A small independent publisher, Xoum (pronounced “Zoom”) was founded in 2011. It has offices in Sydney and Melbourne and offers four imprints that specialise in different genres:
- Xoum: General Fiction, Non-Fiction and Children
- Brio: Literary
- Seizure: New Talent
- Fantastica: SciFi/Fantasy
- XO Romance – Contemporary Women’s Fiction launching in August 2017
While most of their authors are from Australia and New Zealand, their Fantastica imprint does accept international submissions. A quick glance at their author list suggests a fifty-fifty split in terms of gender diversity. They publish several female authors of diverse ethnicity, including debut author Elizabeth Tan and Hoa Pham.
Xoum publishes in both print and ebooks. Print copies of their books are available via New South Books in Australia and Ingram internationally, and their ebooks can be found at Amazon Kindle, iBookstore, Kobo and Google. Their titles are also available via Xoum’s own website.
Several of Xoum’s authors are well known to the AWW challenge. Malla Nunn and Jane Rawson are two names that stand out to me – they are authors I have heard of and seen in bookstores. Malla Nunn’s work, A Beautiful Place to Die, Let the Dead Lie, Blessed Are the Dead and Present Darkness have received two Edgar Award nominations between them, and Nunn has also received a RUSA Award for Best Mystery Novel and a Davitt Award for best crime novel by an Australian author. Blessed Are the Dead, a 2013 Publishers Weekly Top Ten Summer Crime Read, was shortlisted for an Anthony Award and a Ned Kelly Award.
Another award winner is Marlee Jane Ward, whose Welcome to Orphancorp won the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Young Adult fiction. The follow-on, Psynode, was released in May this year.
Several of Xoum’s books have been reviewed for the AWW challenge, including:
- Close to Home by Robin Barker – reviewed by Jessica White
- Too Close to Home by Robin Barker and Georgia Blain – reviewed by Carol Seeley and Kelly @ Orange Pekoe
- Midnight Blue and Endlessly Tall by Jane Jervis-Read – reviewed by Julie Proudfoot
- Perfections by Kirstyn McDermott – reviewed by Kristian Thoroughgood, Stephanie Gunn, Tsana Dolichva, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Mark Webb
- Present Darkness by Malla Nunn – reviewed by Brenda, Jo @ Booklover Book Reviews, Bernadette (reactions To Reading), Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out and Marilyn Brady
- The Neighbour by Julie Proudfoot – reviewed by Whispering Gums, Jane Rawson, Elizabeth Lhuede, Sean The BookonautÂ
- Formaldehyde by Jane Rawson – reviewed by Bill Holloway, Tsana, and Wayward Fancy and
- Welcome to Orphancorp by Marlee Jane Ward – reviewed by Coffee2words/Lynxie and Emma Lee Gough.
New releases to look out for include Elizabeth Tan’s debut novel Rubik and Jean Flynn’s Lovesick, XO Romance’s first romance title, due out in August.
Hopefully we can get more books read and reviewed from Xoum in the second half of the year. I’d like to try some of Malla Nunn’s books if I can find them – they look intriguing and as I have family connections to South Africa, the setting sings to me in the lyrical way Africa does when it gets into your heart.
Rubik
Elena Rubik can’t seem to stay dead. She persists: as a set of corneas, as a newsletter subscriber, as a member of fanfiction forums.
Her best friend Jules Valentine meanwhile is unwittingly inveigled into an indie-film turned corporate branding stunt. When Jules leaks information about the true story behind the video – by then an overworked viral meme – wannabe investigative reporter April Kuan is assigned the case. But as April trails Jules all over Perth she too becomes ensnared in the machinations of shady corporate interests as the very laws of physics and time begin to bend.
Love Sick
Beth is an absolute wreck. She is certain that she has some kind of disease — a fatal one, most likely. She is also very single and quite keen on her (boss) colleague, Dr Brendan Roberts. He seems to fancy her, too — well, until The Morning After.
Beth knows it’s time to sort out her messy life, but she has no idea where to start.
Enter Shane — a slightly dishevelled forklift driver. He may not be suave or wealthy, but he does laugh at Beth’s jokes and remember how she likes her coffee. Plus, the more they hang out, the healthier she feels.
But when Shane suddenly cuts off all communication, Beth starts to think there’s no such thing as The One, and she decides to stop being slapdash and move on. Only life is never that simple, and Beth must take a chance if she hopes to find the cure to her ills.
About Ashleigh: I’m a book reviewer, student, aspiring author and hopeful editor living on the Central Coast, NSW. I blog at The Book Muse and can be found on Twitter @TheBookMuse1.
Sounds like an interesting press Ashleigh. I particularly like how they’re diversifying their offerings through multiple imprints.
Yes, they are an option I might look at for my WIP, Bear Planet. I’m not sure where it will fit but I’m trying to get it done.
Lovesick sounds good. I’ll have to look into Xoum publishing.
I’m interesting in finding some Malla Nunn – I’ll check out my local bookstore tomorrow.
Thanks for this Ashleigh, including the link to my Review of Julie Proudfoot’s wonderful book. I enjoy these write-ups of small publishers.
They’re very interesting. In all honesty, these write-ups are the first time I’ve heard of a few small presses now.
We have a lot of wonderful Small Presses, I think Theresa. If you Google SPN (used to be SPUNC) you can find a wonderful list of Australian small presses. It’s really impressive.
Thanks – that’s what I have been referring to. Need to choose my July candidate :). Just doing some job applications first.
I’ve reviewed Rubik here https://justinehyde.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/review-rubik-by-elizabeth-tan/
Thanks for including this here Justine 🙂
Thanks Justine 🙂
Great spotlight! I’m giving away a copy of Lovesick by Jean Flynn on my website http://www.carpelibrum.net/2017/06/friday-freebie-win-print-copy-of.html
Thanks Tracy, and thanks for letting us know about the giveaway!