<span style='font-family:Verdana'><span style='font-size:12px'><blockquote style="border-left: 1px solid #CCC; padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" type="cite"><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Independent Publishing Conference 2013</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Call for Papers</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;"><a href="http://www.spunc.com.au/ind-pub-conference">www.spunc.com.au/ind-pub-conference</a></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Deadline: 2 September 2013</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Australian Publishers and Their Reading Publics</span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">The conference will be launched with a keynote speech by Dr Anne Richards titled ‘Coming Out: Rewriting the Public Face of Publishing’. Dr Anne Richards is a research fellow at Griffith University and editor <i>of Making Books: Contemporary Australian Publishing</i>.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Publishing, as a commercial enterprise, consists in rousing the curiosities and satisfying the desires of those consumers we know as readers. But the relationship between publishers and the broader reading public (or <i>publics</i>) has often been more complicated and fraught than a simplistic supply-demand model suggests. Peter Sloterdijk, quoting Jean Paul, has argued that books are ‘thick letters to friends’, with the key distinction that the identity of these friends remains unknown. In a similar mode, Jacques Rancière has argued that publishers and readers have an epistolary relationship that is inherently democratic, since books circulate like letters, but ‘without any specific addressee . . . in the form of those printed booklets that trail around just about everywhere, from reading rooms to open-air stalls, making their situations, characters, and expressions freely available to anyone who feels like grabbing hold of them.’</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Questions of the relationship between publishers and the readers have taken on a new urgency in a post-convergence environment that has empowered consumers with new knowledge about pricing and availability. Publishers can no longer rely on a diffuse book-buying audience to purchase their works through either bricks-and-mortar bookshops, and online sellers provide almost limitless product choice for would-be book buyers. Publishers in general—and independent publishers in particular—increasingly must either publish into a well-defined niche or else seek to manufacture their audience through events and other forms participatory communities, whether in-person or online.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We are seeking papers that explore the relationship between Australian publishers and their readings publics either in the contemporary moment or throughout history. Though our preference is for papers that focus on independent publishing, presentations on all aspects of Australian publishing are welcome. Papers from related disciplines, such as literary studies, creative writing and media studies<b> </b>are also welcome. Possible topics might include:</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Australian publishing in a fragmented public sphere</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Marketing books and branding publishers</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Writers’ festivals, literary organisations, and audiences</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Book clubs, ‘amateur’ reviews, and literary blogs</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Australian publishing and literary criticism</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Gender and publishing</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Publishers and social media</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">The relationship between authors and readers</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Publishers, crowdsourcing, and new author platforms</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Consumers and changing modes of book-buying and discovery</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">The bookshop as a community space</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Magazines and new subscription models</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Symbol">·<span style="font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Imagined readers</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">&nbsp;</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">Please send abstracts of 200-300 words, including paper title, institutional affiliation, and contact details to Aaron Mannion at<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><span><a href="mailto:manniona@unimelb.edu.au"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">manniona@unimelb.edu.au</span></a></span><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;color:#222222">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;">by&nbsp;<b>Monday, 2 September 2013</b>. Selected papers will be recommended for publication in a special issue of a journal—details to be confirmed.</span></p></div><div> </div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><br /> </div></div></blockquote><p style="margin:0px; padding:0px;" > </p></span></span>