booth says: These are prepared to consider new writers, whose books might not sell thousands initially, but may have “a long tail”, with the possibility of reprints down the track. They have committed staff available for editing, and, according to Emily, they may be driven by editorial, rather than marketing. Examples are:

Text Publishing; also Scribe Publications; Ventura Press,  Allen and Unwin (Friday Pitch), Affirm Press, Black Inc.

Small Presses:

These are often under-staffed and not always able to provide complete editing facilities for new writers: Finch; Pantera Press; Giramondo Publishing.

Text Publishing

salley-vickers-cover From their website: “At Text we want to publish books that make a difference to people’s lives. We believe that reading should be a marvellous experience, that every book you read should somehow change your life if only by a fraction. We love the phrase ‘lost in a book’—that’s where we want our readers to be. You can’t get lost in a newspaper or a magazine or even a movie. But people get lost in books every day—on the tram, on the beach, in bed. Reading is what keeps the imagination supple and challenges preconceptions and prejudices. ”

Text Publishing accept unsolicited submissions. They require hard copy. Authors from Text that I’ve read and enjoyed:

Kate Grenville, Helen Garner, Salley Vickers, Margaret Atwood, Yan Martell, Murray Bail, J.M. Coetzee, Anna Funder, Elena Ferrante, Sophie Cunningham, Kate Jennings, Olga Masters, Janet Malcolm, Magda Szubanski,  Claire Aman, and Jeanette Winterson.

 Giramondo Publishing

Commissioning Editor, Nick Tapper, of Giramondo Publishing, spoke at a recent session at the NSW Writers’ Centre.  

  • Giramondo is interested in publishing diverse Australian voices; pushing the boundaries; playing with form; mixing genres; doing something politically/socially interesting; they publish equal poetry and prose.
  • Committed to staying small: Print runs of 700-1500
  • 25 books were printed in 2017 with a staff of 12 who do everything: editing; submissions; covers; distribution; etc.
  • They accept unsolicited manuscripts; writers must be familiar with books published by Giramondo
  • Examples of Books: Beverly Farmer: This Water; Gerald Murnane: A Million Windows; Michael Mohammed Ahmad: The Tribe; Alexis Wright: Carpentaria; Brian Castro: The Bath Fugues; Fiona Wright: Small Acts of Disappearance.

    A Million Windows

    a-million-windows-coverMurnane’s A Million Windows looks, at first glance, like a novel, but it is very different from the traditional form. Rather than allowing me, the naive reader, to lose myself in the story, I had to work hard to follow the narrative to its end.

    This work refers the reader contextually to other sources: to books by past authors, such as Hal Porter’s The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony, Pascal’s Pensées, and to celebrated writers such as Hemingway, James and Hardy.

    A Million Windows is only fiction in the broadest sense. There are many stories or fragments of stories spread throughout generous doses of “writing craft” information. Luckily, I took notes, and came across a host of clues and gems along the way for new authors, who may still be learning the rules of creative writing, and for new readers of Murnane’s experimental type of writing.

    While rejecting traditional punctuation—pointing ahead towards experimentation with new forms—the narrator uses a comic metaphor to describe “quotation marks looking like swarms of flies or a series of dashes like rungs on a ladder to nowhere.” This voice of irony, often harking back to past ironic voices, such as that of Laurence Sterne, saved it for me; as did the way Murnane blithely turned on its head James Joyce’s dictum that “in the particular is contained the universal”. While acknowledging the giants of the past, he still manages to create a unique, if sometimes frustrating, voice for himself.

     Which to Choose?

  • If you are an unpublished writer, it was suggested that you approach Small Publishers or, possibly, the Independents.
  • The Independent Publishers are more likely to offer editing skills for your manuscript.
  • Small presses are always eager to publish unsolicited manuscripts if they are good and polished.

Publishing Streams in Australia was last modified: February 10th, 2020 by Anne Skyvington
differences between fiction and non-fiction?do large traditional houses accept unsolicited manuscripts?what are some independent publishers in Australia?what are the 3 major publishing groups in Australia?what is the ASA?
0 comment
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Anne Skyvington

I have been a reader/writer all of my life as far back as I can remember. Blogging has opened me up to another world, where I can share my skills and continue to create through word and picture. Writing is about seeing the world and recreating it for others to see through different eyes.

previous post
Spring Gardens Down Under
next post
The Phoenix Years

You may also like

Another Look at Point of View

April 20, 2019

Visions of South Africa: a creative couple...

August 31, 2015

Finding Your Narrative Voice

October 24, 2016

Things I fear … but am not...

August 20, 2016

Fear of Death/ Fear of Life

August 21, 2016

The Narrative Arc

March 17, 2018

Favourite Places in Brisbane

May 12, 2013

Melancholia

October 20, 2012

A Useful Site for Readers and Indie...

October 18, 2020

A Window into Poetry

February 20, 2017

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

About Me

About Me

Anne Skyvington

Anne Skyvington is a writer based in Sydney who has been practising and teaching creative writing skills for many years. You can learn here about structuring a short story and how to go about creating a longer work, such as a novel or a memoir. Subscribe to this blog and receive a monthly newsletter on creative writing topics and events.

Subscribe

Buy online from Amazon

In Australia you can purchase the book from Harry Hartog in Bondi Junction, from Amazon Australia and bookshops linked to IngramSpark

 

Included in Feedspot’s Top 30 for 2020

Top 30 Creative Writing Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2020

This blog is Included in List of 100 Best Writers’ Sites 2019

 

The 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2019

Connect With Me

Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest Linkedin Youtube Email

Recent Posts

  • How I Created My Debut Novel

    July 4, 2020
  • A Useful Site for Readers and Indie Authors: Books 2 Read

    October 18, 2020
  • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills

    May 7, 2020
  • 5 Further Publishing Facts

    April 1, 2020
  • 5 Facts I Learnt About Self/Publishing

    March 23, 2020

Categories

  • Writing
  • Craft of Writing
  • Publishing
  • Australia
  • Childhood
  • Nature
  • Travel
  • Poetry
  • Memoir
  • Emotions and Health
  • Book Reviews
  • Guest Post
  • Art
  • Politics

I’ve joined ALLI

About Me

About Me

Anne Skyvington is a Sydney-based writer and blogger. Read more...

Popular Posts

  • How I Created My Debut Novel

    July 4, 2020
  • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills

    May 7, 2020
  • 5 Further Publishing Facts

    April 1, 2020
  • The Golden Ratio in Nature

    August 24, 2016

Subscribe

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin

Copyright @ 2017 Anne Skyvington. All Rights Reserved. Site by gina.digital.


Back To Top