Publishers & Publishing

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Avoid Vanity Publishers | Listings of Canadian Book Publishers | Canadian Book Publishers | Self-Publishing (Print-on-Demand)

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The publishers listed here are not necessarily endorsed by the Canadian Authors Association. Like other external links on this site, these links are provided only for your convenience.

Introduction

Publishers: What to Look for in a Publisher

Select the Right Publisher for Your Work

The use of a publisher for your work has obvious benefits, including the editing and other pre-publication processing. You should always check to ensure that the publisher is legitimate and that they are in a position to complete the publication of your manuscript in a market that it will sell.

Publisher Resources for Writers

Always check the submissions guidelines for a publisher before submitting your work. This is where publishers tell you what they're looking for and how they want to have it submitted. These pages will help as well:

Review the Publisher's Catalogue

Do yourself a favour and view the other types of works being published by that company. A publisher will seldom publish a newcomer's work in a field that is unusual for them.

Self Promote

You should be prepared to invest time and money in promoting your own book. A business plan will help you to view your writing as a business and avoid common pitfalls.

Literary agents can help in promoting you and your work, but is not essential. Many agents are unwilling to take on clients that have yet to publish. You will find a listing of Canadian literary agents in our The Canadian Writer's Guide Thirteenth Edition.

Review Contracts Before You Sign

You should review any contract before you sign. The CAA (and other writing organizations) can provide help to members.

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Avoid Vanity and Subsidy Presses

In most cases you will not recover the cost of publication if you choose to work with vanity or subsidy publishers. In the worst cases you may not even receive the books you've paid for.

The following resources can help to verify the integrity of a publisher:

Support Those That Help You

Please consider that most writing organizations are run by volunteers or minimal staff and may not have the resources to help you. Consider supporting them by paying their membership dues if you would like their assistance and have determined what organization or set of organizations can provide that for you.

Learn from Others' Experience

If these steps seem overly negative to you, they were placed here for your protection after receiving many emails from writers who lost thousands (and often tens-of-thousands) of dollars when Commonwealth Publications failed to fulfill their contract. We are not suggesting that you not use a publisher, merely that you use good business sense when choosing one.

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Listings of Canadian Book Publishers

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Canadian Book Publishers

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Self-Publishing

Self-publishing is different than a vanity press. The characteristic that separates them is that a self-publisher will be up-front with the actual costs of producing your book and you may shop elsewhere for the various components of the process. They can help with cover design and editing like a regular publisher, except you are paying the entire bill.

Print-on-Demand

Many self-publishers promote a process called print-on-demand (POD) where books are printed as they are ordered. POD costs less for small print runs (but more per book), because it avoids the higher setup costs for offset printing (which is more suited to larger print runs).

An Incomplete Guide to Print-on-Demand Publishers compares a significant number of print-on-demand publishers and will give you a good overview of the industry.

Self-Publishing Services

Other Self-Publishing Resources

Related Information

The following pages on this site contain related information:

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www.canauthors.org/links/publishers.html
Updated: February 16, 2013