Plight of Canadian Publishers: A Writer’s Perspective

Recent application by Amazon to set a warehouse facility in Canada has caused much soul searching in the media. It is suggested that the Canadian culture is at stake in the decision by an insensitive government whose sole occupation is the short term interest of the consumer. The real issue, how to fix the Canadian publishing model, has not even been raised.

A review of the process of the publication of a book is in order. An author, except for a few well known authors, sends his manuscript to one or more publishers. Occasionally there is a reading fee which must be enclosed with the manuscript. Publishers also require two self-addressed adequately stamped envelopes, one for the acknowledgement of receipt and the other to return the rejected manuscript. However, most of them are too busy to acknowledge the receipt. After six or more months, if the author is lucky, s/he will receive the manuscript back with or without a note refusing it and never with any editorial comment which could be helpful in improving his work. Most times, the author will not hear anything at all and enquiries by mail, phone or email will fall on deaf years. Sending a manuscript to a publisher is like shouting in the wilderness for help. You may receive a reply but only once in a blue moon.

In rare cases when the manuscript is worth publishing the author will receive a contract. The road is not clear yet. Publisher may ask the author to share, partly or fully, the cost of publishing and many authors agree. Sometimes, the authors receive royalties, around ten percent of the list price, only after the publisher has recovered the costs. Only rarely does the author receive proper accounting of the costs, books sold, royalties due etc although the royalty checks are not unknown.

The publishers are not entirely to blame for the situation. They are inundated by manuscripts arriving by the proverbial truck loads. As a letter in the Globe and Mail said recently there are more writers than readers in Canada. The reading fees by book and magazine publishers are one of the means to reduce the flood. The low, if any, profit business can not afford adequate staffing and every one is swamped by the overdue jobs and has little time to answer author queries. If the manuscripts are lost at some stage you can’t really blame overworked and underpaid staff.

The problem here is not the publishers but their business model. The distributor does not buy the books, he takes them on consignment. Similarly, major booksellers stock the books on consignment too. Books that remain unsold after a period, usually six months, are returned to the distributor who in turn debits the publisher’s account for them. This system has two problems for the publisher. First, he does not know what he has sold for sure and second, distributors and booksellers do not share the risk although they each receive thirty percent or higher of the cover price. This leaves the publisher with all the work of finding manuscripts and the cost of editing, designing and printing them into books. For all but the rare best sellers the best a publisher can hope for is to break even. That is why there is so much emphasis on government grants for publishing and failing that the contribution from authors themselves.

For the book culture to thrive the model has to change. Book publishing has to cease being a labour of love and become a business. For this to happen, the risk taken by authors and publishers must be shared by others in the business chain. Increasing popularity of eBooks should act as a warning to the distributors and booksellers because they cut them out entirely. Many people like to hold a book in their hands and read it reclining or lying down in bed or on the beach. It is a long time the computer tablet will replace books for them unless the untimely demise of book publishers hastens the process.


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Overheard in the parking lot:

News item: New strain of humankind identified. Don't we have enough strains already?

I hate all hate speeches exhorting hate for groups I hate to hate.