Australian literary publishing and its economies, 1965-1995

Australian literature leads a precarious existence because it depends upon a small local readership. The trade publishers are reducing their literary output, abandoning their backlists, their midlist authors, poetry, and even 'literary fiction'. This project explores the distinctive economy of Australian literary publishing during the period 1965-1995 when, by contrast, it enjoyed wide support, and national cultural significance. The distinguished features of this economy were not abviously 'commercial' buty they wer commercial in import by focusing on them, we seek to restore confidence in the logic of literary publishing, and the commercial viability of Australian literature.