Welcome to The Sharpe Report
Everything Books and Publishing Australia
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
-
The Clunes Booktown Festival returns March 21-22. The full program has been announced and is now available on their website: https://clunesbooktown.org.au/
-
Writing Australia has invited applicants to apply for the National Poet Laureate. This is a three year appointment for a poet whose “work and cultural contribution have shaped contemporary poetry and its readership”. For details on applying click here.
-
TitlePage, an industry book finding tool, has explained that their figures for December 2025 reflected the importance of word-of-mouth, seasonal favourites and established favourites. Virginia Evans’s book The Correspondent was the most searched, viewed and downloaded title in December. Media adaptations such as Heated Rivalry were popular, alongside practical nonfiction such as The Little Book of Common Sense Investing.
-
The 2025 finalists for the Aueralis Awards have been announced.
-
Best Children’s Fiction: Villian, Little Bones, Moonboy, Escape from Firestone Fortress, The Last Seed Keeper, When the Mountain Wakes
-
Best Young Adult Novel: Blood Moon Bride, Lady’s Knight, Dark Sun Rising, The Serpent Called Mercy, This Stays Between Us, Unhallowed Halls
-
Best Horror Novel: Orpheus Nine, The Farm, This Stays Between Us, Slashed Beauties, Nightmare Reef, The Crimson Road
-
Best Fantasy Novel: House of the Rain King, Honeyeater, Greenteeth, Slashed Beauties, Grave Empire, Upon a Starlit Tide
-
Best Science Fiction Novel: Letters to Our Robot Sun, Arborescence, Volatile Memory, Dark Sands, Wastelands, All We Have
-
Best Graphic Novel/Illustrated Novel: Bad Friend, The Photographer, Strange Bedfellows, Higher Ground, SoXiety
-
Best Horror Novella: The Nga’phandileh Whisperer, Sideshow Souls, Parasitic Omens, Willow Close, “Walpurgis”, The Cold House
-
Best Fantasy Novella: Hol(l)o(w)metabolism, Cinder House, Parasitic Omens, Trickster Tales, “Crown Tourney”
-
Best Science Fiction Novella: Quiet Like Fire, “Photo in the Chip”, “The Hidden God”, Homecoming, All My Guns are Trans and Gay and They’re Ruining My Fucking Life
-
Best Young Adult Short Story: “Ne’za’s Yearning”, “Mother Tree’s Idols”, “Anomalies of Prospero Base”, “Crown Tourney”, “This Ocean Was a City Once”, “As Brittle as Granite”
-
Best Horror Short Story: “Catch and Consume”, “The Bottom Feeders”, “It will Only Hurt If I Want It To”, “The Shelter”, “Bitter Skin”, “Me, Espresso”
-
Best Fantasy Short Story: “Dragon Drops”, “Dying Mountain”, “The Midden”, “What We Sew”, “Sparrow & Butler”, “Jericho and the Cursed Forest”
-
Best Science Fiction Short Story: “Gallows Humour”, “Phantom Loop”, “Deja Vecu”, “Time Witch Airship Cruise”, “Full term”, “Do Motorcycle Centaurs Dream of Five Stars and a Tip?”
-
-
Australia Reads had become an independent not-for-profit organisation and has assigned a new board.
-
The 2025 Newcastle Poetry Prize Shortlist has been announced. You can see the list here.
Featured Blog Posts:
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
Estimated reading...
What 99.9% of authors don’t know.
Estimated reading...
Three tips for drafting your own work
Estimated reading...
Featured Blog Posts
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
Estimated reading...
What 99.9% of authors don’t know.
Estimated reading...
Three tips for drafting your own work
Estimated reading...
Interested in publishing your book but unsure where to start or what is even involved? Tell us about your project and we will post you a copy of our:
The Little Book of
Big Publishing Tips.
In just a quick 8,000 words, this little book will equip you with the knowledge you need to successfully publish your book.
The Little Book of Big Publishing tips goes into the essentials of self-publishing a book, outlining the business and financial side of publishing, legal issues, design, editing, sales and marketing. There's even a section on how to identify a vanity-publishing scam.
