Scholarly research on book history and contemporary publishing has expanded significantly since the 1990s. Book Publishing in Australia: A Living Legacy draws on a wide range of print and digital resources, and builds on the work of three earlier volumes: Paper Empires: A History of the Book in Australia 1946–2005, edited by Craig Munro and Robyn Sheahan-Bright (University of Queensland Press, 2006); Making Books Contemporary Australian Publishing, edited by David Carter and Anne Galligan (University of Queensland Press, 2007); and The Return of Print? Contemporary Australian Publishing, edited by Aaron Mannion and Emmett Stinson (Monash University Publishing, 2016).
Book Publishing in Australia has several chapters on small presses and also includes memoir-based case studies: one by writer Sophie Masson on her own publishing and crowdfunding experiences, and another by the founders of Arcade Publications, Brow Books and Bowen Street Press. The case study on reading groups in…