Melbourne bookshop owner Jaye Chin-Dusting is concerned about stock supply leading up to the busy Christmas period. (ABC News: Ethan White)
Independent bookstores are struggling to meet customer demands after one of Australia's largest book distributors experienced a cyber attack six weeks ago.
The cyber attack against Alliance Distribution Services (ADS) has left Australian authors unable to provide sufficient stock for events.
Hachette Australia, which owns ADS, says restoring full operations securely remains its top priority.
A cyber attack on one of the country's major publishing distributors has left bookshops and authors struggling to fill their shelves in the lead-up to their busiest trading period.
Hachette Australia said unauthorised activity on the computer systems of its distribution subsidiary, Alliance Distribution Services (ADS), was believed to have occurred on July 18.
The incident has severely disrupted the distribution of titles by Hachette's authors across Australia, with independent bookstores unable to fill shelves as they prepare to order stock leading up to its high-demand Christmas period.
Jaye Chin-Dusting, who is owner of Mary Martin Bookshop in Melbourne, first noticed there was a problem when books published by Hachette stopped arriving.
Jaye Chin-Dusting says new release titles have been prioritised by ADS, but supply of books already released remains limited. (ABC News: Ethan White)
"ADS would supply us 15 to 20 per cent of the books that we usually have on our shelves," she said.
"In the first couple of weeks, I think we weren't really sure what was going on.
Children's author Danielle Binks's plans to travel to Adelaide next month to visit schools and launch her new book, Shakespeare in the Orchard, have been thrown in doubt.
"Normally when I do any interstate visits, I'll pop into bookstores and sign copies of my book," said the Melbourne author, who publishes titles with Hachette.
"I've been told I can't for this September trip, obviously because Hachette has no way of knowing who has stock and can't supply them with more at the moment."
Danielle Binks says a planned trip to Adelaide, including presentations to school students, is in doubt without a guaranteed supply of copies of her new book. (Supplied)
