Can History Books Fix Australia's Publishing Problem?

Australia is publishing too many books. 

That’s what a number of publishers and book industry writers have begun to say in the last few years. Between a general decline in readership and global headwinds for the publishing industry, critics say, there are too many new books being written, and not enough people to read them.

Terri-ann White, an Australian writer and publisher of 20 years, wrote an opinion piece in Australian arts industry magazine ArtsHub last year titled, “In 2026, can we please have fewer books published in Australia?”

White writes that Australia has a population of 27 million, and that about 22,000 new books are published in the country per year, according to 2024 data. Catriona Menzies-Pike, an award-winning writer and critic, also wrote last month in The Guardian that “Australia is publishing books too quickly—and everyone is losing out.”

“Thanks to rushed deadlines, financial pressure and overworked staff, titles are going to market before they’re ready—and then sliding from view immediately,” Menzies-Pike wrote. 

There are broader issues, like declining readership and the economics of physically printing a book, that are difficult for Australian publishers to handle. But the problem here, many of these voices say, isn’t that having more creativity is bad, or that no one wants to read anymore. It’s that in an industry with diminishing resources and an explosion of input, there just isn’t market space for every book.

At the same time, though, history books in Australia are facing another problem. 

According to a new survey report released this past June by the Australian Historical Association (AHA), there’s an industry-wide mismatch plaguing Australian history publishing. Australians want to read about their history; Australian historians want to publish locally, to an Australian audience; and Australian publishers want to publish books on Australian history.

But despite this apparent convergence of interests, Australian history books aren’t getting published in Australia. Getting these three elements to work together is, somehow, exceedingly difficult. What gives? And could history books be the solution Australian publishing should be looking for?

In examining the state of the history book, the AHA conducted a survey of 223 active and retired historians in the nation, and asked their opinions on the publishing process, the usefulness of history books, and their goals for their writing. The main problem, the report found, is that despite the interest in Australian history, historians are pressured by their institutions and universities to publish in places often inaccessible to the general Australian reader. In order to build academic careers, historians are pushed towards scholarly journal articles rather than books to begin with; and if they do publish a book, that book is often pressured to be published internationally, particularly in Britain and the United States.

“Universities overwhelmingly favor international university presses,” the report states. “International publishers are regarded as more prestigious: a combination of their editorial processes, brand recognition and international standing.” 

One respondent wrote in the survey, “When I signed a contract with an Australian university press, my then Head of Department said, ‘That’s a shame. An Australian publishing a book about Australian history with an Australian press betrays a lack of ambition.’ This comment infuriates me, yet in truth the only reason I felt able to publish my book with an Australian press was because I’d already secured a continuing position.”

The report’s authors wrote that this distaste towards Australian publishers is a classic example of a long-standing phenomenon in the country: “Cultural Cringe.” 

“In 1950 the literary critic Arthur Phillips wrote an essay for Meanjin Quarterly with the

title ‘The Cultural Cringe’,” a chapter of the report explains. “Phillips defined ‘the Cringe’ as appearing ‘in an inability to escape needless comparisons. The Australian reader, more or less consciously, hedges and hesitates, asking himself ‘Yes, but what would a cultivated Englishman think of this?’”

As universities in Australia try to boost their rankings and institutional prestige, they steer as much as possible away from grounding themselves in Australia and instead angle to compete in international markets. As such, many historians said in the survey they felt like they had to publish internationally. 

But they want to publish in Australia. 

“Long-form responses emphasised the importance of accessibility of books, arguing that readable and engaging books justified their publication and ‘overly academic’ work should be reserved for journal articles,” the report states. “[University] focus on international publishing was not always compatible with the desire of many Australian historians to reach a local readership, or to promote their university through local (and affordable) publications.”

“If our work is meant to have impact, generate public discussion and be relevant to the communities with whom we research, we should be publishing work that is accessible to the public,” one respondent wrote. Another said, “History is a shared experience with community members, not just academics!”

Publishing locally allows the authors to participate in and contribute to the “public life” of history, including how it impacts modern social and cultural feelings. It also encourages more engagement with the historian’s work, through things like local media appearances or book reviews—of which, thanks to a distaste for ever-growing multinational corporations and media conglomerates, there’s a budding resurgence. 

And Australian publishers are interested, too. As the second half of the report, the AHA researchers interviewed five Australian publishers about their attitudes towards history books. All five expressed an interest in putting out more of them. One said there was a “public respect for history and a public interest in history”; another said that “many, many people want to know

more about Australian history,” and that there was an “appetite” for it.

The history books these publishers are looking for aren’t overly academic or niche, but rather history books that can appeal to the “interested general reader.” They’re curious about books that are told boldly and conversationally, with some imagination and flair while maintaining the rigorous accuracy of history as an academic discipline. 

“I often think, you can write about anything if you’re writing it in an engaging way that’s going to inspire readers,” one of the publishers said. “You’ll take the reader with you.”

They’re also interested in books that don’t focus on the dominant national voices in Australia. “These books are so important, and they are histories that we’ve never heard about,” said White, the author of the ArtsHub opinion piece, who was also interviewed in the report. “That’s the value of Australian history books for me.”

Other people seem to share that perspective. A national survey by the University of New South Wales released in May found that 80 percent of Australians are interested in Australian history, and that 76 percent of Australians believe history is as important to learn about in school as business and STEM topics. Over 80 percent of Australians also believe that history is relevant to society today, and that understanding the past can keep history from repeating itself. Interestingly, though a majority of people said works of Australian history should celebrate the nation’s past, nearly two-thirds of those surveyed wanted history to challenge their knowledge. 

But only 57 percent feel that they know much about it. 

The crowded, oversaturated market of Australian publishing needs some breaths of air in its titles. And the dearth of historical publishing by Australians, for Australians, needs filling. Publishing history books might just be the solution to two problems at once—if only institutions can be convinced.