If you are the parent or grandparent of boys aged between five to 12, chances are you are familiar with Minecraft, a computer game. Minecraft has spawned a range of official books, rather ugly affairs, which the developers insist can only be printed at one particular European printer. As the whole demographic worldwide wants these books, it’s often hard for the printer to keep up. For local publisher, Hardie Grant Egmont, the book has been a bonanza. In November, the Minecraft Blockopedia will be published and will retail for $59.95. One large Australian retailer reputedly wants 100,000 copies. We want quite a few too. But the Minecraft books are creating a bit of confusion on our shop floor. A customer recently asked one of our children’s specialists if we had Minecraft. ‘Of course,’ she answered, ‘it’s in the children’s section.’ ‘What? You keep it in the children’s section?’ ‘Oh yes, it’s very popular with five to 12-year-old boys.’ ‘I can’t believe that Mein Kampf could appeal like that!’ Red faces all round!

A few years ago a publisher friend opined quite emphatically that the printed book and the bookshop were doomed; that the market for print books would become so small it would no longer be justifiable to print them. It wasn’t one of my happiest conversations and our declining sales seemed to confirm her prediction that most readers would migrate to ebooks. But some recent US research suggests that the generation growing up with digital technology at their fingertips is more likely to have read a print book than their elders. A survey of 6000 Americans aged 16 and over, undertaken by Pew Research Centre, found that 88 per cent of those aged under 30 have read a book in the past year, compared with 79 per cent of those aged 30 and older. In Australia, a survey undertaken by Dymocks showed that 95 per cent of the respondents under 30 preferred a print book to digital. Our experience at Readings also suggests this might be the case, with the decline in book sales arresting.

This month sees the publication of Julia Gillard’s memoir, My Story. The book was strictly under wrapsprior to its release, so we could only speculate about its content. Despite this, we had more preorders for this book than for any other I can recall. Madonna’s Sex or one of the Harry Potter books may have come close! Our joint event with the Wheeler Centre on 7 October also sold out within weeks. It is a publishing phenomenon and Readings’ staff are already taking bets on how many we will sell.

And, finally, Readings and the Readings community contributed close to $10,000 to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation on Indigenous Literacy Day. If you missed the day you can still contribute on the Indigenous Literacy Foundation website.

Mark Rubbo