In 2023, our priority remains publishing high-quality scholarship that is freely available to readers worldwide. We have some outstanding titles in the pipeline, including a dissection of the 2022 federal election; a biographical dictionary of speakers, deputy speakers and clerks of the Australian House of Representatives; and a three-volume masterwork on Ferruccio Busoni by renowned Australian composer Larry Sitsky. You’ll definitely want to get your hands on these!
Print-on-demand and distribution
In August 2022, our print-on-demand supplier abruptly shut down. Finding a replacement has been a major focus for us. Although all of our titles are available online for free, we know that many readers prefer hard copies.
We are pleased to advise that after a long search, we have now signed a contract with Lightning Source (part of the Ingram Content Group), one of the world's largest print-on-demand providers. We will be using their printing facilities and distribution hubs in Melbourne, the UK and the US, reducing costs and waiting times for our customers.
We are now working with Lightning Source on reactivating our shopping cart and linking it to their systems. We expect this to be up and running soon—thanks for your ongoing patience. Please check our website for updates.
Q&A with our new manager
The ANU Press team were excited to welcome our new manager, Ben Wilson, who started last September. Ben has returned to ANU after a few years away; from 2012 to 2018 he was the managing editor of the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies. He spent much of the intervening period in Cambodia, as the deputy editor of the Asian literary magazine Mekong Review and copyediting books for university presses. Most recently, back in Canberra, he was a federal Hansard editor. He has been an IPEd-accredited editor since 2014.
We asked Ben a few questions about his career so far and his hopes for ANU Press.
What led you to work in publishing?
I’ve always been interested in it. I remember looking up publishers in the phone book when I was a little kid—I felt they should know that my first novel was in the works. (I’m glad I never actually called any.) I became an editor instead, thanks largely to Dr Roslyn Petelin and other great people in the industry.
Which forthcoming ANU Press titles are you most excited about?
Given my previous role at ANU, I have a keen interest in Indonesia. Keep an eye out for The Aceh Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Indonesia’s Culture of Impunity, edited by Jess Melvin, Sri Lestari Wahyuningroem and Annie Pohlman.
What are your hopes for the future of the press?
I hope to prove that a fully open-access press can match it against traditional presses when it comes to quality, impact and recognition.
