CIP April 2024 issue

$15.00 APRIL 2024

PUBLISHING

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Educational opportunities abound

One of my all-time favourite writing quotes comes from Ernest Hemingway.

The famous writer once said, “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”

For me, this is one of the great joys of being a professional writer and editor. There’s always more to learn about honing your craft.

For the past year, I’ve been pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts part-time with an endgoal of teaching writing at various levels. Studying for my MFA has taught me a great deal about becoming a stronger writer across different genres. I’ve gained access to helpful resources and had the opportunity to read the works of many talented authors. Every time I start a new course, I get filled with excitement and anticipation about what I could learn and whose books I might have the opportunity to read.

While I could be wrong, I believe most writers desire opportunities to become better at their craft, and are in constant pursuit of improvement. Of course, this doesn’t have to come in the form of a traditional education. It could come from dedicating more time to reading the works of authors whose work you admire, or new authors. It could come in the form of attending sessions at writing conferences; taking one-off courses online or in person; chatting with other writers in writing groups; or, of course, sitting down and dedicating more time to writing.

For those of you looking for in-person opportunities, there are a couple of great conferences coming up this spring and summer that I recommend attending.

On May 4 and 5, the Toronto Indie Author Conference will take place at the Central

YMCA at 20 Grosvenor Street in Toronto. This two-day conference is packed with speakers for both beginner and intermediate writers (to learn more, turn to page 18).

For those of you in Western Canada, the popular When Words Collide writing conference is returning to Calgary from August 16 to 18.

This event features dozens of educational sessions, panel discussions, workshops and more. Learn more about this great event at: www.alexandrawriters.org/about-wwc.

If Northern Canada is your home, consider checking out the 19th annual NorthWords Writers Festival taking place from May 30 to June 2 in Yellowknife.

This event will feature guest authors, including many local writers and storytellers. Learn more about the festival at: www.northwordsnwt.com/2023-festival.

I hope to see you at one of these great events. Happy reading and writing!

Andrew Snook Editor and Publisher

Established in 1979 by Judith Drinnan, The Yellowknife Book Cellar (now Yellowknife Books) has been serving the territory’s book lovers for 45 years. Judith stepped away from the store shortly after selling it to former employee Jennifer Baerg Steyn, who found her way to the north by way of Vancouver seven years ago.

“I worked for Judith in 2017 for a year and then left and went to work in government,” Jennifer recalls.

In 2021, Jennifer reached out to Judith and expressed her interest in purchasing the store. They finalized the sale in 2022. When taking over ownership of the bookstore, Jennifer says she was sensitive to the importance of the store to the community.

“I was very much aware of how the community feels and how attached they are to the store and to the legacy that Judith built,” Jennifer says.

Under Jennifer’s management, Yellowknife Books continues to offer

a wide variety of books to customers with a focus on celebrating and showcasing northern and Indigenous writers.

“Our main focus since day one has been northern and Indigenous writers. We try to aim for 30 to 50 per cent of our stock targeted towards that in

(Top left) Feline store mascot, Thomas, browses the selection at Yellowknife Books. Jennifer Baerg Steyn (bottom left) and her husband, Brad, took over ownership of Yellowknife’s downtown bookstore in 2022. Images courtesy of Yellowknife Books.

SERVING CANADA’S NORTHERN READERS

YELLOWKNIFE BOOKS HAS BEEN SERVING

N.W.T. BOOKWORMS SINCE 1979

mind,” Jennifer says. “We cover Indigenous languages and anything that comes on the market written by an Indigenous author. We also cover any Indigenous history, language retention, dictionaries, Indigenous plants, fiction, and poetry. We kind of run the whole gambit.”

The children’s books section of the store is also a major component, comprising close to 50 per cent of their stock with the focus on northern and Indigenous content. In addition to stocking any relevant books she can find on these topics, the bookstore is also helping local writers with securing translation services.

“We’ve been trying to support any local writers who are looking to have their books translated, especially into any of the local Indigenous languages,” Jennifer says. “The N.W.T. represents nine official Indigenous languages, English and French. So, we try to make sure there’s representation for that as well. We sell to schools, so we try and curate as much as we can to help teachers that may

not be from the north.”

For Jennifer, ensuring there is a good collection of children’s literature to choose from is very important.

“Lifelong reading is such an important skill, especially with the readily available technology that can entertain us,” she says. “Seeing kids come in and fall in love with reading is amazing.”

Many books published in the north over the years were small print runs, so the bookstore staff

By Andrew Snook

spends a significant amount of time searching for out-of-print books for customers.

Unexpected hurdles

When Jennifer took over ownership of Yellowknife Books she expected to encounter some challenges as a small business owner. But the toughest hurdle she has had to overcome to date was unexpected – being forced to evacuate due to raging forest fires.

“We were evacuated last August

INDIE BOOKSTORE

along with most of the territory due to wildfires,” she says. “To potentially watch the business die while we were in a hotel room, not able to do anything about it, was heartbreaking. The range of emotions was pretty intense.”

Jennifer and her husband were forced to spend several weeks at a hotel and had no income being generated.

“Most publishers were not interested in that we had no income coming in, they wanted to be paid. My husband and I used every penny from our personal savings to keep us afloat,” she recalls.

The biggest day-to-day operational challenges the store has are related to staffing.

“Owning a business in general, the biggest challenge has been staffing. But here, it’s its own challenge,” Jennifer says. “The government is the main employer and pays exceptionally well. So, if you want someone who is educated with some interest in books that comes with work skills, you can’t compete.”

New venue, new opportunity

This past March, Jennifer moved her bookstore across the street to a new location on 49th Street.

While the previous location for Yellowknife Books offered similar square footage, the layout is more conducive for a bookstore and for hosting author events.

“The new location is much more geared towards the retail side,”

Jennifer says. “In the past, we’ve had mostly kids’ events. We’re hoping to do more events with adults. We’re going to have more space to hold events for local writers and try to grow local talent, where they do readings and some open mic events.”

To check out Yellowknife Books, visit: www.yellowknifebooks.com.

(Top) Thomas keeps a watchful eye over the bookstore. (Bottom) Odin relaxes in the reading area of Yellowknife Books.

Pen name: Caitlin Marceau

Recently published books:

· A Blackness Absolute (Ghost Orchid Press, 2023)

· Palimpsest: A Collection of Contemporary Horror (Ghost Orchid Press, 2022)

· This Is Where We Talk Things Out (DarkLit Press, 2022)

· Femina: A Collection of Dark Fiction (DarkLit Press, 2022)

· Magnum Opus (Timber Ghost Press, 2022)

Place of residence: Montreal, Que. Website: www.CaitlinMarceau.ca

Follow her on social media: @CaitlinMarceau

A chat with

Caitlin Marceau has a passion for all things scary. An award-winning queer author and lecturer based in Montreal, Caitlin spends much of her time focused in the horror genre. Her short stories and novellas have been published by multiple indie presses. In 2022, Caitlin published her novellas, This is Where We Talk Things Out and Magnum Opus; as well as Palimpsest: A Collection of Contemporary Horror; and Femina: A Collection of Dark Fiction. This is Where We Talk Things Out, which was published by Regina, Sask.-based DarkLit Press, has sold more than 10,000 copies.

In 2023, Caitlin released, A Blackness Absolute, a collection of horror short stories.

CAITLIN MARCEAU

By Andrew Snook

When she’s not diving into her latest work of horror, Caitlin also enjoys writing science fiction, fantasy, erotica, experimental fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction. She has been approached by multiple indie presses to work on a variety of projects. Canadian Independent Publishers sat down with Caitlin to learn more about her passion for the written word and how she found success as an indie author.

How did you first discover your love for writing?

It was my grandfather. He was an avid reader his whole life. He was really interested in Second World War and First World War history. So, we had a lot of books about that around his place. He was very much into any kind of mystery or spy thrillers, so he was devouring them. And when I was really young – too young to read – he would tell me these stories that he would make up on the fly. He would ask me, “What kind of story do you want? What do you want in it?” and it was tailor-made for me. I’d tell him, “A princess who has a sword, singing goats, and ten dragons. And if you can work a pumpkin in there somewhere, that’d be swell.” And he would do

that, and they never made sense. But at the time, they were the best things ever. I knew, eventually, I wanted to get better at it than he was. I wanted to tell him a story one day, and that’s sort of how it escalated.

Were there specific books or authors that also sparked your interest in writing?

Tamora Pierce. Even though I write mostly horror, growing up I was really into fantasy. I loved it so much. I was very unpopular for not liking J.R.R. Tolkien, like a lot of other people. But Tamora Pierce had a ton of books that were set in two main universes. One of them was The Circle of Magic from her Emelanese Universe. It was four ragtag friends who wouldn’t normally be friends, but together are a powerful witch coven. It was very heavily queer coded, which I loved. And then there was The Song Of The Lioness from the Tortall Universe, which was the first world of hers that I discovered. It’s all about these women knights in a realm where there’s magic and dragons and all sorts of crazy stuff happening. I ended up picking up her book by happenstance in a tiny bookshop and thought I’d give it

a try because I hadn’t seen many stories that followed women who were knights going on quests and adventures. Within the first chapter I was like, “Well, this is it. I can never go back to reading anything else.”

As someone who is part of the LGBTQ2S+ community, did you find it difficult to find books with characters you could relate to growing up?

Yeah, it didn’t exist. Growing up, there was nothing that had that representation. The closest thing that I found – and it wasn’t even in literature – was in television with Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Otherwise, it was Tamora Pierce in the Circle of Magic series. There are these two women who run the house where the four kids stay. It’s been ages since I read it, and I don’t think they were ever written overtly to be a couple, but my god, it was a beautiful relationship. They were definitely married, and it was wonderful.

When did your writing first start gaining exposure?

It was a short story called “Hunger.” It was published in 2015 or 2016 by Sanitarium Magazine.

But before that I worked in journalism at my local Suburban and in The West Island Chronicle. I interned there and wrote features. Technically, my first published work was a featurette on women in Montreal who were business owners. It was all about female empowerment.

How did it feel to have your first longer collection, Palimpsest, published?

It was 2022. It was a weird time because I had actually stopped writing in 2019, because I had a really bad experience with an editor. It was bad enough that I was like, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” I didn’t feel safe in that space. I didn’t want to keep going forward with it. I was teaching at the time and apprenticing as a tattoo artist. But then the pandemic hit, and I decided to start writing for myself. And then in 2021, I sent out three collections. And in a span of like two weeks they were all picked up. It was really weird! That first long piece when it came out was very exciting. And then I think it was a month later that my novella, This Is Where We Talk Things Out, was accepted alongside Magnum Opus. Five books got picked up within the span of about eight weeks!

What do you think it is about your writing that really draws people in?

I wish I knew. I would just focus on that and be a New York Times bestseller! I’d like to think that it’s focusing on the every day. I know there are a lot of stories that are fantastical and larger than life or look

at supernatural creatures as they invade our lives and terrorize us – and I really like taking the things that we love and find comfort and safety in and making them suddenly seem unsafe – but I like to think people keep coming back because they can relate to just the very mundane parts of my books.

Do you find because you add a queer component to your horror fiction that it becomes a very niche readership, or do you find that it’s very embraced by the horror genre community overall?

I like to think that it’s less niche and more the overall community. My stuff tends to be seen in a lot of the queer literature spheres, and I’m very grateful and very lucky that it’s always grouped into queer horror fiction. I’m delighted because I didn’t have those stories growing up, so it’s great to be able to give that to people who are looking for it and want that representation. But I don’t write with the intention of being exclusively for queer audiences. I really want to be the kind of person who just writes a character and their queerness isn’t integral to the plot. In This is Where We Talk Things Out, there’s a source of tension between Miller and her mom, Sylvie, and her fiancé is that source of tension. We get this idea that she’s probably very homophobic, but she’s not outwardly expressing herself that way. I never wanted to make it so that we knew from the onset that this is a queer story about a queer woman in a queer relationship with a mother who dislikes queer women. I never wanted to frame it that way. I want to make it so you have queer characters in books

You can follow Caitlin Marceau on her social media channels at @CaitlinMarceau. Images courtesy of Caitlin Marceau.

and don’t think twice about the fact that they’re queer. They’re just characters. I feel like we need to normalize it even more than we already have. So, I’m very glad when it gets into the niche circles, but I really hope a wider audience reads them and relates to these characters.

With so many works of fiction released in a short time, are you now fully dedicated to your fiction writing?

No, I also work in education. Writing is absolutely my first love, so if I could do that full-time that is the goal that I’m working towards. But I don’t think I’ll ever really give up teaching. I really enjoy getting to share the things that I think are important and that I’m passionate about. I really like getting a chance to talk with younger generations and see where they’re coming from. I like to try to assign them work and texts that ask them to consider social issues and how they feel about the world around them and their place in it. I like to think, I like to hope, that I’m making a difference.

How do you organize your time to be able to write so many stories in such a short period of time? It’s chaos. Constant chaos. I’m very grateful that I work in higher education because during my day there are lovely gaps in my schedule. I think the latest I work is four o’clock most semesters, which is delightful. I’m very lucky to have very open afternoons. But I also try to get up early and squeeze in a little bit of organization in the morning. I’ll get up,

I’ll have my coffee, and the first thing I do is meticulously plan out my day by the hour, as best I can. I definitely don’t follow the schedule, that goes out the window pretty quickly, but I try to have some semblance of a schedule and structure in my day. I also have ADHD. So, I tend to be somebody who has like a lot of alarms set on my phone to remind me to write and go do stuff. You are the only person who can protect your time. If you don’t value that writing time as something you have to do, if you don’t see it as a mandatory commitment like going to your job every single day, you’re not going to do it.

What would you say are some of your biggest challenges as an author?

Too many ideas. Having too many ideas is actually a problem sometimes because I’ll want to do all of them at once, and then I’m overextending myself. That’s the quickest way to hit burnout, to do too much at once. This is why I took the last year off writing. I was completely burnt out. My grandparents passed away as well, so it was just too much at one time. I want to say “yes” to every opportunity and to every anthology. But last year taught me that “no” is a complete sentence.

You also have enjoy working on illustrations. Can you share a little about this passion?

I do a lot of illustrating. I love to slap on an audiobook, put my headphones in, and draw. I do book covers for different presses, too. I did the interior illustrations for my novella, This Is Where We Talk

Things Out, when the special edition was released last summer. Kristina Osborn did the original cover, which was just incredible, and then Val Hal Halvorson did the cover for the illustrated edition. I also did my cover for A Blackness Absolute, from Ghost Orchid Press, which came out in February of 2023. I’ve also had the pleasure of doing a couple of covers for Shortwave Publishing as well as the cover for Emma E. Murray’s Exquisite Hunger.

What advice would you give to new authors starting out?

I just want to encourage them to go for it. I think it’s always nice to hear encouragement from writers that maybe your family doesn’t give you. If you’re pursuing a degree in English or creative writing, you might hear that it’s a dead-end degree or pointless education. So, I always feel that it’s nice to hear from writers who also went that route and that it can pay off to pursue the things that you care about. That you can have fun and a career. I think most of us are riddled with anxiety and impostor syndrome – we’ll write these beautiful pieces then don’t want to send them out to publishers or submission calls, because we think, I’m new. It’s not very good. Just send it. Send it out. I think it’s important to remember that a lot of publishers – a lot of magazines, a lot of presses – are actively looking for new voices. We need as many new authors as possible. Everyone submit!

To read more about Caitlin Marceau and her collections, visit: CaitlinMarceau.ca, or find her on social media with the handle: @CaitlinMarceau.

(Top) One of Caitlin Marceau’s illustrations from A Cold That Burns Like Fire, a chapbook published by Shortwave Publishing in 2022.

By James Stewart

Criticism. It’s a word reminiscent of nails slowly dragging across a chalkboard to most authors, or worse… it could reawaken a sleeping monster of anxious feelings that’s been dormant since childhood and threaten our ability to keep writing altogether. We create in a Catch-22 situation. On one hand, authors must seek out reviews from readers for their books to help gain visibility — thus creating positive word of mouth, energy, and income to move us forward to write the next book. On the other hand, in submitting our work for review, we open ourselves (and our egos) up to the possibility of being bruised by a negative review.

If you find yourself dreading the potentially devastating emotional impact of a bad review, congratulations; you’re a living human being with functional emotions! Feeling hurt from the words of others is natural. We’re wired to crave the approval of our pack. But, in the career path of an author, that natural instinct can work against us and our mental health if we’re not careful. Remember that your books aren’t for everyone and

might not be enjoyed by everyone — and that’s okay! As an example, books with the most negative reviews tend to be those that are most renowned — from Brontë to Hemingway to Vonnegut. While most readers are adept at filtering out wrathful onestar reviews or those about shipping issues that have no bearing on the quality of the writing, we may receive some stinging criticism from professional reviewers or well-known others that can affect us.

The experience of receiving a bad review can be a newly opened doorway toward creating something better for ourselves — whether that be identifying something we can use to improve our writing craft or heal an aspect of our inner workings once and for all. Here is our guide to return to if you need help processing a bad review about your creation:

1. Stop and listen in It can be an automatic reflex to let anger or fear overtake us. We might even start punching back with a response to a bad review, but it’s crucial that you pump the brakes and put

BOOK PROMOTION

the device down as soon as you start feeling negative emotions well up.

Responding to reviewers who have dished out some criticism will only show the public online that you may have some unhealed past wounds causing you to be reactionary. A comment war can ultimately hurt your author brand. “An eye for an eye” only leads to more pain, but by stopping and tuning into yourself, you’ll be able to identify what emotions you’re feeling. Once you pick up on what they are alerting you to, you can give the source some attention and care. Be it anger, fear, shame, all of the above, or something additional, these are runway lights signalling you to land and explore. For example, many creators feel shame and anger due to past events in their childhood that shaped a drive for perfectionism. This can set us up to feel these emotions every time we’re critiqued, since no human — or book — is perfect. And since our written work lives in a world with millions of readers who have different perspectives of what makes a “perfect” book, no book can appeal to all of them. We can only control what we can control: ourselves, how we react, and how we can help ourselves when we feel hurt or attacked.

Grab your journal or notebook and ask yourself, “What emotions am I feeling? If these are signals about some old hurt, what might it have been?” If you no longer are in the same place as you were at that time, you can remind yourself that you are safe where you are now.

2. Soothe yourself

Reading a review that is critical of our creative work can feel like a kick in the gut… which makes sense, since our stomach is the home of our emotional brain. These emotions might even be so overpowering that we may be fearing, “My writing career is over” or “No one’s going to read my books.”

When we step back and look at the situation with a clear, logical mind, we see that these thoughts aren’t true — but they sure feel like it at the time! To be able to get to that clearer mind, we sometimes first just need to soothe ourselves to calm those emotions down. Since we’re all different, what that looks like to you might not work for others, so think about times in the past where you did something for yourself that made you feel safe and calm and try that. If you can’t think of a time like this, give some of these strategies a try until you find something that works for you:

• Go for a walk around the neighbourhood;

• Watch your favourite show or movie;

• Enjoy a warm soak in the tub or shower;

• Unplug and take a cat nap or meditate;

• Pull out some pencil crayons or art supplies and doodle;

• Play a solo game on your phone, crossword book, or console;

• Light a scented candle or incense and enjoy a smell that makes you feel good;

• Try some calming breathing exercises;

• Give yourself a hug or place your hand on your chest over your heart for 3 minutes;

• Put on some music you enjoy and move to it.

Many of these activities can increase your oxytocin levels, which help to decrease stress and anxiety and lead to feeling better. Some of us find that certain activities work along the lines of the same sense (i.e., touch, smell, or hearing). When we feel a reaction to negative feedback, this is a good reminder to do something to ground ourselves and bring us back to our centered selves.

3. Return like a scientist

Feeling a bit more calm, pretend that you are a scientist and read the review again with an open mind. Assess what areas may be arising from the reader’s own emotional reactions or expectations that were unmet, and areas where there may be some helpful suggestions to improve your craft.

We humans are amazing for how resilient and able we are to navigate emotional challenges like this. Having used our skills for calming ourselves, we can first remind ourselves of why we write — that internal “why” that drives you — and truly congratulate ourselves for actually doing it! You wrote that book and published it — that is a huge feat!

We can next put on the “lab coat” and see with fresh eyes, like those of a scientist or researcher simply looking at the result of an experiment. One reader out of many said these words. This was their interpretation. Was there anything in what they said that might be useful for me next time? What of my own experience in reacting to this review might be useful for me to be aware of in the future?

You may want to make a list of topics for future research or aspects of your writing you might want to strengthen with writing exercises or an editor’s help on future books. Especially if you want to make a career as an author, you can learn and grow with every book you write.

4. Mine the gold, throw out the rest

Here, we can simply be like a miner, sifting through the mud for some flakes of gold, and throwing the rest back into the stream. In amongst the dirt may be the reviewer’s own projected expectations, personal experience, or downright rude wording. We realistically don’t know the basis for any response, but we

can remind ourselves that “that’s them.” That’s their mud, and was no fault of our own.

And then, what of the gold flakes in amongst it? Are there some suggestions for improvement? Keep an eye out for a pattern in feedback we’ve had from others. Or, you might get a solid gold nugget: a good idea we hadn’t thought of that we could try in the next book. There may not always be gold, but if we can look at reviews as providing possible teaching moments, what might we learn here and how might we use it for our own growth?

Some examples of that gold might be a reminder to not use so many dialogue tags or adjectives next time, or maybe there were inaccuracies in the setting you could research further, or maybe the pacing dragged in the middle. If you can’t find any usable feedback, it might just be that this is one person that your book wasn’t meant for. It’s a reminder to let go of that heavy belief that everyone is going to enjoy what we write; not everyone will and that’s just fine.

5. Return to your path

Sometimes, reading a bad review can pick us up like a twister and set us down in Oz where any possible yellow brick road is replaced with self-doubt and rethinking our story, characters, or the next volume of our series. Hopefully, the first few steps in this list have helped to ground you in a sheltered place within yourself until the twister passes you by. Whether that’s the case or not, if you are feeling the bruise and/or confusion of doubt, it’s time to come home to this fact: your book (like you) is an incredible and unique creation that isn’t for everyone. You can help your book find its intended readers by returning to the path of your book promotion plan. Come back to your definition of your book’s specific target audience: the specific core demographic(s) of readers most likely to purchase and read your book

first. Then, continue on your plan’s pathway to engage with your readers and others in the community to continue sharing your book for possible reviews — and hopefully positive ones!

Trust in what you’ve created and that it will find those in the world that it was created to affect. Most importantly, trust in yourself and that what you’ve created is perfect in its own way.

6. Heal what remains

Celebrating yourself for writing and publishing your book (as well as for how you’ve grown through this experience of a negative review) and releasing others’ opinions can free you to open energy within yourself for creating more. We all deal with negative reactions to our writing differently, and if you find that you continue to struggle with these feelings or know that there’s some deep, painful memories or catalysts that could do with more attention to resolve them, this can be a wonderful opportunity to speak with a professional to help you gain some mental wellness and wisdom to free your wings from the words of others.

At the end of the day, you have achieved something rare and incredible: you wrote and published a book that others can pick up in their hands and experience. You will find your own unique ways of freeing yourself from the potential twisters of negative criticism, and better yet, your book will make its difference in this world that was meant to be.

And if you’re still needing some validation, check out all the negative reviews for the great books that inspired you on sites like Goodreads. Not only will it give you a good laugh, but it’s also a reminder that criticism happens to the best of us.

James Stewart has been with FriesenPress for over 10 years and is the senior promotions specialist of the Book Promotions department.

New writing conference coming to Toronto

Whether you’re a rookie indie author or a grizzled veteran of the craft, a new conference has been organized to help you take your work to the next level.

The inaugural Toronto Indie Author Conference (TIAC) will be coming to the Central YMCA at 20 Grosvenor Street in Toronto on May 4 and 5.

The conference is geared towards helping independent authors navigate their way through the complexities of the publishing industry.

The TIAC was founded by indie author and owner of Starlit Publishing, Tao Wong, who wanted to expand the educational opportunities for indie writers in Canada.

“I’ve been going down to the U.S. mostly for the last few years because that’s where the major indie author conferences are,” Tao says. “I realized that there wasn’t really anything up here of the same quality with the same types of speakers.”

TIAC has a strong focus on the business side of independent publishing.

“The focus is having a sustainable career. How to go and do indie publishing and learn all of the different tricks that you need to know to do it well,” Tao explains. He designed the conference to benefit both beginner and intermediate indie authors.

“One of the things that I was very pas-

By Andrew Snook

sionate about when I was building this was trying to make it so that whatever level you’re at, you should be able to get something out of it,” he says. “Even if you’re just starting out and thinking about it, we have early-on marketing strategy courses; discussions about Facebook, Kindle Unlimited, and how these various channels play out. We have someone talking about Kickstarter as a way of funding your book, if you want to do that.”

The event will feature a packed two days filled with sessions in beginner and intermediate tracks:

Beginner Author Track

Embracing All Your Publishing Options To Maximize Your Revenue

Speaker: Mark Leslie Lefebvre

Writers have more opportunity and options than ever before in the history of publishing. When it comes to earning revenue as an author, writing and publishing a book is just one of many ways to earn money. What are the various ways an author can maximize their revenue, forge multiple income streams, and effectively exploit their IP to gain the most benefit from their earning potential?

Seven Productivity Myths and Why You Should Stop Believing Them

Speaker:

Becca Syme

When people throw around advice about productivity, there are some old staples that don’t actually apply to everyone. The goal of this session is to deconstruct how to apply advice to you as an individual, and to help you have a sustainable author career.

Marketing Strategy 101

Speaker: Tao Wong

Marketing Strategy for Authors is designed to illuminate the process of developing a marketing strategy as an author in the 21st century. It provides a high level, strategic overview of the components of a comprehensive marketing plan that is flexible, focused and uniquely tailored to an author’s writing career.

Writing What You Love To Market

Speaker: Eva Chase

If you’ve spent much time in the indie publishing world, you’ve probably heard the phrase “write to market” as a key strategy for success. It’s often presented as the opposite of writing what you love, but what if you can do both? This workshop will give you proven techniques for reaching broader audiences while keeping the joy of writing.

The Anatomy of a Best-Selling Book

Cover

Speaker: Sylvia Frost

What is the difference between a pretty piece of art and a bestselling book cover? From composition, to trends, to how to get the illusive “pop,” award-winning book cover designer Sylvia Frost of The Book Brander uncovers the secrets of book cover design.

What Indie Authors Need to Know about Editing

Speaker: Genevieve Clovis

Editing is an important part of the publishing process, but it can be difficult to know where to start. This presentation will teach indie authors everything they need to know to get started with an editor. It will provide an explanation of the different types of editing, what each type entails, where to find editors, and how to figure out which editor is right for their project.

Stuck, Blocked, or Burned Out?

Speaker: Becca Syme

Everyone’s tossing around the B-word lately. Burnout. And some of us feel a physical recoil when we

see that word, so we might be afraid to think about or talk about times when we’re not writing, for fear of someone using that B-word. But there are lots of reasons we might not be writing, and some of them are even about another b-word… beneficial. So come to this talk and learn, when might not writing be good for me?

Intermediate Author Track

How to Master Facebook Ads Strategy

Speaker: Melissa Storm

The market is constantly changing. Tech is always changing too. This is why it’s so important to master strategy rather than simply learning tactics. We’ll discuss major roadblocks and how to navigate a new path for success with Facebook ads.

Create an Additional Revenue Stream with Audiobooks

Speaker: Robin Siegerman and Senn Annis

Talk all things audiobooks with narrators Robin Siegerman and Senn Annis! They’ll walk you through the process of how to have an audiobook produced, how audiobooks expand exposure for your book to an additional audience, and how they create another revenue stream.

How My First Kickstarter Funded Over 900% and How Yours Can Too

Speaker: Stephen Kotowych

A step-by-step walkthrough of how Stephen Kotowych built, ran, promoted, and fulfilled his very first Kickstarter and funded 900% of his funding goal for the Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume One anthology. He’ll walk authors through the process he followed, highlight the resources, mentors, and strategies that helped him succeed from a zero follower/fan/community base, and offer lessons on what he learned doing his first Kickstarter and what he will do differently next time.

Elevating Your Reach Through Newsletter Automation

Speaker: Tao Wong

A practical how-to guide on crafting newsletters that go beyond mere updates, transforming them into potent engagement tools. Learn how to captivate your audience, foster reader loyalty, maximize data collection to tailor your content and boost your author brand through strategically designed email automations.

AUTHOR EVENTS

Do You Need to Quit Your Day Job?

Speaker: Melissa Yi

Writing full-time seems like the holy grail. How do you know when you’re financially and psychologically ready? Some suggestions on how, if, and when to make the leap.

Diversifying Income Streams Panel

Speakers: Michael Chatfield, Tao Wong, Robin Siegerman, Senn Annis, Mark Leslie Lefebvre, and Kobo’s Laura Granger

Audiobooks, Kickstarters, subscriptions, direct shops and publishing wide, oh my! Where’s an author to start? Prepare your questions for this panel of experts with Michael Chatfield, Tao Wong, Robin Siegerman, Senn Annis, Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Kobo’s very own Laura Granger.

Running an Author Business Panel

Speakers: Michael Chatfield, Tao Wong, and Melissa Storm

There’s more to writing a book and figuring out the marketing plan when it comes to running your author business. Join authors Tao Wong, Melissa Storm and Michael Chatfield as they talk all the nitty-gritty of owning a business, from hiring a PA, outsourcing and team management to incorporation, contracts, copyright and strategy.

Roundtable Sessions

The roundtable sessions offer an engaging platform for interactive discussions and knowledge-sharing. Attendees gather around designated tables, each facilitated by an expert in the field. Within a half-hour timeframe, authors have the opportunity to pose questions, seek advice, and engage in lively conversation with both the table expert and fellow writers. After the time is up, all attendees will move to a different table.

For more information or to register, visit: https://torontoindieauthorcon.com.

Canadian writers and publishers urge government to increase the Canada Book Fund and Public Lending Right in Budget 2024

Acoalition of Canadian writing and publishing organizations have sent the following public letter to Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage, and Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, in advance of Budget 2024.

Ministers,

We write to you today on behalf of Canada’s book publishing industry and our professional writers, including co-signed associations from across the country, representing approximately 396 publishing companies and 4900 writers. We urge you in the strongest possible terms to implement your long-outstanding commitments to increase funding to the Canada Book Fund and the Public Lending Right budgets by at least 50%.

As you know, in Summer 2021, the Liberal Party of Canada committed to increasing both the CBF and PLR budgets by 50%, starting in 2022-23. The Prime Minister affirmed this mandate letter commitment in December 2021 when he directed the Minister of Canadian Heritage to increase key writing and publishing programs, including CBF and PLR. Inexplicably, your Government has not followed through on these clear and specific commitments. We urge that you take action now, through Budget 2024, to finally fulfill your promises.

The budget of the CBF’s permanent programs has not increased in over two decades, resulting in the erosion of its real value by more than 55% during a time that has been characterized by disruption and change. Average PLR payments are half the real dollar value they were when the program was launched in 1986. The need for an

increase to these key supports was widely acknowledged by government and industry before COVID-19; the pandemic shifted this longstanding need from overdue to critical. Your offices, as well as the offices of Members of Parliament across the country, have recently heard from our supporters through our letter writing campaign. As you can see, this issue matters deeply to Canadians: 1,142 letters were sent to Ministers and Members of Parliament, of which 877 were in English, and 265 were in French.

Including all those cc’ed, nearly 9,000 emails were sent to the offices of Parliamentarians Letters have been sent from approximately 72% of ridings, demonstrating a truly cross-Canada impact.

With the recent announcements of funding to Telefilm and to the Canada Music Fund, our mandate letter promises remain a small number yet unfulfilled. Our sector appears to have been forgotten by this government: we implore you to support the Public Lending Right and Canada Book Fund this Budget cycle to invest in Canada’s book industry for now, and into the future.

This letter was submitted by Association of Canadian Publishers; Association nationale des éditeurs de livres; Literary Press Group of Canada; Regroupement des éditeurs franco-canadiens; Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois; The Writers’ Union of Canada; Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec; Association of Manitoba Book Publishers; Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association; Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia; Book Publishers Association of Alberta; Ontario Book Publishers Organization; and Saskbooks.

WRITING COMPETITIONS

Rabindranath Tagore Poetry Competition

Deadline to submit: April 27, 2024

www.mbwriters.ca (Manitoba residents only)

WRITER’S DIGEST SELF-PublisheD Book AwarDS

Deadline to submit: MAY 1, 2024

www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions

WRITER’S DIGEST Annual Writing Competition

Early-Bird Deadline: May 6, 2024

www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions

CBC POETRY PRIZE

Deadline to submit: jUNE 1, 2024

https://cbcliteraryprizes.submittable.com/submit

Lesley Strutt Poetry Contest

Deadline to submit: jUNE 1 TO august 10

www.poets.ca/offerings/awards/#contests

BEST INDIE BOOK AWARD

Deadline to submit: August 15, 2024

www.bestindiebookaward.com