Hidden gems

BACK IN JULY OF 2021, I was looking at the Toronto ’s Canadian bestseller list, noting the fine books that were on it, when a title I didn’t recognize caught my eye. While it’s an old industry truism that no one remembers the publisher of a book, they just remember the author, that’s not true for me. When I’m in a bookstore, I have a terrible tendency to check spines and copyright pages to see who published the books that catch my attention even before reading the back cover copy. I’m always interested in who has released which books and the publishing choices they have made in doing so, and I think most people who work in publishing are the same.

Wondering who had published this new title, I looked it up and discovered an imprint of a multinational had released the book. Curious, I started checking every title on that particular Canadian bestseller list, and I learned that Canadian-owned presses had published none of them. So, where were our books? The ones published by so many people I know and respect in our industry, written by authors I also know and respect? How were they doing? We tell new authors to measure themselves against the work of writers at a similar point in their careers – not against the latest book to win an award. Why should we measure the sales of independently published Canadian books against those of publishing conglomerates?