Australian Scholarly Publishing – ASP – has been publishing scholarly and general books for over twenty years. It now releases 50–60 books a year under its Australian Scholarly scholarly, Arcadia general, Tantanoola fiction and Chancery Bold law imprints. Almost all of its books are published in printed form; a growing number are also published as e-books.

ASP was established in 1991 to show that scholarly publishing can be cultivated in Australia. The general view then, and now, is that such publishing is impossible without heavy institutional funding. The press began slowly, ignored the recession of the 1990s, promoted itself modestly over a dozen years by writing a monthly book column for The Australian’s Higher Education Supplement, innovated by making effective use of emerging digital printing technologies, and steadily built its list and place in the book trade. The publication of some general books and the provision of publishing services to cultural and academic institutions have helped it do so.