Best Book Publisher in Australia
2021 – Well, what can we say? Ocean Reeve Publishing has stood out from the crowd and established the position as the best book publisher in Australia for 2021. However, amongst such uncertainty as a nation, as a world, to receive and then celebrate commendations and accolades seems rather obtuse. Maybe though, it is even more reason why we should celebrate success. Against the odds, a small indie book publisher achieving global and national accolades when COVID has changed so much about how we work and live does need to be celebrated.
APAC Insider – Best Australasian Independent and Self-Publishing Company 2021
This all began in November 2020 when we were informed that Ocean Reeve Publishing (ORP) had been nominated for the APAC Insider Australian Enterprise Awards in the field of best independent and self-publishing book publisher in Australasia. Asked if we would accept the nomination we naturally said yes and then completed a brief about who we were, why we do what we do and why we feel we deserve such an award. Honestly, we didn’t think anything of it in the sense we held no hope we would win anything.
Come January, we were informed we had won the award for Best Australasian Independent and Self-Publishing Company 2021. Stunned would be a good description of how we felt to win such an accolade. We always strive to offer the best book publishing experience for our authors, but receiving awards and accolades for doing what we love was something we never anticipated.
When the APAC Insider award was announced in late March, we were also heading into the book launch for our first traditionally published title Dangerous Animals in the Home. Just days prior to a massive lockdown, we managed to draw a crowd of over 150 people to celebrate the release of this title and bring more awareness to child sex abuse through supporting local charity At the Ark. This is when it went mad!
GLOBAL 100 – Best Australasian Independent Publishing Company 2021
April and May took us through a flurry of media attention where we featured on 10 News, Ticker TV News, ABC Brisbane, and several other print media outlets. Our CEO, Ocean, was listed as one of the top entrepreneurs to look out for in 2021. The outcome of this was a huge influx of new and existing authors wanting to bring their stories to life with ORP.
Thankfully we had just brought on two new team members and this proved to be vital to manage the increase in our author base as we went from 160 authors in the process to over 240 in less than three months. At the end of May, we were informed that EMG Publishing Group through their Global 100 Awards had awarded us Best Australasian Independent Publishing Company 2021. What the hell? Who was putting us forward for these? Time to research and ask some questions. However, no information came to the forefront. However, being listed again as the best book publishing company in Australia was not lost on us and we decided to immediately offer special prices and packages to our authors. After all, without our author, we would not even be in a position to be listed as the best book publisher around.
Australian Small Business Champion Awards and ROAR Success
Then June happened and we were informed that we had been nominated by a third party and listed as a finalist in the Specialised Small Business category in the 2021 Australian Small Business Champion Awards. We couldn’t believe it and as we did with the APAC Insider award began a search to find out who was putting our name forward to these award programs. No luck. At the time this blog went live, we have not been made aware of the outcome of this award as COVID meant the awards night has been pushed back until early 2022.
It didn’t stop there though. Also in June, a Melbourne business mentoring crowd, Roar Success, alerted us to another award we had been put forward for in the field of Business Excellence. Again, we did not feel this would be a win for us due to the field of nominees being very broad amongst many industries. Staying up late on a Saturday evening to watch the awards ceremony online, Ocean and Vicki Jane was almost asleep on the couch when their category came up and ORP was named the Gold Winner in Business Excellence. Being recognised as the best book publisher in Australia is one thing, but now in Business Excellence? WOW!
Wrapping it up, the one and only awards program we actually entered ourselves was the Innov8 Awards for Original and Creative Thinking in the Business 2-5 years category. We placed runner-up in this program which was an awesome result.
Best Book Publisher in Australia
So the best book publisher in Australia? Yes, the team at ORP and clearly a lot of our authors see this to be a true reflection of who we are. With almost 100 Google and Facebook reviews to support our assisted independent publishing process for authors, it certainly appears to show how successful ORP has become as we head into our sixth year of operation.
To whoever those authors were that put our company forward for the awards, we thank you. To all of our authors, without you, we wouldn’t even be in the position to be in an awards program yet win as many as we have in 2021. It has been humbling, exciting, and thrilling to go through this journey in such a strange and new era in our world.
We look forward to 2022, the outcome of the Australian Small Business Champion Awards, and who knows, we may carry this title as the best book publisher in Australia into 2022. Gratitude is essential in these times, especially when others decide to stand up and applaud individuals and businesses that are doing the right thing for their customers. We are, without a doubt very grateful to be the best book publishing company in Australia.
