The Bookseller's Podcast

With Sorrento Writers Festival about to embark on its 4th very successful year, it is time to hear from its enigmatic founder and director, Corrie Perkins.

Continuing on from Episode 34 on advoacy and policy-making, we chat with Susannah Bowen, the new CEO of the Australian Bookselling Association. Susannah talks about her background and expertise, her passion for books and her aspirations for not only championing the Australian Indie Bookshop but also her plans to future-proof our sector . Help her help ourselves! We urge all owners, booksellers, authors and readers to get involved and to do your bit to help Susannah foster an environment that could profoundly impact our bookshops.

Mark and Jaye chat with Wenona Byrne, Director of Writing Australia as to how best booksellers might advocate for ourselves.

Mark and Jaye catch up with plans for 2026, the 4th Year of the Bookseller's Podcast.

In this final episode of the year, we present a converstaion between Mark and Sandy Grant. Sandy reflects on his (and therefore Hardie Grant's) origin story, the influence and impact of his partner Fiona, the changing publishing landscape and today's trends and realities.

There is so much happening in bookselling world, we thought we would bring you your very own news bulletin, done the friendly Bookseller's Podcast way.

Booksellers Nina (Verso Books), Lynne (Torquay Books), Heather (Fairfield Books) and Charlotte (Ink Bookshop) freewheel about behaviours seen in our bookshops and the industry and pontificate about how best to manage these.

Mark and Jaye chat with Mark Fletcher, Founder of Tower Systems & Managing Director, newsXpress. The conversation, ostensibly about Tower Systems (software POS provider) meandered into thoughts about the retail space, AI & AI agentics, the morphing newsagent, search engines, optimising online sales, the creative process and much much more.

Jaye speaks with three individuals who have found alternate ways to support the book industry. Come and get to know (better): Kaye Wright (Leading Edge, NSW), Jill Langhammer (Literary Listings, Vic) and Jane Sullivan (Birds of a Feather, Queensland).

We have been very keen for awhile now to speak to a French Bookseller and Mark has finally had the chance to do so. We learn, directly from the horse's mouth, the pros and cons of being a bookseller in a country with over 3,500 independent bookshops (300 in Paris alone).

Mark has a fireside chat with David Gaunt from Gleebooks. Turn the volume up, find somewhere quiet and listen to this mesmerising conversation from 2 doyens of our industry.

Continuing the theme of chatting with new bookshop owners, Jaye sought out:Alison Arnold from LadyHawke Bookshop. IvanhoeLien Giang from Pictures and Pages, Coburg Bella from Head and Tales Bookshop, Barwon Heads.who generously shared their starting pains but all of whom are committed to being in this game for the long haul.

Mark Rubbo chews the fat with Alex Caminer who shares he & his partner Chi's vision & ambition for the newly acquired Alternative Bookshop in Bellingen NSW. With the tagline 'for Nature Lovers & Deep Thinkers', the new owners are determined to keep the titles of the books they sell consistent with their ethos of self and global discovery.

Ever wondered how EDI, Pac-stream, title page and the publishers all talk to your bookshop via your POS system? Didn't even know they did? Well, fasten your seatbelts and lets find out together.To kick off Season 3 we have gone straight into the weeds. The Bookseller's Podcast speak to Matt Lupica, General Manager of the Book Barn in Rosebud and Belgrave, Victoria who is also a trainer for users of circlesoft POS. This episode is also relevant to non-circle users.

Mark and Jaye start with intentions to reflect on the year that's been but end up with a session on the books of the season. You can take the bookseller out of the bookshop, but you cannot take the books (to be sold) out of the bookseller! We wish everyone a great season's trade to end the year with a bang!

It's an Indie Bookshops Call to Arms! We speak to the Global Coordination Team: Federico Lang (Libreria Luces, Malaga, Spain) Brid Conroy (Tertulia Bookshop, Westport, Ireland) Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo (Greenlight Books, Brooklyn, USA) about their genius idea to do activate local bookshop crawls all around the world during one very special week in April 2025. For more information go to www.globalbookcrawl.org or contact [email protected]

Booksellers talking about bookselling. We cannot think of a more delicious episode. Featuring Anna Low from Potts Point Bookshop, NSW; Jaclyn Cupri from Hill of Content; Melbourne & Matt Davies (2024 Bookseller of the Year) from The Bookshop in Queenscliff.

Mark and Jaye chat with Jason Steger fresh off his 14 year role as Literary Editor of The Age.

The Booksellers Podcast has gone global in this episode featuring Mark's conversation with Jan from The English Bookshop in Sweden. Both booksellers have the distinction of their bookshops being accoladed with the International Excellence Award for Bookstores by the London Book Fair. In a wide ranging discourse, what stands out is Jan's deep passion and respect for his role as indie bookshop owner.

Jaye & Mark talk books as they have coffee but spill tea.

We say this every time, but this might be our best episode yet. Feauturing Kate Horton (Farrells Bookshop, Mornington Peninsula, Vic), Tim Jarvis (Fullers Bookshop; Hobart) and Joe Rubbo (Readings, Melbourne), we chat with this new generation of bookshop owners and leaders as to the process which got them where they are. More than usual we are very grateful to these guests for sharing their very personal stories with such warmth and candor. This episode is dedicated to Alee Liang (1936 - 2024), Jaye's mum, who was the Bookseller's Podcast Number 1 fan.

This is the pointy end of owning a bookshop. Whether you are thinking of selling your business, and even if you are not, Mark speaks to Michael Kerr of Kerr Capital and asks all those questions we often wonder. - how much is my bookshop worth? - should stock be in the asking price? - when do I tell staff? - are there alternatives to selling? - what if my successor is a staff or family member? - how do I improve future saleability? Kerr Capital specialise in helping owners increase the value plus make their business easier to sell. This episode will have you thinking more deeply into getting your business on track for a long term better outcome.

Jaye and Mark had the immense pleasure and privilege of chatting with best-selling authors Ann Patchett and Lauren Groff who also have the distinction of being indie bookshop owners in the USA. Both conversations were by turns inspirational and jaw-dropping.

This episode features the best of us - Children's Bookselling. We would like to thank Fran from Escape Hatch Deb from The Younger Sun Erin from The Kid's Bookshop Rachel from Gleebooks for their time and generosity. Before that though, Jaye has a rant.

In this single topic episode - fixed pricing - Mark Rubbo explores the concept of limited fixed pricing on new releases with Pulitzer prize winning journalist and Indie Bookshop owner, Raymond Bonner.

Mark waxes lyrical about his recent experience with the Jaipur (India) Literary Festival. We also hear origin stories from Sally Tabner (Bookoccino), Dan Jordan (Roaring Stories) & Bronwyn Druce (Red Kangaroo, NT). Tales of floods and moves and how to run a bookshop cafe abound. And of course we talk books.

Mark and Jaye chat with Matthew O'Brien, Operations Director of United Books Distributors (UBD), the country's pre-eminent book distribution warehouse. Covering some mind-boggling facts and stats, what it boils down to is that there are some very passionate experts making sure that those books get to our bookshops not only accurately and in a timely manner but also in pristine condition. How can pallets and forklifts and automation be so fascinating? Listen and find out more!

Jaye and Mark have a very cosy 'Christmas Fireside'-like chat ranging from current fave reads to audiobooks to aspirations for the podcast. As well, we feature Amanda Wildsmith, Area Manager, Hardie Grant and Kate Taperell, Group Communications Manager, Hachette who want booksellers to know how we can best leverage their expertise. The Bookseller's Podcast would like to thank everyone for a magnificent first year. We wish you all happy trading, a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Lucky episode 8 is a bit of a chop suey episode with lots of yummy ingredients and a gem or three. We are indebted everyone who contributed and shared so willingly and with such great humour. Apologies in advance for the sound quality of the conversation with Tim - not to fear, we will bring our BookPeople President back for a crystal clear chat about succession planning in the not too distant future.

In today's episode we speak with Keiran Rogers from Affirm Press, Barry Scott from Transit Lounge and Louise Stark from Hachette. In this series of surprisingly frank and transparent conversations we learn that publishers LURVE books (almost) as much as booksellers, AND are great conversationalists. The collective generosity of these three publishers to have open discussions plus willingly subject themselves to some potentially contentious questions cannot be overstated and we are immensely grateful. We learnt a lot and think you will too.

This special episode is in celebration of the start of Mark's next chapter following 50 years as Managing Director of Readings. We are tagging this The Bookseller's Podcast's Mark 'Springsteen' meets Henry 'Obama' episode. This insightful, provocative conversation will leave many of you thinking more deeply about what we do and, if you are like Jaye, very grateful to have access to the unfiltered exchange of two friends whose experience in our industry is without peer. As well, we chat about patriarchs, matriarchs and woks.

To monetise or not to monetise - that is the question. In an episode packed with dos and don'ts and some very creative ideas, this is the episode you've been clamouring for. Jaye and Mark chat with Fiona Stager AM (Avid Reader, Bris), Suzy Wilson OAM (Riverbend, Bris), Chris Gordon (Readings, Melb) and Anna MacDonald (Paperback, Melb) about bookshop events and learn that Brisbane and Melbourne appear to do it quite differently.

Jaye and Mark catch up at the annual BookPeople conference and chat with many new, and familiar, faces. This episode will put a smile on the dial of those who attended and is likely to cause FOMO for those who didn't. We congratulate BookPeople for pulling together an exceptional couple of days.

Where do the books come from? What is stock turn? How high should the shelves be? What is author care? This episode might just be mandatory listening for all those starting out and even for those who think they know ... but do you really? Jaye speaks with Robbie Egan, CEO, BookPeople (aka Australian Booksellers Assoc.) to ask all those questions and more. You can find out more about BookPeople here: bookpeople.org.au

In this episode we hear from Rachel Chopping (Product and Member Services Assistant, BookPeople) and Michael Earp (YA author, Bookseller of the Year, 2021; Affirm Press) about the ups and downs of bookselling and Charlotte Lindsay from Ink Bookshop (Mansfield, Victoria) and Petra Blumkaitis from Peach's Pages (NSW) about realising their dreams of owning a bookshop. Bookshop mentioned: https://www.inkbookshop.com.au/ Peach's pages, Oatley, NSW Books mentioned: Day's End by Garry Disher (Text) Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith (MacMillan) An Ungrateful Instrument by Micahel Meehan (Transit Lounge) Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (Penguin) Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Penguin) The Colony by Audrey Magee (Faber & Faber) Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au (Giramondo) (Middle Grade) A Song from Somewhere Else by AF Harrold (Bloomsbury) Anthology of Short Stories for Young Adults. Queer Adaptations of Fairy Tales. Edited by Michael Earp (Affirm. Not yet published) Limberlost by Robbie Arnold (Text) Cold Coast by Robyn Mundy (Ultimo) Trespassers by Louise Kennedy (Penguin) Our fundraising page is https://fundraising.ilf.org.au/thebooksellerspodcast You can find us on instagram @the_booksellers_podcast

Welcome to the first episode of The Bookseller's Podcast. To celebrate the beginning of this new initiative, we talk to Chris Redfern from Avenue Bookstores (Vic), Jane Seaton from Beaufort Street Books (WA) and Gavin Williams from Matilda Bookstore (SA) about their beginnings, the challenges and pitfalls and the joy of owning your own bookshop. Donations to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation are very welcome on our fundraising page fundraising.ilf.org.au/thebooksellerspodcast Instagram @the_booksellers_podcast The bookshops discussed are marymartinbooks.com.au readings.com.au avenuebookstore.com.au beaufortstreetbooks.com.au matildabookshop.com.au