Welcome to The Sharpe Report
Everything Books and Publishing Australia
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Hello everyone 😄
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The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has released the guide for publishers entering the 2026 awards. You can see the guide here.
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The winners of the Newcastle Short Story Award have been announced. The winners have been published in the award’s annual anthology.
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There is some exciting news about the book market. In 2025 the book market was up 3.2% in value and 1.4% in volume. The Neilsen snapshot shows that the market was worth $1.3 billion also. The top three categories that had grown over the year were religion, children’s & YA nonfiction, and fiction.
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Following last weeks news, Louise Adler, director of Adelaide Writers Week since 2023 has resigned. Not only this, but the whole event is no longer going ahead as scheduled, and all remaining members of the Adelaide Festival Board are stepping down.
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Craig Silvey, author of the beloved Runt and Jasper Jones, has been charged over child exploitation offences and will face court on February 10. This has come as a big shock to the book community.
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The Indie Book Awards Shortlists for 2026 have been announced.
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Illustrated Nonfiction: The ADHD Brain Buddy, Planting Native Birds, Bees and Butterflies, Wild by Design, THAI
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Below are the bestsellers of the week ending Jan 10 2026:
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Top 10 Bestsellers: The Housemaid, Arnott’s The Cookbook, Cozy Days, The Let Them Theory, Talons of Power, Mad Mabel, The Housemaid’s Secret, Last One Out, Exit Strategy, Atomic Habits
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Highest New Entries: Dove, A Brain That Breathes, Dark Desert Robert, Cozy K-Pop, People We Meet on Vacation
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Top 10 Bestsellers by Aussie Authors:Mad Mabel, Last One Out, Nobody’s Girl, RecipeTin Eats: Dinner, Gravity Let Me Go, RecipeTin Eats: Tonight, Pilbara, The Heir Apparent, Wild Dark Shore, Simple Dinners Every Day
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Books in the Media
National
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Here One Moment / Liane Moriarty (Fiction)
ACT
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Best Offer Wins / Marisa Kashino (Fiction)
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The Casino / Iain Ryan (Fiction)
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Finding My Way / Malala Yousafzai (Memoir)
NSW
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Chosen Family / Madeleine Gray (Fiction)
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On Friendship / Andrew O’Hagan (Literary Essays)
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Poems of Seamus Heaney (Poetry)
VIC
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No Secrets / Graham Bidstrup (Memoir)
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Chosen Family / Madeleine Gray (Fiction)
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On Friendship / Andrew O’Hagan (Literary Essays)
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Poems of Seamus Heaney (Poetry)
QLD + SA
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No Secrets / Graham Bidstrup (Memoir)
TAS
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Basking and the Meaning of Life / Helen Goh (Cookbook)
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The Secrets of Midwives / Sally Hepworth (Fiction)
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Wild for Austen / Devoney Looser (Biography)
*Information gathered from Books+Publishing, Adelaide Festival, The Guardian, ABC
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Featured Blog Posts
The Cathartic Memoir – I’ve journeyed from contempt to enthusiasm
Why write and publish a memoir? Will anyone be interested?
If I was running a 45 minute training session for indie authors what would be on the curriculum?
Here an experienced indie author publisher shares 4 topics every aspiring self-publisher needs to know.
Self-publish your book by raising funds through crowdfunding
You can fully finance you project (and more) if you apply the necessary effort.
Is Goodreads good for authors?
Estimated reading...
What is typesetting?
Estimated reading...
Social media marketing for authors
Social media...
Have you got the book hierarchy blues?
Estimated reading...
The economics of selling your book
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What 99.9% of authors don’t know.
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Three tips for drafting your own work
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