That’s not really the title of it, but hey, it’s better than just putting “Episode 18.”
My dear friend and fellow author Sherri Vanderveen (look her up, read her books!) has many friends in the Canadian publishing business. Through her contacts, Get Lit was able to set up a round-table discussion between myself and three fantastic individuals – Alana Wilcox from Coach House, Jennifer Lambert from HarperCollins, and Barbara Berson from the Helen Heller Agency.
Coach House has a fascinating space. If you weren’t aware, they actually print their own publications in-house. Alana gave us a tour through the printing presses new and old, and it was amazing; if I’d been thinking, I would have filmed the whole thing for you. I did not, but here’s a great Quill and Quire piece that shows you the exterior and some of the space inside. We sat in the coffee room and chatted for about forty-five minutes. It’s such a fantastic room, accessible via narrow wooden steps that clonk and creak in the background of the interview (an audio detail I love, by the way), lined by hundreds of books.
The conversation is enlightening. These are people in different positions in the business – an indie publisher, an international publisher, and a literary agent/freelance editor. They each have different yet dovetailing perspectives on the state of publishing in Canada, on what they’re looking for in a book, and on what writers should and should not do when trying to get published.
Enjoy, and come back next week for part two!
– jt
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