Australians Buy 80 Million Books

No, not each of us. Even if they were a cent each, that couldn't be done. Why did you even think that? What are you, crazy?

Here are the stats (skip 'em if you hate 'em) in more detail, and for even more detail than that, you can click on the link that I ripped it all from, down the bottom of the post.

Australians bought more than 80 million new books worth almost $1.5 billion in the 2003/04 financial year. 67 per cent were through 561 bookshops, department stores - 19 per cent, supermarkets and other businesses sold 8 per cent. 98 per cent were printed books. That probably makes the 2 per cent as eBooks.

What does this mean to me?

Aussies like reading. These are new books mind you, so that doesn't count second hand sales and borrowing. That means a lot of reading. If someone happens to like one of those borrowed books, chances are they'll buy the author's next book for themselves (or their librarian-friend).

Considering how much crime tv is on the telly, I'd say a sizeable proportion of those books are crime related, whether fiction or true crime.

I reckon there's a living to be made in amongst all that.

That's what I aim to do.

Data from "Australians buy 80 million books" - AAP

Greetings

Welcome to the brand spankin' new blog, and a very special welcome to those of you who are making the transition from the Danny Hawaii blog.

Have a trawl around the website, add it to your bookmarks or favourites, go all out and make it your home page.

I won't stop you.

In these dark alleys you will find:

• Smatterings of short fiction
• News on the progress of the first novel and the trials and tribulations involved with getting it published
• The biography of me, myself, and I.

And much, much more. Well, maybe a little bit more.

Alright, there's nothing else! Get out of here, you young whippersnappers! Stay out of my rose bushes!

The First Draft

About two hours ago, after a year and six weeks, I typed in the final sentence of the first draft of my first novel.

It's called LOVING THE LAW, and its main character is Danny Hawaii, PI-in-training, on the case that will make or break his license.

Like any good writer of detective fiction, I toasted the entire universe with a big fat glass of Wild Turkey, straight. My lady friend is on shift work, so she didn't have the energy to celebrate with me. That will have to wait until Saturday.

As a present to myself I decided to walk up to King Street and have a look around for ... a present to myself from ... myself.

Walked in to Better Read Than Dead and looked around for a bookish gift. First thing I stumbled across was a trade paperback of Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys. Flipped it over, read the blurb. Sounded good. Hmmm. Maybe something crime related is more appropriate.

Sashayed over to the blackest section in the bookstore and perused the latest and greatest. Ran my eyes over all the now-familiar authors and imagined my book up there with them. Right between Harris and Hoag.

Nah.

I didn't feel like celebrating my achievement by reading someone else who's already made it. Tonight was about me.

Then I wandered over to the reference section. Found a big fat Oxford Australian Dictionary with lots of words and a hard cover. Ooh, don't have one of those. Oh wait, there's a Collins one too. And a Macquarie. Which one to get? Shrug.

I stepped back out onto King Street and breathed in the perfumed air, designed by Mitsubishi, Toyota, and Holden.

A couple of doors down I spied a music store. I cast my eye over all the sales and new releases at the front, then headed for the back. Flicked through the music DVD section and stumbled across the DVD I'm about to watch. The Best Of The Blues Brothers. It's a collection of clips from Saturday Night Live appearances and is presented by Aykroyd himself. The Blues Brothers is a movie I grew up with, and it seemed fitting to celebrate the completion of a Danny Hawaii novel with something related.

I mean, where do you think the hat comes from?