The Australian Bookseller & Publisher serves as the trade magazine for the Australian publishing and bookselling industry. It derives a substantial amount of its revenue from the advertisements that publishers place in it.

Some publishers have accused the magazine of being too bland, too afraid to be critical or to tackle the real issues that are important to the industry. The editor, Michael Webster, no doubt mindful of this criticism, has been making concerted attempts to put some teeth into the magazine by making the content less self-congratulatory and more critical.