The Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts is excited to announce a new structure for its publishing subsidies which will provide publishers with greater flexibility and recognise the contribution and track record of Australia’s small and medium sized publishers.

Under the new Publishing Program Grants, which commences in 2012, publishers will apply for annual funding towards their literary publishing program rather than applying for funding for individual titles.

Special Publishing Grants will also be available for one-off’ titles or a series of titles as part of a larger, innovative publishing project. A publisher can apply for up to $50,000 for support for editing, manuscript development, production, digital conversion, permission fees or any large costs, associated with the publication of one-off special’ titles.

The new structure comes as the result of extensive industry consultation, which was informed by the report, A case for literature, which examined the effectiveness of Australia Council publishing subsidies between 1995 and 2005.

Whilst the report highlighted the vital impact the Literature Board’s publishing subsidies program, it also made recommendations for ways it could improve its support for the publishing industry.

Overwhelmingly the publishers we spoke to supported the report’s recommendations, in particular the move away from title-by-title funding to support via a program grant, says Dennis Haskell, Chair of the Literature Board.

This is important feedback for the Board to receive and we’re very pleased to become more effective in supporting the release of important, outstanding Australian writing.

It’s been really rewarding to work with the industry on this program, to see how engaged they are with us and to see how important Australia Council publishing subsidies are, says Dennis.

The application closing date for Publishing Program Grants and Special Publishing Grants is 30 March 2012. Application forms will be available on creative.gov.au from early January.

A case for literature: The effectiveness of subsidies to Australian publishers 1995-2005 and a full response from the Literature Board is available here.

Media contact:
Victoria McClelland-Fletcher
02 9215 9008