The Writing Professions during and after World War I

Modern careers in journalism, publishing and literature emerged from the print revolution of the late nineteenth century, with the unprecedented growth of newspapers, magazines and books for a rapidly expanding reading public across the Anglophone world, including Australia. New magazines flourished on both sides of the Atlantic from the 1880s, sustained by the demand for fiction and the emergence of modern advertising. In Britain, the publication of new books increased dramatically, with Australia the largest market for British book exports. By World War 1, Lord Northcliffe's Daily Mail became the first British newspaper to sell over a million copies a day and the popularity of cheap illustrated newspapers meanth the employment of more full-time journalists. According to international standards, Australians were voracious consumers of newspapers; during the 1920s newspaper companies expanded, and the Packer and Murdoch media dynasties were established. The interwar years saw a buoyancy in local periodicals, from Smith's Weekly in 1919 to the Australian Woman's Weekly in 1933 and Walkabout the following year.