The Ginninderra Press story
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Ginninderra Press is an award-winning independent publisher based in Port Adelaide, South Australia. In 2021, we celebrated 25 years of publishing.
Ginninderra is part of Canberra's Belconnen area, where Ginninderra Press operated for its first twelve years before moving to Port Adelaide in 2008. Ginninderra is an Aboriginal word said to mean 'throwing out little rays of light'.
Described in The Canberra Times as 'versatile and visionary', Ginninderra Press was set up in 1996 to provide opportunities for new and emerging authors as well as for authors writing in unfashionable genres or on non-mainstream subjects. In the words of one of our authors, we are 'a small but significant publisher of small but significant books'. Many of our titles have won awards (to see a full list, click here).
Ginninderra Press recognises the fact that many people have good ideas for books but cannot get them published, either because of their inexperience in preparing manuscripts or because the potential sales are insufficient to interest a conventional publisher. Ginninderra Press offers expert editing and proofreading, as well as design and lay out services. To see submission guidelines, click here.
All our books are now print on demand and all (except for our chapbook series – Pocket Poets and Picaro Poets) are available worldwide through Bookshop.org, Amazon and many others. Ebook editions of most of our titles are also available worldwide through many online sellers.
Ginninderra Press chooses to operate without any direct subsidies from the public purse. The press believes that works requiring subsidies are of their nature likely to be only marginally commercially viable and subsidies encourage over-production. Because it receives no direct subsidies and chooses to publish non-mainstream works, Ginninderra Press of necessity operates on a very limited budget.
Ginninderra Press is owned by Stephen Matthews, who has had extensive experience in teaching, bookselling and editing. After graduating from Cambridge University, Stephen was a teacher in the UK and Australia for nearly twenty years. He then had a very successful bookselling career. Stephen contributed book reviews, author profiles and articles to The Canberra Times and Australian Book Review for many years. He wrote manuscript reports for several large publishers and was a judge for literary awards and competitions.
Stephen compiled 'How Did the Fire Know We Lived Here?', a best-selling collection of stories about the January 2003 Canberra bushfires which raised over $73,000 for the Bushfire Recovery Appeal. He also edited Eye of the Soul, a collection of interviews with writers for children and young adults.
In 2021, Stephen received an Order of Australia Medal for service to publishing. In 2003, he received a Centenary Medal for his 'contribution to the writing community and ongoing support for local authors'. In October 1997, he won a Canberra Critics Circle Award for Literature for his 'tireless contribution to the writing community'.
Ginninderra is part of Canberra's Belconnen area, where Ginninderra Press operated for its first twelve years before moving to Port Adelaide in 2008. Ginninderra is an Aboriginal word said to mean 'throwing out little rays of light'.
Described in The Canberra Times as 'versatile and visionary', Ginninderra Press was set up in 1996 to provide opportunities for new and emerging authors as well as for authors writing in unfashionable genres or on non-mainstream subjects. In the words of one of our authors, we are 'a small but significant publisher of small but significant books'. Many of our titles have won awards (to see a full list, click here).
Ginninderra Press recognises the fact that many people have good ideas for books but cannot get them published, either because of their inexperience in preparing manuscripts or because the potential sales are insufficient to interest a conventional publisher. Ginninderra Press offers expert editing and proofreading, as well as design and lay out services. To see submission guidelines, click here.
All our books are now print on demand and all (except for our chapbook series – Pocket Poets and Picaro Poets) are available worldwide through Bookshop.org, Amazon and many others. Ebook editions of most of our titles are also available worldwide through many online sellers.
Ginninderra Press chooses to operate without any direct subsidies from the public purse. The press believes that works requiring subsidies are of their nature likely to be only marginally commercially viable and subsidies encourage over-production. Because it receives no direct subsidies and chooses to publish non-mainstream works, Ginninderra Press of necessity operates on a very limited budget.
Ginninderra Press is owned by Stephen Matthews, who has had extensive experience in teaching, bookselling and editing. After graduating from Cambridge University, Stephen was a teacher in the UK and Australia for nearly twenty years. He then had a very successful bookselling career. Stephen contributed book reviews, author profiles and articles to The Canberra Times and Australian Book Review for many years. He wrote manuscript reports for several large publishers and was a judge for literary awards and competitions.
Stephen compiled 'How Did the Fire Know We Lived Here?', a best-selling collection of stories about the January 2003 Canberra bushfires which raised over $73,000 for the Bushfire Recovery Appeal. He also edited Eye of the Soul, a collection of interviews with writers for children and young adults.
In 2021, Stephen received an Order of Australia Medal for service to publishing. In 2003, he received a Centenary Medal for his 'contribution to the writing community and ongoing support for local authors'. In October 1997, he won a Canberra Critics Circle Award for Literature for his 'tireless contribution to the writing community'.
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Ginninderra Press PO Box 3461 Port Adelaide 5015
stephen@ginninderrapress.com.au
www.ginninderrapress.com.au
ABN 42 447 290 724
Our philosophy
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We believe that all people – not just a privileged few – have a right to participate actively in cultural creation rather than just being passive consumers of mass media. Our culture is revitalised and enriched when everyone is encouraged to fulfil their creative potential and diminished when that creative potential is stifled or thwarted. We love to observe the transformative possibilities for people when they see their work published and acknowledged. Getting published can and does change lives.
A day in the life of GP
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We often find ourselves having to apologise for what can seem to an author like slow progress between acceptance of a manuscript and actual publication. We're not, we promise, just sitting back relaxing in our semi-'retirement'. By the end of an average day, we may have done all or any of these:
- started work on one of the 70+ books waiting in the queue
- worked on one of the 25+ books at various proof stages
- uploaded files to the printer
- printed and assembled copies of chapbooks
- dealt with IT matters like maintaining the website or fixing computer glitches
- answered dozens of emails (and filtered out all the junk!)
- picked up and dealt with incoming mail
- processed, packed and posted outgoing orders
- shopped for stationery or equipment
- read new submissions
Oh, and Brenda will probably have spent time on her own writing or painting. And then we have our non-GP life too, with family, home and garden to attend to, books to read, music to listen to, films to watch. We reckon that’s good enough for two people with a combined age of 145+! But we are sorry if your book is taking longer to appear than you'd hoped.
- started work on one of the 70+ books waiting in the queue
- worked on one of the 25+ books at various proof stages
- uploaded files to the printer
- printed and assembled copies of chapbooks
- dealt with IT matters like maintaining the website or fixing computer glitches
- answered dozens of emails (and filtered out all the junk!)
- picked up and dealt with incoming mail
- processed, packed and posted outgoing orders
- shopped for stationery or equipment
- read new submissions
Oh, and Brenda will probably have spent time on her own writing or painting. And then we have our non-GP life too, with family, home and garden to attend to, books to read, music to listen to, films to watch. We reckon that’s good enough for two people with a combined age of 145+! But we are sorry if your book is taking longer to appear than you'd hoped.