{"id":30856,"date":"2025-09-19T04:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T04:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/30856\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T04:30:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T04:30:08","slug":"5-new-australian-publishers-are-making-defiant-weird-grass-roots-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/30856\/","title":{"rendered":"5 new Australian publishers are making defiant, weird, grass-roots books"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the past year or so, three Australian publishing mergers happened<\/a> within a few short months. Text Publishing, Pantera Press and Affirm Press were all absorbed into a larger company. Once a company has shareholders, like Penguin Random House and Simon and Schuster (which acquired Affirm and Text), the business is geared to generate the greatest return for them. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the closure<\/a> of 85-year-old literary journal Meanjin<\/a> has drawn the ire of industry insiders and readers in Australia and abroad.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Emily Riches, founder of Aniko Press.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s also some good news in the launch of five new Australian book publishers: Perentie Press, Pink Shorts Press, Evercreech Editions, Aniko Press and Bakers Lane Books.<\/p>\n

Their new work includes short books, graphic novels, short-story collections, experimental writing and literary fiction. Two are launching with prizes for unpublished work: one (worth A$2,500 as an advance towards royalties) for a graphic novel<\/a>; the other a $10,000 award for an unpublished work of literary fiction<\/a> by an Australian woman or gender-diverse writer, co-judged by Stella Prize winning author Emily Bitto. <\/p>\n

Meeting the players<\/p>\n

Three of the new ventures have set up outside of the standard duopoly for publishing: Sydney and Melbourne. <\/p>\n

Brisbane-based Perentie Press<\/a>, run by art teacher and author Bethany Loveridge and publisher Rochelle Stephens, is focusing on graphic novels \u2013 \u201cparticularly among young readers\u201d, they told the Age<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of Pink Shorts Press\u2019 Barbara Hanrahan new editions.<\/p>\n

Pink Shorts Press<\/a>, founded by Margot Lloyd, former senior editor of Griffith Review and senior editor at UQP, and Emily Hart, former publisher at Hardie Grant, is in Adelaide, where the founders met working at small publisher Wakefield Press. <\/p>\n

So far, Pink Shorts is publishing fiction: a comic take on autofiction<\/a> and a satirical short-story collection<\/a> by debut authors, and two cleverly packaged editions<\/a> of classic novels<\/a> by Adelaide author and artist Barbara Hanrahan (whose art adorns the covers), with contemporary forewords. \u201cAustralian readers are keen for books that break the mould,\u201d they told me. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first novel from Evercreech Editions.<\/p>\n

Evercreech Editions<\/a>, the Hobart-based brainchild of bookseller and author Adam Ouston, has similar aims. His vision is to provide \u201can outlet for the out of step, the weird, the boldly defiant, a home for the homeless\u201d \u2013 which he calls \u201cdistinctly Tasmanian\u201d. His first project is a literary novel<\/a> by former Australian diplomat Konrad Muller, described by Robert Dessaix as \u201ca glossy black cockatoo of a book\u201d.<\/p>\n

In each case, these publishers are the project of industry insiders. <\/p>\n

In Sydney, there are new entrants too: Aniko Press<\/a>, which has risen from a five-year-old literary journal<\/a>, is run by writer and editor Emily Riches. Its first book<\/a> is a \u201cdark, feral\u201d short-story collection by Miriam Webster, a Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellow and winner of the inaugural Kill Your Darlings Nonfiction Essay Prize. <\/p>\n

Bakers Lane Books<\/a> is launching with a A$10,000 manuscript prize. Founder and publisher Ginny Grant is creating two imprints, with a focus on \u201cnew voices and women writers in all their diversity\u201d. <\/p>\n

Where does the money come from?<\/p>\n

The money has to come from somewhere. Pink Shorts is running \u201cWordshops\u201d to help \u201cbusinesses streamline their approach to words\u201d. They told me, \u201cWe\u2019re used to working with authors to draw out their distinctive voices and cut unnecessary waffle, but it turns out those skills are invaluable to businesses as well (especially in the current age of endless AI [artificial intelligence] overwriting).\u201d <\/p>\n

Running such programs is one way to underwrite publishing books. <\/p>\n

Initially, Pink Shorts is using the \u201csavings<\/a>\u201d of its co-founders, but they told me, \u201cthere\u2019s so little money in the book publishing business that some grants will inevitably be part of our future\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Emily Hart (left) and Margot Lloyd running a Pink Shorts Wordshop.
\n Bri Hammond\/Pink Shorts<\/p>\n

Evercreech has also announced writing workshops<\/a> \u2013 and its funding is coming from a \u201cgenerous and silent benefactor<\/a>\u201d. Bakers Lane Press is \u201cself funding<\/a>\u201d. <\/p>\n

Perentie has \u201ca little bit of seed funding<\/a>\u201d. Aniko\u2019s funding isn\u2019t listed on their website, but the early issues of their magazines have sold out<\/a>. <\/p>\n

There are other ways to fund operations, too: these include publishing books with primarily commercial ends to underwrite the more literary projects. Famed women-run publisher McPhee Gribble, founded 50 years ago, part-funded their publishing operations with information books for children called \u201cPractical Puffins<\/a>\u201d. <\/p>\n

Difficulties of distribution<\/p>\n

In a country as large and sparsely populated as Australia, the first concern for any new publishing enterprise is distribution: getting books into bookshops \u2013 and into the hands of readers.<\/p>\n

I asked the pair behind Pink Shorts about this. \u201cDistribution was the single biggest factor we worried over,\u201d they told me. \u201cThere are so few options for small presses, and they all take a big chunk of revenue.\u201d <\/p>\n

Publishers offer booksellers a discount of around 50% to sell their books. Of the 50% a publisher gets, as much as 30% goes to a distributor.<\/p>\n

The only reason Pink Shorts Press can exist in its current form, its founders say, is because they have partnered with large publisher Simon & Schuster for both distribution and printing \u2013 bringing production costs \u201cback into the realm of possible\u201d and smoothing \u201cmany of the road humps of distribution\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first novel from Aniko Press.<\/p>\n

Without a distributor, the publisher has to persuade individual booksellers to stock copies of a book, a model Aniko Press follows. This is highly labour-intensive, but does at least mean the publisher gets to keep that 30%. <\/p>\n

Evercreech initially had a distributor, but it \u201cfell through at the last minute\u201d. Ouston\u2019s background as a bookseller meant this was less of a hindrance than it might be for other new publishers: he knows how to sell his books to other booksellers. He told me this arrangement, while not ideal, is manageable at Evercreech\u2019s size. \u201cI like the hands-on, grass-roots element.\u201d<\/p>\n

Underwriting the future of Australian publishing<\/p>\n

In Australia, arts funding is in the bottom quarter of OECD countries<\/a> as a share of GDP. While Writing Australia represents welcome new funding, the annual budget at a federal level for literature in 2025\u201326 administered through Creative Australia is $15 million according to a spokesperson from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts. It is still a fraction of what it would take to safeguard the local industry.<\/p>\n

If funding were available to better support publishing, it would be possible for more people from different backgrounds to start new publishers. Each of these new enterprises have valuable contributions to make to Australian publishing: but at the same time, it seems more than a coincidence that none of the founders identifies as being from a marginalised background. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Marina Sano and Jing Xuan Teo of Amplify Bookstore.
\n Amplify Books<\/a><\/p>\n

A rare recent new venture in the Australian book industry with diverse founders is Marina Sano and Jing Xuan Teo\u2019s Amplify Bookstore<\/a>, which exclusively sells<\/a> books by authors who are Black, First Nations and\/or people of colour. Started as an online-only venture in 2020, a \u201cpop up\u201d bookshop opened in West Melbourne late last year.<\/p>\n

Despite efforts such as the Open Book internship program<\/a> and black&write!<\/a>, the industry is still largely dominated<\/a> by white people like me. Only a significant boost in government funding has a chance of changing that. <\/p>\n

The emergence of new publishers is welcome news, following what seemed like a wave of conglomeration earlier in the year. But in a market of increasing costs, difficulties with distribution, waning literacy rates and in the face of the AI behemoth, their success is far from assured.<\/p>\n