{"id":942,"date":"2025-02-25T10:01:13","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T10:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/?p=942"},"modified":"2025-02-25T10:14:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T10:14:33","slug":"page-turner-brisbane-trade-publisher-hawkeye-makes-a-splash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/page-turner-brisbane-trade-publisher-hawkeye-makes-a-splash\/","title":{"rendered":"Page-turner: Brisbane trade publisher Hawkeye makes a splash"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

With a new distributor and a hot list of upcoming titles, 2025 is looking like a very good read for indie Brisbane outfit Hawkeye Publishing.<\/p>\n

A small and independent Brisbane trade publisher is bucking the national trend with many smaller publishers being gobbled up by corporate giants.<\/p>\n

The latest case to cause some consternation in the publishing world was the purchase of Text Publishing by Penguin Random House, which is something akin to a hybrid corporate behemoth. This is a trend that has some in the literary world concerned about a lack of independent outfits, which tend to champion new writing.<\/p>\n

Enter Carolyn Martinez and the little publisher that could \u2013 Hawkeye Publishing. From a small downstairs office at Stafford Heights (a suburb in Brisbane\u2019s north not previously known as a powerhouse in the world of publishing) Martinez runs an outfit that prides itself on new authors and original fiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are not many trade publishers in Brisbane, \u201d explains Martinez when we catch up at a coffee shop nearby. \u201cWe have two rooms and a storage area at my house. Everyone loves working there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a small staff but I love the people I work with. It\u2019s a low-margin industry, a tough game, but we do it because we love Australian stories. We\u2019re publishing 10 to 15 books a year and have published around 40 altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n

The business grew out of Martinez\u2019s former life as a journalist and editor. She ran a newspaper,\u00a0The Westerner<\/em>, which served the Samford and Dayboro region.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called the company Hawkeye because we were keeping an eye on the truth,\u201d she explains. \u201cI kept the company name and it still suits us because we want to have a keen eye on quality Australian stories. We\u2019re very proud of telling Australian stories by Australian authors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez has herself published eight books. That led to setting up her own business. She started out publishing her own books then helping other authors into print by editing their work. Ultimately, she decided to go into business as a publisher.<\/p>\n

The business was tracking well until a hiccup following the collapse of distribution giant Booktopia Publisher Services in July 2024. But 2024 ended up being a good year with a total of 13 releases, two debut authors ranking on bookshop bestseller lists and a new deal with Australian distributor Woodslane.<\/p>\n

\u2018For a small trade publisher \u2026 it was the stuff of nightmares\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u201cIn the wake of the Booktopia collapse we found ourselves in make-or-break territory,\u201d Martinez says. \u201cThe financial loss for us was deep. Our stock was unrecoverable and we were suddenly without a distributor. For a small trade publisher, running on the smell of an oily rag like we do, it was the stuff of nightmares. I lost plenty of sleep worrying about my authors and how I was going to tell them Hawkeye might have to call it a day. But the reputation we\u2019ve been building over the past 12 years saved us and Woodslane did not hesitate to take us on. We haven\u2019t looked back since and our sales into bookstores have tripled.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the success of her authors, Queenslander Sarah Todman\u2019s quirky Outback novel\u00a0New Year\u2019s Eve<\/em>\u00a0came in at number three on The Mad Hatter\u2019s Bookshop\u2019s Top 10 for 2024, while Jo Skinner\u2019s family saga\u00a0The Truth About My Daughter<\/em>\u00a0was in the top 10 over at iconic Brisbane bookshop Books@Stones.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Year\u2019s Eve<\/em>\u00a0came out five months ago and it\u2019s been getting rave reviews,\u201d Martinez says. \u201cIt\u2019s about a person who grows up in a country pub in Queensland, has to go away but eventually comes back to face everything she was running way from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another acclaimed book of 2024 is by\u00a0InReview<\/em>\u2019s classical music writer Gillian Wills. Her debut novel,\u00a0Big Music<\/em>, is set in a fictional Australian music school and, according to Martinez, offers unique insights into the world of music. Wills was dean of music at the Victorian College of the Arts and knows a thing or two about the vicissitudes of music education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just loved the way Gillian was able to write about music,\u201d Martinez says. Internationally renowned pianist Piers Lane says the book \u201cpulses with experience of the musical world, fired by an intriguing imagination\u201d.<\/p>\n

Martinez has a good eye for new voices and unique stories. Past books published by Hawkeye include adult and children\u2019s fiction and nonfiction. One series the publisher is particularly proud of is a series of children\u2019s books written as tributes to our first responders and military heroes, the\u00a0Remember Series<\/em>\u00a0by J.E. Miller.<\/p>\n

Forthcoming books include the intriguingly titled\u00a050 Ways to Die in Space<\/em>\u00a0by astrophysicist and science educator Eileen O\u2019Hely, a graphic novel about space with flashes of humour, as indicated by the cheeky title.<\/p>\n

Another new title to look out for in March is\u00a0The Woman in the Waves<\/em>\u00a0by Camille Booker. It begins in 1921 in Widow\u2019s Peak, a gloomy fishing village on the south coast of NSW. Nineteen-year-old Missy Green fills her days helping her fisherman father on his trawler and spending time with her grandfather, the town\u2019s reclusive lighthouse keeper. It\u2019s a dreary existence. Everything in her sea salt-soaked life is upended, though, when she glimpses something in the water \u2013 a mermaid ominously staring at her.<\/p>\n

Now that sounds intriguing and the book has secured a worldwide audio and large-print deal with one of the globe\u2019s biggest audiobook publishers.<\/p>\n

\u201cExciting times for Hawkeye\u2019s evolution and the team of volunteers and staff who\u2019ve made it happen,\u201d Martinez says. \u201cI am thrilled to see our extraordinary and hard-working authors being recognised on bestseller lists. 2025 looks very promising.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a new distributor and a hot list of upcoming titles, 2025 is looking like a very good read for indie Brisbane outfit Hawkeye Publishing. A small and independent Brisbane trade publisher is bucking the national trend with many smaller publishers being gobbled up by corporate giants. The latest case to cause some consternation in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,52],"tags":[27,19],"class_list":["post-942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-lifestyle","tag-book-club","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":944,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions\/944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}