Many of our better books came from ideas that our customers came up with. We have quite a lot of book lovers who are in regular contact with us. Some just love our books, others like being involved with what we do, some wish we would publish more of this and less of that, but we all care about quality books and keeping book publishing lively and interesting.

Exisle produces the kind of books that the very big publishers do not. Exisle is more concerned about long-lasting quality and sales which continue, than just being in today’s bestsellers list. Not that we mind bestsellers, and we have a few most years, but what we really like to do is find a great subject and have it written about properly by a real expert, support them with a brilliant designer and a top editor and take the book to market.

Our authors are, of course, all completely different, but what they have in common is genuine knowledge and very vivid enthusiasm. Many of them are a lot of fun to work with and all of them enrich their readers’ lives with unique, individual stories, ideas and knowledge.

Our key people are spread across Australia and New Zealand and we print in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and China. Our books are on sale in English throughout Australia and New Zealand and sometimes we produce books for American, British and South African publishers. We also sell translation rights to European, Chinese and South American publishers.

We'd love to hear from you, and if you care about the kind of things we do, maybe you would like to become part of our community.

Meet our team:

Gareth St John Thomas

Gareth was raised in Britain taking a degree in History from the University of Sussex. He worked as a sales representative for Kogan Page publishers, based in London and moved to David & Charles where he ended up as Publishing Director. He then moved to New Zealand, trying to avoid publishing, but formed Exisle initially as a hobby business while he took his MBA in Auckland. Gareth has provided consultancy work for various publishing groups and this included a period living in the United States. Gareth believes that book publishing must remain personable and publishing companies exist to facilitate ideas and talent. Gareth lives in the Hunter Valley with his wife Bernadette and two Kelpie dogs Winston and Nero.

Benny St John Thomas

Benny has a particularly strong love of books and has worked in A&R and the ABC in Australia before moving into the buyer’s role at Australia’s Doubleday book clubs. After Doubleday, Benny moved into international publishing and marketing. After running Quarto’s Australian office, Benny spent a year in New York running her own consultancy. Upon returning to Australia, Benny established Exisle’s significant network of overseas publisher partnerships, which has led to extensive sales of Australian and New Zealand authors’ work around the world. Benny is Exisle’s Sales and Marketing Director for both the national and international markets. Benny is proudest most of her son, Richard and step son Nathan – two fine young men. She is also an advocate for the intellectually disabled.

New Zealand based:

Ian Watt

Ian is publisher of our New Zealand division and was raised and educated in Auckland, graduating with an MA in English Language and Literature. Soon afterwards he travelled to London, where he found his first job in publishing at Thames & Hudson. In the 1980s he worked as an editor at SPCK, before becoming editor of the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. He returned to New Zealand in 1989, heading the editorial team at Reed Publishing for seven years, and then becoming Publisher at HarperCollins. In 2002 he abandoned corporate life and joined Exisle. He lives in Auckland, and his spare-time interests range from opera and cricket to cinema and overseas travel.

Carole Doesburg

Carole has a lifelong passion for books and publishing. Joining Whitcoulls in 1978, she progressed through a variety of roles in sales, buying and distribution, ending up as National Book Manager of their Wholesale Division. Marriage and family coincided with the advent of desktop publishing in the late 1980s. Freelancing to New Zealand publishers grew into an increasingly diverse business alongside the pleasure of raising four fine young men. Aside from a brief spell in a full-time project management role, Carole has been with Exisle since 2003. Proud to live in West Auckland, she is actively involved in the community and spends every spare minute reading or tending her garden.

Gillian Hughes

Gillian has always been a voracious reader with a huge love of books. Gillian has been working in the publishing industry for over 8 years, predominantly in a publicist role. She has worked at New Holland Publishers and Allen & Unwin Publishers, dealing with a very wide and varied range of books and authors. Gillian started working freelance a year ago and has now joined Exisle working on the promotion of their new titles. She lives in Auckland and tries to read as much as she can in between looking after her young son, Toby.

Australia based:

Anouska Jones

Anouska is the publisher of our Australian division of Exisle, and has over fifteen years’ experience in the publishing industry. She brings to the company a wealth of experience in commissioning titles, developing manuscripts, editing and project management, and enjoys co-ordinating every aspect of a book’s progression from initial concept to final product. Her expertise covers both fiction and non-fiction, ranging from biography, self-help, travel narrative and history to fully illustrated titles in categories such as gardening and cookery. Anouska is passionate about fostering original Australian talent and seeing the resulting books succeed not just locally but also on the international stage. She lives in the Hunter Valley with her husband and young daughter.

Pen Capp

Pen comes from the Hunter Valley where she has worked in marketing for the wine industry and managed associated businesses. Pen moved to books and Exisle Publishing a couple of years ago and combines her job with looking after her horses and dog. Pen is our Sales and Administration expert and will be looking after any enquiries or orders that are placed from Australia.

Tahnee McCrossin

Tahnee completed an internship at Exisle in 2007 as part of her final year of studies. Upon graduating with a Communications degree (Public Relations major) from the University of Newcastle, she began working for Exisle full-time in media relations and marketing. Tahnee lives in Newcastle, Australia, with her ‘fur family’ consisting of her cat Bowie, Labrador Evie and two furry male flatmates!

Our books are available in all quality bookstores throughout Australia and New Zealand, or through our secure online shopping cart facility.

For wholesale orders, you can contact our distributors Macmillan New Zealand on 09 414 0357. Alternatively, you can contact us.

Please refer to our Australian website for Australian, United Kingdom and South African distributors.