Progressive Publishing from Canada
Canadian authors and publishers play a major role in North American publishing scene, and this is illustrated by their participation and success in our Independent Publisher Book Awards. Some of IPPY's most socially and politically progressive entries come from Canadian houses, as do some of the most adventurous titles for both kids and adults. This year, Canadians won 4 of our 60 categories, after placing 37 semi-finalists after the first round of judging. The Canadian-published book ECOKIDS (New Society Publishers) won the Parenting category, and DEATH BY MODERN MEDICINE was named Most Progressive Health Book of the Year, and the two Honorable Mentions in that category were also from Canada.
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Much Ado About Publishing
Look Northward, IPPY
Canadian Publishers Choose Talent Over PlatformIn American publishing, if you’ve written a book, or even a proposal, and you’re shopping it around to agents and publishers, what’s the first thing they’re going to think?
If you guessed, “Let’s see if this author can write,” well, unfortunately, you couldn’t be more wrong.
In fact, “Let’s see if this author can write,” is one of the last things an agent or editor will think, or even ask about.
The first question today is always, “What’s the author’s platform?”
Only when the agents’ and editors’ marketing concerns are put to rest will the book’s quality ever cross their minds.
And if the author can’t write his way out of a bag, paper or plastic, that’s not really a problem. All the publisher needs is an outside editor who can heavily edit and re-write the mess, or a ghostwriter who can start from scratch and write what the author couldn’t. And if it’s heavily promoted by an author with a strong platform (one who’s already well-known in some non-writing or non-publishing arena, or can command a ton of media attention), the book can be mediocre at best and it’ll still do well. It might even get on the Best Seller lists. Or win a bunch of awards given out by those who favor sales, buzz, connections, and media blitzes over substance and talent.
Other awards, maybe, but not an IPPY.
And that’s why the IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Awards) for books published by independent publishers are among the most respected in the industry. At least we hope that’s why. We hope it’s not just because the award could double as a nifty doorstop.
As one of the IPPY judges, I made a lot of noise last year about how publishers favor good marketing over good writing, and haven’t figured out how to have both, and I applauded those brave independent publishing souls (publishers, editors, and authors) who resist that nonsense and won’t publish mediocrity (and worse), no matter how well they could market it.
You can find my rant, Confessions of an IPPY Judge, in the online Archives of this magazine.
This year, rather than give a repeat performance of last year’s rant, even though it all still applies, I’ll just direct you to the Archives and move on to something new: an unofficial IPPY Award I wish I could give out this year.
Will the Canadian independent publishing industry please stand up and take a bow?
Will the American publishing industry – major houses and independents – please take a look across the border and see what your future could be if you’d stop preferring platform over talent, if you’d stop publishing authors with only platforms to offer and stop turning away platform-challenged authors with talent?
Americans love a good challenge. We went to the moon because we didn’t want the Russians to get there first. Well, folks, the Canadians are on their way to the publishing moon. And they’re getting there not on platform fuel, but on rocket-propelled talent. They’re publishing wonderful writing that would never see the light of day, the shelf of a bookstore, if it had been pitched to an American publisher. We’ve read and honored IPPY entries from Canada that have moved our judging earth and moon.
Writers are called writers because their “job” is to write. If they were supposed to be in the marketing business, they’d be called marketers.
Publishers are in the business of acquiring, editing, designing, printing, distributing, publicizing, and marketing books.
Tremendously talented American writers are turning more and more to self-publishing, as American publishers increasingly turn their backs on talent.
To those independent publishers in the U.S., Canada, and across the globe who put talent first: know that readers and authors think you hung the moon.
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Nina L. Diamond is a journalist, essayist, and the author of Voices of Truth: Conversations with Scientists, Thinkers & Healers. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Omni, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and The Miami Herald.
Ms. Diamond was a writer and performer on Pandemonium, the National Public Radio (NPR) satirical humor program, for its entire run in Miami and select markets nationwide from 1984-1998. As an editor, she works frequently with other authors and journalists on both fiction and non-fiction.
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Logo image courtesy of George Glazer Gallery, NYC georgeglazer.com