Some past and future challenges for publishing Australian cultural content

During the late 70s and 80s Australian publishing was enjoying an especially high time. Local lists from both international and Australian houses were giving their British and American competitors a run for their money. At first it was not a lot of money, admittedly. But that too was to grow as books and writers were gaining both popular and critical attention.

Then, as now, there were film & TV spin-offs - and, less visibly, spin-offs in confidence about Australian content. The high ratings of Australian television programs were proof that Australians wanted to read books by their own about life here.

And, of course, editors were leaders and crucial to building the audience.

It is the nature of your vocation - and I use that word carefully - to be entrepreneurs of ideas.

You well know that publishing is far from a passive activity or a matter of waiting for things to come to you.

The job of an editor is indeed one of knowing what to publish, how to get it, and what to do to help it achieve the largest readership.

In other words editors have to search, initiate and shape.

The best publishing houses have to have an editorial identity; one that is not cramped or confined by ideology or narrow political beliefs.

One could put it more grandly, but I suspect curiosity is the essential for finding and getting the best and most timely material.

Given my years in broadcasting, and especially my experience with the emerging new media, this might be surprising.

But it is not really.

That great editor, Max Perkins' simple declaration "That there is nothing so important as a book can be" remains true.