ENH2290

Publishing in Australia

W Kirsop

8 points
* 2.5 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton

Objectives Students successfully completing this subject should have acquired practical and hands-on experience of some of the tasks performed by book editors and should also have developed sharper awareness of the ways in which books are produced and marketed, in other words of the commercial dimension of literature.

Synopsis This subject provides a critical and historical view of publishing in Australia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Although it is not vocational in character, it also aims to give students a practical understanding of work in a publisher's office. It looks at all the processes that stood between the author's manuscript and the printed book in the hands of the reader in both periods, with one case study selected from the 1980s. The interdependence of the Australian and British, and latterly American, publishing industries is explored in an attempt to explain the social and cultural significance of the local trade.

Assessment Two practical exercises (500 words each): 20%
* Report (1500 words): 20%
* Essay (2500 words): 30%
* Class test (1.5 hours): 30%

Prescribed texts

Australian Government Publishing Service Style manual for authors, editors and printers 5th edn, AGPS
Clark G N Inside book publishing 2nd edn, Blueprint
Derricourt R Ideas into books: A guide to scholarly and non-fiction publishing Penguin

Recommended texts

Barker A George Robertson: A publishing life in letters UQP
Borchardt D H and Kirsop W (eds) The book in Australia: Essays towards a cultural and social history Australian Reference Publications
Coser L A and others Books: The culture and commerce of publishing U Chicago P
Plotnik A The elements of editing: A modern guide for editors and journalists Macmillan
Unwin S The truth about publishing Allen and Unwin