Much admired and shortlisted, Charlotte Wood often hears herself described as an "award-winning novelist". But until now her modest wins were an unpublished manuscript prize for her first novel and the people's prize in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards for her fourth.

That changed on Wednesday when The Natural Way of Things, her gutsy fifth novel about misogyny, was chosen by staff of independent bookshops as both the best fiction and overall best book of the year at the Indie Book Awards - the first national awards of the year.

The Natural Way of Things, a fable about young women imprisoned in the desert after complaining about being sexually assaulted by men in business, sport, religion, and on a cruise ship, has sold a healthy 25,000 copies since October. It will be published in the US and Britain in June, has offers from publishers in Poland, Spain and Turkey, and is being adapted to film.

"I've been surprised by the number of men who contact me and say they loved it," says Wood at her Marrickville home. "I had an email the other day from a man who said, 'I love it, I found it really powerful. I'm giving it to my son, I want him and all his friends to read it; all young men should read it'."

Also among the winners is comic actor Magda Szubanski for her first book, Reckoning, a best-selling memoir that reveals her Polish father killed Nazi sympathisers during World War II, and her own struggle with being gay.

Becoming a writer has been "quite a transformative experience", says the star of TV's Kath and Kim. "Just the process of writing was far more serious than anything I've done before and very emotional. I see even old friends look at me through a different prism."

The book, finely written over eight years, has sold an extraordinary 60,000 copies, and taken Szubanski around the country. "I think I've met every single person on the continent and posed for selfies with them," she says.

The Indies debut fiction award went to Lucy Treloar for her novel Salt Creek, the children's award to Aaron Blabey for The Bad Guys, Episode 1 and Fiona Wood's novel Cloudwish won the new award for young adult books.

Jenny Barry, a judge and bookseller at BooksPlus in Bathurst, says The Natural Way of Things is "such a brave and timely book, so beautifully written and evoked, with a unique focus on what has been prominent in the news and politics."

After some hard years, battered by ebooks, Amazon and discount stores, small bookshops are prospering again as readers return to print and the personal guidance of well-read booksellers.

"It's really lovely that this is a booksellers' award," Wood says. "I feel I've been supported by independent booksellers from the beginning for what often felt like no good reason because they got so little out of it. Now my book is doing well, it's because of them."