Count yourself lucky if you get to read your favourite titles in, well to be honest, any country other than Australia. As an Australian, ex-bookshop-sales-assistant living in London my day-to-day life is now peppered with the constant reminder that Australian bibliophiles are seriously underprivileged. Really. If you’ve got a friend/family member/pen pal/internet crush living in Van Diemen’s Land, give them a hug – or even better, send them a book. Here’s why:
You’d think that after all this time, the publishing industry would have caught up to itself and begun to orchestrate international release dates. Alas, if you’re living in Australia and waiting for the newest best seller, you might be waiting a while. Whilst major authors with an international reach (J.K Rowling, Dan Brown, Stephen King) and find their books on shelves instantaneously, the same may not extend for your favourite novelist. The biggest complaint received by Australian bookstores is that of delayed publication dates and unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do about it. Popular Young Adult novel of last year and the final instalment in Veronica Roth’s dystopian series, Allegiant, was released to Australian fans on 1st November 2013 – ten days after the original US and UK release. Whilst some will roll their eyes and mutter an unsympathetic “get over it” over the week and a half long delay, it must be understood that between today's world of social media, blogging, and the YouTube comments section, spoilers for popular releases are virtually impossible to avoid.
Put simply, Australian book covers are usually rubbish – at least when compared to the UK and US editions. Take Alexandra Bracken’s The Darkest Minds (and my personal favourite) series for example. The US edition is gritty, attractive, has an element of intrigue, and could be picked up by male and female readers alike. Enter the Australian edition, and it looks pretty close to my high school Photoshop ‘art’ assignment – that is, it’s sparkly, colourful, and features my favourite book cover pet peeve, ‘Mysterious Girl Gazing With Ambiguous Purpose’. There is really so much that could be said about the world of Australian book covers, but I’ll just sum up this point with a final example: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. Cringe.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Australia is in the middle of nowhere. Even our anthem warns that we’re “girt by sea” (whatever that means), and whilst I recognise this to be true, it is no excuse for the depressing lack of conventions, author events, and festivals on offer for readers. In fact, I could count on one hand the conventions publicly advertised as ‘book’ centric, and that’s being generous. There is such a huge audience for events in Australia - and very little competition too, and although the popularity of Writers Fest and other modest gatherings are growing, there is still such a large void to fill.
Australia is wonderful and it’s the beautiful, sunburnt, land that I hail from, but it’s a depressing place for the book community. We’re a hardened people. When your favourite magazine recommends you a ‘Summer Holiday Read’ it’s not so that you can enjoy a lie on our beaches, getting a tan and a stage one melanoma, it’s because we’re hoping that you’ll leave it behind – there’s a very good chance that it hasn’t been released yet.