The Publishing Deal: Catherine Milne, Head of Fiction at HarperCollins, on Success, Bestsellers and Writing from the Heart

Catherine Milne has worked in publishing for many years, including with Penguin Books, Allen & Unwin, and since 2012, with HarperCollins, where she has been Head of Fiction since 2017. Her list is eclectic, ranging across fiction and non-fiction, but consistently award-winning and bestselling. It includes such successes as Trent Dalton, Julia Baird, Holly Ringland, Meg Mason, Jacqueline Maley, Alli Parker, Rebecca Armitage, Jacinta Parsons, Stan Grant, Rick Morton and Ben Crowe.

For more information about The Australian Fiction Prize, see here.

The Debut in the Spotlight this week is Sophie Stern, with her debut novel What is Left For Us (Penguin, March 2026).

00:00 Welcome to Book Deal

01:50 Catherine's start in publishing

06:12 The slush pile

08:35 Approaching publishers

10:21 Pitching

17:22 Inside Acquisitions Meetings

22:30 Second Book Pressure

25:48 Writing for Love

26:55 Debut in the Spotlight: Sophie Stern

28:11 Defining Success

29:44 Advances

33:26 Marketing Myths Breakouts

36:23 Case Study Sorrow & Bliss

41:20 State of the industry

47:54 The Australian Fiction Prize

52:49 Final Tip

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