While busy with nominations for the upcoming PANPA awards, NewsMediaWorks chief executive Mark Hollands has found himself on a shortlist of a different sort.
His crime thriller Amplify - set in the seedy world of the rock music business - has been shortlisted for the Australian Crime Writers Association's Ned Kelly Awards, winners of which will be announced on August 28.
He is the first self-published author ever to be shortlisted for the awards.
Released last November, Amplify introduces anti-hero Billy Lime, an entertainment entrepreneur who risks losing everything when the lead singer of a band he's promoting is murdered. Set in Sydney, it explores the glitz of the city's clubs and pubs, and the dark side of its excessive behaviour. Billy Lime must save the tour and find the killer to clear his name.
Ned Kelly judges have called it a "rip-roaring, thriller-come-expose of the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll lifestyle - a combination of textbook life on the road for a rock band and high threat action thriller with enough twists to make a normal person think the life of a promoter wasn't such a great business choice".
Amplify - which was edited by Miles Franklin winner Tom Flood - is intended to be the first in a series of Billy Lime adventures, and has already prompted speculation that it will become a film.
Hollands says he wanted to create a hard-edged, Australian anti-hero that lovers of crime thrillers anywhere in the world can relate to: "The rock business delivers a fascinating and contemporary social commentary on the changes we are all experiencing in the digital content revolution. It's great to allow the real world to intersect with a plot that twists and turns with each chapter," he says.
Following a career as a journalist, Hollands is currently chief executive of NewsMediaWorks.