BC Business, July 2009

When Portia Tickell told people she was opening a children’s bookstore on Vancouver’s Main Street, jaws began flapping. Didn’t she know B.C.’s retail landscape is littered with the ghosts of independent booksellers? Hadn’t she heard the death knell for the Granville Book Company, Fireside Books, Women in Print and Black Sheep Books? How about Merlin Books in Kamloops? Or Prince George’s beloved Mosquito Books?

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The Globe & Mail
April 18, 2009

Take a break from the economic bloodletting and visit Portland, Ore., for the best happy hour on the continent. Every weekday afternoon, Portlanders sip cheap cocktails and dig into ridiculously low-priced, well-crafted food.

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What does it take to stand out in the book business? Talent and hard work, of course. Not to mention professionalism, creativity, and a certain community-mindedness. Plus an ability to see the industry from different angles, understanding the needs of various players at the table.

This is the fourth survey of “Ones to Watch” (following features in 2004, 1999, and 1994). Our selections this year have all the above qualities, and they share one other: none of them have yet reached the age of 35.

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It was supposed to be a major step forward. Last summer, the B.C. Ministry of Education passed a new curriculum requirement mandating all Grade 8 to 12 language-arts courses to include at least one “significant” (i.e., full-length) Canadian text. The guideline was to take effect immediately. One fall school term later, though, B.C.’s CanLit quota looks to be largely symbolic: most B.C. teachers say their class work and reading lists have been modified little, if at all. “It’s not a tremendous change,” says Bal Panesar, English department head at Vancouver’s Eric Hamber Secondary. “At Hamber, we do teach Canadian literature. It’s part and parcel of what we do.”

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Electronic textbooks may soon get a big boost in Canada. A U.S.-based online marketplace for digital college textbooks is setting its sights on Canadian students, faculty, and booksellers as it aims to become the iTunes of e-text sales.

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Succession planning is a hot topic in book circles these days. Linger at a publishing cocktail party and you’ll hear plenty of whispering about rumoured deals and retirement goals. And given that a 2003 Heritage survey of Canadian publishers revealed that nearly 50% planned to retire by 2013, we could be halfway to a significant industry shift.

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Many writers are disciplined, with regimented schedules and 1,000-words-before-coffee rules, but Timothy Taylor is a special case. The banker-turned-novelist works out of a downtown Vancouver office, which serves the dual function of literary haven and professional headquarters, and he divides his writing into three main areas: novels, non-fiction magazine pieces, and film work.

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When an e-mail arrived from Douglas & McIntyre last week announcing that the company had been sold, I felt my stomach sink. D&M is the Vancouver-based publishing house launched in 1971 by Jim Douglas and Scott McIntyre. It’s one of the country’s most respected independent publishers, carrying both the Douglas & McIntyre and Greystone Books imprints and such popular authors as Wayson Choy, Douglas Coupland, Bill Richardson, David Suzuki and Paul Quarrington. You really can’t get much more Canadian.

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May 2008
By Cheri Hanson

Building a small publishing empire wasn’t what Pat and Rodger Touchie had in mind when they moved from Vancouver to Nanoose Bay back in 1996. At the time, Pat was the marketing director for Self-Counsel Press and Rodger was a writer and business consultant. The year before, the couple had purchased Heritage House, a small publishing firm, after looking for a business that Rodger could operate remotely – and a more tranquil lifestyle. “The master plan was to come to Vancouver Island and quietly publish a few books,” says Rodger.

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In an episode of the cultish BBC series Absolutely Fabulous, Edina and Patsy host a book club meeting where they (barely) discuss OK magazine and a super-abridged pocket edition of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. It’s a funny twist on the stereotypical book club, the boozy domain of cardigan-clad women weeping over The Bridges of Madison County.

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