Six years on: How has Amazon impacted the Australian book culture and publishing industry?

Sophie Lewin

‘People who work in the book industry are agents of culture rather than just instruments of commerce. When you take away their role as agents of culture and reduce them to instruments of capitalism, it changes the dynamic.’ Tim Winton 

In Australia’s rapidly changing sociopolitical climate, its publishing industry has had to contend with unprecedented advancements in technology and the resulting globalisation of cultures. The way readers find and purchase books has been largely digitalised, owing to social media, with TikTok in particular playing a huge role in readers’ book discovery, and the incredible ease and convenience of purchasing books online. The process further narrows into a select few online platforms which become like ‘monoliths’ in bookselling. This is a process (observed across all creative industries) which Nieborg and Poell have termed ‘the platformisation of culture.’ Davis goes further, describing it as the ‘reorganisation of cultural industries around digital platform logics’, emphasising how creative industries have had to adapt to new platforms and technologies, rather than the other way around. Six years on from Amazon’s official launch in Australia, it is important to take stock and evaluate the platform’s impact so far, and assess what changes need to be made to ensure the survival of Australia’s publishing industry.

Fears for Amazon’s arrival

Davis writes that Amazon is an ‘exemplar’ of cultural platformisation, as evidenced through the company’s dominance in international markets. When Amazon announced it would be launching in Australia in April 2017, many predicted the worst for Australia’s publishing industry. Booksellers and publishers alike feared that the company would dominate the market, knocking local publishers and booksellers out of business, and even worse—shattering Australia’s rich literary culture.  Mark Rubbo, co-owner of Readings, in an interview with The New York Times, expressed fears that Amazon’s presence in Australia would be like a ‘monolith devouring everything’ and that Australia’s literary culture was ‘fighting to defend [its] voice’. Indeed, when the Times article was published in October 2017, ‘several Australian retail chains [had] already seen their stock prices decline’ since Amazon had announced its launch in April that year. Of course, this was even before the launch had actually begun, so speculation within the industry was rife.

These fears were more than just economical. The publishing industry is more than just an industry—it also makes up some of the most prolific gatekeepers and curator of culture. Publishers and editors have the unique responsibility of filtering and projecting particular voices to the public, in turn informing national consciousness and trends.

Local publishers prioritise cultural curation

Indeed, Chris Grierson, General Sales and Marketing Manager with Scribe Publications, observes that books have a uniquely profound impact on national culture, given that to effectively ‘present an argument or a piece of work, you need a book-length approach’. It is that ‘depth of research’ integral to the making of good books that cannot as easily be shown through other artistic or communicative mediums. Given this responsibility held by publishers, it is vital that they are producing works that are culturally important. Scribe Publications is a good example of an Australian publishing company that is motivated more by cultural importance than profit margins. Grierson explains, ‘We publish books not necessarily based on how many they’re going to sell. We will publish books that we think are important, and culturally important, even if they don’t sell.’­

Amazon, based entirely around algorithms and profit margins, does not achieve this same cultural curation. Retail analyst John Batistich expands, ‘Amazon is about cold hard commerce, but those working in the publishing industry foster talent and understand culture, which comes from their connections in the industry and a love of books.’ Batistich concludes that given its global approach, ‘Amazon just doesn’t have this in its DNA.’ Indeed, Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos started his digital empire on books alone. In an interview on why the platform started with bookselling, Bezos explains that it was in light of the ‘nearly infinite selection’ of books that can be sold, and therefore, the nearly infinite selling power that comes with them. Similarly, Amazon’s huge output of self-published titles creates an ever-increasing stream of content for consumers. Clearly, curation is not a major focus for the platform, rather choosing to prioritise quantity over quality. It is this mass-market view which underpin both the success and cultural danger of Amazon’s bookselling. Grierson echoes this idea, observing that Amazon is ‘not really interested in the culture’, rather, they are ‘just interested in making money’.

Despite an overall apathy towards their responsibility as what Pierre Bourdieu terms ‘cultural intermediaries’, Amazon has profound control over which books are shown to which consumers. Driscoll explains that ‘Amazon controls the algorithms for how books appear and are ranked on its site’, meaning it is able to ‘influence consumer purchasing decisions’. A quick glance at Amazon Australia’s top ten bestselling books shows that only one in ten bestselling books has an Australian author. Evidently, Amazon does not prioritise selling books by Australian authors as important in itself. Either Amazon does not value Australian perspectives as culturally important, or they do not consider cultural importance at all when constructing their algorithms.

Importance of publishing Australian stories

But how can we define a book’s cultural importance for an Australian audience? Having an Australian author or a local story is a start, as well as offering a new perspective or political insight and conveying niche and mainstream information. As Cave writes, ‘Books and bookstores are tightly linked to Australia’s sense of itself’, so a well-curated book culture is integral to our national identity, or what Grierson calls the ‘cultural narrative’. Grierson cites the example of Judy Ryan’s book You Talk, We Die, published by Scribe Publications in 2023. The book presents the true story of Ryan’s grassroots campaign which eventually led to the trial of the legal injecting rooms in Melbourne’s inner-city suburb, Richmond. According to Griersen, the work ‘has barely sold because I think the nation as a whole thought “oh, it’s just a Richmond story.” But we published that because we believed it had a really culturally significant message.’ Grierson continues, ‘There’s lots of small presses that do that. It’s just the big guys that probably wouldn’t.’ 

This sentiment is echoed by the CEO of Booktopia, Tony Nash, who says that Booktopia’s focus on ‘niche’ local offerings such as the Australian Police Handbook or publications from Autism Australia are what ‘separates’ the bookseller’s offering from Amazon’s and ensures they have ‘something unique’. Nash argues that Australian retailers must now offer products that are ‘specifically local rather than the mass product offered by Amazon’ in order to stay competitive.

Buying habits are changing, but not for the worse

The Australian book industry continues to change, and development across the last few years have accelerated that rate of change. Grierson has observed over his career in publishing that ‘the appetite for readers to read serious non-fiction or culturally significant books is declining’. Amazon has no doubt played a part in these changes; however, the climate of Australia’s publishing industry is ultimately far too nuanced to place the blame solely on Amazon. Gary Pengelly, the CEO of Books+Publishing, observes that ‘it’s a difficult conversation to limit to Amazon because of Covid and the impacts on the market over the last three years. There’s been a lot of things that have had impacts on the way that we’ve operated.’

Moreover, as social media becomes progressively prolific in our daily lives and reading habits—for example, the book community known as BookTok on the platform TikTok—consumer purchases are increasingly being influenced by the international market, even before any publisher-led marketing has reached them. Grierson adds, ‘Maybe publishers are less responsible for culture, and influencers and social media platforms are more important, relative over time.’ Davis disagrees, writing that ‘Agents, publishers and editors still play a crucial mediating role, albeit under mounting commercial pressures’. Indeed, despite a sharp increase in the influence of social media, publishers and editors are still important gatekeepers of national culture. Clearly, due to ‘the platformisation of culture’ there is a need for local publishers and booksellers to keep publishing stories for their cultural importance rather than for their profit margin.

Despite these changes, it appears that Australian authors may actually be better off now than before the retail giant’s arrival. When asked if it is harder now for Australian authors to get published, Grierson observed that ‘Australian authors are probably better off now than ten years ago, that more people are reading them’. This is due, in part, to a lessening of what Grierson refers to as ‘cultural cringe’ in the eyes of Australian readers. Throughout his career in the publishing industry, Grierson has seen a shift in how Australian readers see Australian authors. A decade or so ago, readers were reluctant to buy a book by an Australian author; however, there is now a greater interest, particularly with books by First Nations authors, according to Grierson.

In this way, Australian publishing companies and booksellers (both digital and brick and mortar) can prioritise local stories as a point of difference to Amazon’s globalised mentality. We can also refer back to Judy Ryan’s You Talk, We Die, published by Scribe Publications because of its importance rather than its marketability. Culturally, it seems that nowadays Australians place a high value on hearing local stories, and it is mostly our local publishing companies that are producing these. Amazon does not share this local focus and so cannot curate the same level of cultural importance as Australian publishing companies. Fortunately, as Grierson points out, ‘Amazon in Australia is pretty small, relatively. It’s not a dominant player, which is really healthy.’ Indeed, research shows that ‘Amazon is less of a threat to listed retailers than was initially feared’.

Institutionalising Australian stories

Given the great fears that Amazon would come to dominate the book market in Australia, how has the industry protected itself against this outcome? Driscoll recalls that Australia’s publishing industry has ‘fought off behemoths before’, such as the retail giant Borders’ arrival in Australia in 1998. Indeed, there are multiple nuanced factors which uphold the strength of the publishing industry. Australia has a strong literary culture supported by intricate networks of ‘institutions that support writing and reading’. Driscoll writes that these networks that are ‘key to Australia’s literary culture’, making reference to Australia’s many literary festivals, events and literary prizes which ‘foster new writing and drive cultural debates’. This system is then underpinned by ‘schools and universities institutionalis[ing] Australian writing through their curricula’, thus providing ‘training and employment’ for writers.

In this way, the Australian publishing industry supports itself all the way down to school curriculum, thereby embedding Australian stories and voices at a grassroots level. Writing for literary journal Kill Your Darlings, Forge notes that, ‘When you purchase an Australian-published book from an Australian bookseller … the entire sale price stays within the Australian publishing economy, distributed among the many branches of the ecosystem.’ This intricate system ensures that international influences like Amazon cannot as easily dominate Australia’s book market or create a cultural book hegemony. Another factor in the strength of the industry against Amazon’s influence is that, despite a rapid increase in online shopping, purchasing from brick-and-mortar bookstores remains a popular choice for many readers.

Parallel import restrictions, GST and mergers

Australia is also protected from total market dominance in part by its copyright laws: namely, the parallel import restrictions which ‘keep Amazon from stocking its warehouses with cheaper books shipped in from abroad’. The restrictions were nearly scrapped in 2015 but saved by an industry-led campaign. Cave cites them as the ‘foundation of Australia’s literary culture’ due to their importance in maintaining a healthy publishing ecosystem in Australia.

The industry was further supported when in 2018 the Australian government made legislative changes requiring ‘businesses with a turnover of more than A$75,000 to collect GST on all goods imported into Australia’, in a bid to ‘level the playing field’ between international booksellers like Amazon and local booksellers. These laws prevent Amazon from becoming a ‘dominant player’ in Australia like it has become internationally. Of course, even internationally where Amazon has a much larger presence, publishing industries continue to adapt and overcome. The 2013 merger of Penguin and Random House is a good example of this possibility (the merger being enacted due in large part to Amazon’s rising market dominance). Bosman describes the merger as having ‘unmatched leverage against Amazon.com and the potential to inspire other mergers in the industry’.

Improved discoverability for consumers

More than just ensuring survival, these adaptions to the presence of Amazon can often even be beneficial to publishing industries. Amazon’s arrival also pushed local publishers to adapt and improve their own technologies in order to compete. Grierson has observed major improvements in how Australian publishers are utilising metadata and online algorithms to make the process of finding and purchasing a book more fine-tuned and intuitive for readers. ‘Metadata works’, Grierson confirms. ‘A lot of Australian publishers have adopted that approach.’

Amazon has also forced Australia’s online bookseller Booktopia to work harder on its output and marketability. Indeed, Myer observes that Booktopia recorded a ‘35% increase in revenue, and a whopping 125% increase in profit’ in the 2021 financial year.

There are also benefits to publishers. According to Grierson, Amazon can also be incredibly useful for selling ‘niche books that struggle in bricks and mortar bookstores’, describing Amazon and Booktopia to be ‘amongst Scribe Publications more important customers’. Grierson explains, ‘The publishing industry is built on putting lots of books in bookstores… But for those books where they only take a couple and put them out the back, then nobody is going to find them. But you can find them online pretty easily.’

This discoverability underpins part of Amazon’s success. Mcgurl observes how Amazon’s unique approach to retail has given long tail products a ‘market presence’. Cited by Mcgurl, John Thompson discusses how books ‘that had been left to die many years before’ have been ‘suddenly brought back to life’. This could have its own impact on the national book culture, with the life cycle of books being completely extended.

Conclusion

Six years on from Amazon’s arrival in Australia, the publishing industry remains strong. While it has been partially protected by copyright laws, the industry has also adapted and transformed itself to meet mounting commercial pressures and the increased competition brought by Amazon. Australia’s vibrant literary culture also stands strong, supported by the intricate system of book publishing in Australia that reaches all the way to school curriculum. Of course with the rapid changes in technology and the ever-expanding reach of Amazon globally, Australia’s publishing industry will need to keep adapting to maintain its cultural relevance. As Grierson puts it, even though Amazon hasn’t had as much of an impact as originally feared, ‘publishers are still wary that the time will come when it’ll be war again.’

About the author

Sophie (she/her) is a freelance editor and writer based in Naarm. She has a particular interest in political and social theory. When not writing or editing, she loves long walks, trashy movies and a good self-help read.