To Grad school or not to Grad school? Other fun options for writers

Okay, so you've gone through four years of university, you've got a huge portfolio of writing you've done and you’re ready to move. Only problem is you’re not that ready for the real world and grad school just isn't for you. Now what? You want to keep writing, and reading other people’s work and have them read yours. Lucky for you, there are options. A writer-in-residence program seems just what you need.

A writer-in-residence program is a wonderful program where you can get away from everything you are used to and be engulfed in this new world yet to be explored. You get to meet new people, use new materials and dive into a new community. It’s a time where you can reflect on your old and new work alone and without distractions. Pretty much it’s like a cradle between school and the real unforgiving world. It’s a place to get you prepared and learn some new things too.

There are lots of different kinds of writer-in-residence programs. Some of them are part of other institutions and others are on their own. Some you have to apply and some are invitation only. Some provide funding and others you have to fend for yourself.

The Millay Colony for the Arts is in Austerlitz, New York about two and a half hours from New York City. It offers one month programs between November and April for writers, visual artist, and composers. During the program, artists enjoy their own room, studios and meals. Applications can be found on their website.

http://www.millaycolony.org/index

Maybe you like to travel, and don’t want to be tied down to one certain city or area. Well have no fear you can do that too!

Karen Connelly is the author of nine best-selling books in non-fiction, fiction and poetry. She travels around the world and writes of her experiences and the places she has been. When she was 24 she was the youngest person to win the Governor General’s Award for her book Touch The Dragon, A Thai Journal. She also has travelled around many areas teaching English, writing and doing workshops, sometimes only staying in one place a few months at a time. She currently lives in Toronto, but also has a house is Greece. Karen Connelly is one person that shows you can be a writer and travel all over, often times each thing helping the other out. Follow her blog here:

http://karenconnelly.ca/

Fiction - Now What?

Whether you’ve written the next vampire-human love story (or a twisted BDSM fanfiction inspired by said love story), or an epic quest that makes Ulysses seem like a walk in the park, you have the choice of either letting it join the rest of your masterpieces in a coffee stained notebook that you’ll eventually forget on the bus, or doing something with it.

But what?

You could post it online, sure. There’s lots of sites out there where you can post your writing just for the hell of it - Writing, WritersCafe, and Booksie to name a few - but where does that get you? Other than the personal satisfaction of finally having your writing ‘out there’ for the entire world (re: maybe a couple of people unless you’ve established a devout fanbase) to read, you haven’t really gotten anywhere. And you definitely haven’t been compensated for all the sweat, tears, and bloody fingers.

If you’re looking for more bang for your buck (or just a buck), try gussying up your piece and submitting it to a literary magazine. The majority of periodicals will compensate you for your published piece - you won’t be rolling in the millions anytime soon, but it will certainly get your name out there.

 But with thousands of magazines floating around, it can be difficult to pinpoint one that’s perfect for your writing. Before submitting, you should try to read a submission or two, as well as the periodical’s mantra and submission guidelines. Keep an eye out for Canadian based magazines in particular - many try to keep it local, like CAROUSEL and Brick. There’s plenty of lists out there, from CanLit’s to wikipedia.

CAROUSEL is a Canadian literary magazine chock-full of local writing and creepy art. [credit]

Another way you’ll get monetary compensation for your work is by entering contests. Again, with periodicals, keep it local! The Canadian Authors Association has a great page for finding legitimate contests for your writing.

Of course, if it’s a novel that you’ve poured dozens of late nights and cups of coffee into, it’s unlikely a magazine or contest will publish this in a whole. Sites like Lulu, ArtBookBindery, and CompletelyNovel will help it get printed and essentially self published, but unless you plan on giving it to your close friends, it likely won't go further than your mother bragging to all her friends about how her baby has written a book. Getting that manuscript out there can be difficult, but lots of sites like Writer's Union or The Star offer tips in turning that pile of papers into a hardcovered best seller. Again - try to keep it local and narrow your search for Canadian based organizations.

Sometimes, it pays to be a Canuck. 

Writing Can Change The World, But That Doesn't Mean It Always Will

It is an undeniable fact that books, or any form of writing in general, can have a great impact on the world. They can open up a whole other perspective that the audience may have never previously considered. However, when writing, the sole purpose should not be to change the world; this is simply too great a task for some bound pages, or some words on a computer screen.

No matter how far away in this world, many of us are connected by the internet, as well as books, blogs, or any other forms of writing.

The primary focus of a novel, a blog, or any other form of writing, should not be to change the world; instead, it should be to relate to the audience. No matter how hard a topic is being tackled, the writing cannot be a dull, dry, statement of facts – that is what we call a textbook, and as students we all know how fun those are to read.

Right in the feels... Any student can all relate to this guy all too well.

The most influential series of books I have read in my lifetime is by far the Harry Potter series. The reader can take these books at face value: it’s about a wizard and his friends. Yet J.K. Rowling managed to make it about much more than just an entertaining saga about magic. She shows the effects that war can have on a society, the value of friendship, what it means to be courageous, as well as the fact being different is never a bad thing. On the surface, this is a book about magic, and a wizard and his friends. However, one can take so many lessons away from it.

The ultimate good vs. evil

 Writers can change the world for the better; as I have said, that is undeniable. Writings have a profound influence on our society and the people in it. Look at The Catcher in the Rye, or To Kill A Mockingbird. These both challenged the audience, as well as made them think in a way which many had not before.

Even the cookie monster seems to have questioned his own morals.

However, writing something with the purpose of changing the world will likely disappoint authors, and will most likely result in failure. As Kathy Mac has said on countless occasions, write for you. Keep your audience in mind, but no matter what it is you are writing, do not give it the responsibility of changing the world. If your writing is good enough, it just might do just that. Have faith in your writing, but most importantly, have fun with it! If you love what it is you're writing, readers will pick up on that and love it too. Only when the audience truly loves your writing will they question the issues you have undoubtedly raise, and before you know it, you'll be teaching people you don't even know!

"I just love your writing so much! And you also made me question something in my life! Way to take Maisie's advice!"

Shiver: A Modest Review

Fact: you don't become a distance runner just by entering the first marathon you find. Likewise, you don't just get into the writing world by picking up a pen and putting it to paper. Everybody has to start with the basics. You learn to run properly before you learn to race, and you tend to read a helluva lot before you decide that you want to get into the writing business. This practice will even follow you into the career, if this is the path you choose – you need to keep reading to broaden your focus in the same way a racer needs to keep running to stay in shape.

And this is where things get competitive.

Bonus: this image can also be used to summarize how all of us feel during finals week!

I'm willing to wager that a decent portion of young, aspiring authors have their sights set on the young adult fiction genre. Understandable – an equally decent portion of us have been raised on books like the Harry Potter series. Back to the point: I am one of these people! More importantly, though, I'm learning that there are a lot of awesome YA authors playing the field already.

Case in point: Maggie Stiefvater.

She's adorable. Also, she is totally signing  copies of Shiver.

Stiefvater's written a lot of YA novels in the last few years – most recently, The Raven Boys. However, for sentimentality's sake, I am focusing on her first novel, Shiver. This is the first book in a trilogy by the same name, and it deals with – wait for it! – werewolves. And romance. And angst.

No, I don't care how badly Twilight ruined the whole supernatural romance deal for you. I went through that phase too. I survived it; you can too. Now listen up.

Props to the designer of the cover art.

In terms of difficulty, Shiver is not an especially hard read. (For me, this was particularly beneficial, as I had literally just graduated high school about two weeks before buying my copy, and my brain was still recovering from being puréed by finals.) Shiver follows the tale of Grace Brisbane, a girl with an unfortunate interest in the vilified pack of wolves lurking around her hometown. One wolf in particular has an equally unfortunate interest in her.

This wolf's name is Sam Roth, and it soon becomes apparent that the strange black wolf that's appeared to her so often through the years is a lot more than the murdering mongrel that the town is making he and his pack out to be.

Okay, I'll bite: I really don't have anything bad to say about the book. Maybe it's just sentimental bias talking, but even with a topic that's slowly being run into the ground these days – monsters falling for “ordinary girls,” angsty teenage romance, etc. – Stiefvater still manages to deliver the story in a pretty compelling manner. I'd recommend it to anybody who's looking into this particular facet of the YA genre. Basic read or not, it's still pretty enjoyable if this is your thing.

Besides, clichés be damned – anything's gotta be better than Twilight, right?

"PUCKER UP OR I'LL EAT YOUR GODDAMN FACE."

Don't Sound Stupid While Writing

Have you ever experienced one of those moments when you’re completely lost because someone used the wrong word and took their message in the entire other direction? I have, and it sucks for both people. It’s never fun to be told your story doesn't make sense, and I personally hate to break it to people. There is a solution however! Simply: don’t be that person.  There are a number of simple ways to avoid being looked at negatively as a writer.

First off, don’t use words that you don’t know the definition of. I can’t stress this enough, for obvious reasons. It’s a clear sign that the writer wasn't even willing to consult a dictionary, which brings to question whether any of their writing is reliable. This goes for words you've only heard too. Perhaps you know the definition of a word, but you've only ever heard it, and never spelled it. In this case, make sure to look up the spelling. Trust me, it sucks to mix up ‘content’ with ‘contempt.’

Another key thing to avoid is laziness in every way. Laziness with plot can make for a boring read, and that’s never any fun. Laziness with proofreading is the real killer though. Sure, a spell checker can point out words you spelled wrong, but that doesn't mean it’ll spell it right for you. Perhaps a word is commonly misspelled, or there are multiple spellings of the same word, each with different meanings (meet, meat, there, their, and they’re). A spell check will do its best to give you the right spelling, but make sure it’s still the word you want.

If you still don't think that proofreading is important, check out this video. You'll see just how ridiculous you can sound. Though it's rather extreme, I have had the misfortune of reading something almost as poorly written as this script. People that write like this do exist. Don't be that person. 

Speaking of laziness, don’t just accept your first draft. It IS still a draft after all, and if you’re going to accept that as your final, I wouldn't get your hopes up for being successful. Chances are, throughout your time writing, you've changed your mind multiple times. Perhaps you set up some foreshadowing early on, that never actually happened in the future because of your indecisiveness. Always check your plot for holes, and edit, edit, edit! Get someone else to do it for you too, preferably not one of those friends that will just say everything looks good. Those people suck.

If you’re interested in reading more about this, I suggest that you check out this website, which has many useful tips for growing writers!

http://goinswriter.com/writing-tips/

Write on, friends. Write on. 

The World of Wrimos

During the four month long summer, it's easy to become lazy and cease to be productive.  The days get lonely, and before long you're having heart-to-heart conversations with your cat.

Or is that just me?

Anyways, as some of you may already know, there is this wonderful online writing competition called NaNoWriMo (NaNo for short) which stands for "National Novel Writing Month".  NaNo is an online competition for writers of all skill levels, ages, and styles, and is available around the world.  Participants, or Wrimos, (as the NaNo staff like to call their writers) make a free account and they fill out the information needed to participate.  It takes place in the month of November and every day of the month each Wrimo is responsible for writing 1 667 words. If they keep up with their daily word count they'll have a 50 000 word novel by the 30^th.  Easy, right?  Not so much.

Personally, my favourite part of NaNoWriMo is the weekly pep talks that the staff write for all participants.  They're always funny to read, as well as motivational.  After a few lacking days, those pep talks were sometimes the only things that could get me going again.  Even more inspiring, is that some of these pep talks are written by well known authors such as Lemony Snicket, Scott Westerfield, and Kate DiCamillo.

I think this pretty much sums up the awesome-ness that is NaNoWriMo:

Last summer I enrolled as a member in Camp NaNoWriMo which runs the same as the normal NaNo season only it takes place in June or August, whichever you prefer.  The goals of Camp NaNo are the same, and participating in this program made the summer productive for me.  It was hard work, but I completed the competition and now have the first draft of a manuscript staring me in the face.  

The front of my Camp NaNoWriMo mug

The back of my NaNoWriMo mug

Being a participant in  Camp NaNo showed me the value of having a supportive writing community to immerse myself in, and that every writer has to start somewhere.  A year ago, during 2011s NaNoWriMo, one of the pep talks came from Kelley Armstrong, a popular author who writes teen series.  She revealed that the first book in her Darkest Powers series, “The Summoning”, was originally a NaNo novel.

Is this inspiring or what?

In my opinion, NaNoWriMo is the perfect jumping point if anyone wants to consider the option of writing novels professionally.  The NaNo staff are committed to helping you reach your noveling dreams, whatever they might be.  NaNoWriMo is a safe place for all writers, and in my case, it's made all the difference.

If you'd like more information on NaNoWriMo or any of the programs under its umbrella, or just want some cool writing merchandise, please click here!

Promoting your work online.

Well, the first step to promoting your work online is obviously to get people to read what you have written. Personally, I’m a little skeptical about putting my work on the Internet, especially excerpts from my unfinished book, call me paranoid, but I have a great fear of being plagiarized. As for poetry, I’m a little less worried. There are communities of poets online that help each other out and do creative workshops and help you with the publishing process. However, I get the impression that some of these websites may not be trustworthy. Showing your work before it is published can be scary, showing it to the wrong eyes can potentially mean ‘getting robbed’.

   Nevertheless, some of these websites are trustworthy. When it comes to promoting any kind of creative writing online, according Dr. Kathy Mac, you need to look for websites with editors, but not just people who say they are editors, individuals with real credentials. See what those editors have published, read some of what they have written.

   If the right eyes fall upon your work, you can potentially get it published. There is one particular website that I feel fills the criteria, although I’m still not confident that it’s the real deal. On ‘Writing-World.com’ http://www.writing-world.com/index.shtml they have many experts that give general tips about various things related to writing. Unfortunately, the only editor that website brought me to was Sigrid Macdonald. But I did a bit of research on her, and all seems in order. Author of three books that I found on Amazon, and has written many reviews and articles that I unfortunately have not been able to find. When we talk about sending your work out to be read, I don’t see any place where this website allows you to submit. In the same way that they send you to that editor, they send you to another website for submissions http://www.writing.com/?rfrc=wworld2 . Yet from this link, I saw nothing about editors. I’m increasingly starting to distrust this website.

I got one here for you, instantpublisher.com. I don’t see the word ‘editor’ anywhere on their website either http://www.instantpublisher.com/default.asp .

I know I’ve used examples of places where you shouldn’t send your writing. I wish I could tell you about one specific website that can really be trusted when it comes to promoting your writing, but truth be told, this is new to me as well and I wouldn’t want to direct you into a trap.

Nevertheless, the general message of my blog is, you must be careful about where to send your work for promotion.

My Kind of Sci. Fi/Post-Apocalyptic Story

      Although I am enrolled in a “Creative Writing Strategies” course, I have never really been attached to the idea of becoming a novelist. Sure, I do all the class work like the rest of you; and I also won’t be reluctant to admit that I enjoy every moment of this course offers me. Clichéd, yes I know, but it’s so fun – no, it’s therapeutic. This is a class where you basically listen to stories all day. It’s like being in kindergarten again! But, the idea of writing a novel; the exhausting idea of pulling the vague abstractions out of your mind and shaping them into a tangible, literary published form for the hungry public is a terrifying prospect. However, IF I had a concrete and fully formed idea for a novel, it would probably be something along the lines of this.

     Margaret Atwood’s Oryx & Crake. I haven’t read any of her other novels and I don’t really remember much of her poetry; I’ve only experienced this bizarre creation. The novel opens up with a sense of unknowing and minimalism; something terrible has happened here and you, the audience, are denied an immediate explanation. Sound familiar? Yes that’s right, the setting is apocalyptic. But hold on! Hear me out here. Unless you are some sort of apocalyptic junkie or something, THIS is way different from the conventional images you may be familiar with; different because of the physical aesthetics and the mysterious causes of this specific cataclysm. Instead of the common apocalyptic image of grey, crumbling ashtray of a city that contains almost no life, the setting of Oryx and Crake is quite the opposite: it is a husk of civilization that is half-flooded with ocean, half-overgrown with jungle, and is teeming with wildlife. It isn’t a desolate graveyard; it is a raw, organic Bangladesh. However, you still feel that sense of forlorn; that life used to be here.  

Not like this.

Or this...

Bingo.

      Of course, we soon learn this setting is a product of an unnatural disaster, so let’s just say that the “wildlife” isn’t exactly… natural. They are the experiments of the old world, and their original purpose was to enhance the maintenance and leisure of human life. That was the core of this lost civilization: scientific enterprises were valued higher than anything else, for it promised things like improved health, beauty, sexual potency, etc. Essentially, these people wanted to live forever. They wanted to be immortal. A good example of these bio-genetic experiments would be these…

"Pigoons". Genetically modified pigs blown up like a balloon.  They were designed to be vessels that would grow transplant organs for humans. They even grew the brain. A human brain inside a pig...

      Or sometimes they just tangled with an animal’s DNA just for the hell of it. There were some "joke" experiments. Like a kitten with a ball of yarn.

Just because.

"Snat's don't squeak; they hiss"

      In this dystopian picture she paints, Atwood talks about the dilemma of scientific development vs. morality; an issue that we are already too familiar with. We can do this, but should we? Do we strive for immortality? Ultimately, THIS is what makes this novel so unique from any other science fiction/apocalyptic piece of literature that I've read. It was so real to me. The only time I ever remember feeling this kind of fear was from reading George Orwell’s 1984. I was constantly thinking, “This is possible… Oh my god, this could actually happen!”

      Along with the animals, another peculiar species inhabits the relic of the city. Known as the “Crakers”, these eerily docile creatures certainly look human – or at least human-like – but you soon learn that there is nothing human about them. *Sigh*... I'm doing my best not to give anything to significant away. But seriously, I haven’t really spoiled anything yet. I haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg here.

Yeah, right there.

      However, we do learn that there is one human left. He is the narrator, and since the apocalypse, he now goes by the name “Snowman”. The name is appropriate because, in a way, he is very much like the famed “abominable snowman”: he is a solitary figure at the edge of the world, presumably the last of his kind. He also acts as a shepherd to the mysterious Crakers, vaguely telling them of the “things that came before”.  Ultimately, Snowman is left with only an echo of his ravaged world, and he is clearly torn about it. The way he tries to desperately remember his past is so tragic. He comes to realize that holding onto his most precious memories and struggling to express his feelings is pointless because there is no one else left on this earth that could ever understand. These lonely narrations of Snowman hit me really hard. THIS is the reason I get into this genre! Instead of focusing solely on the physical survival aspect, it also explores the emotional side of the survivor. This book is so human. This is also why I like “The Walking Dead”… sometimes.    

You have got to be kidding me. 

     
      Uughggh, OK let me level with you guys here… It’s hard to explain exactly how I feel about this book and tell you precisely why I like it SO MUCH. Maybe this is the reason why I won’t be writing a novel anytime soon. So just read it yourselves… I mean, when you have time, you know? You probably have other things to read but… JUST READ IT. It’s good, OK!?!

Snowman

http://www.oryxandcrake.co.uk/home.asp

Online Self Publishing is... Relevant?

Okay.

Online Self Publishing gets a few suspicious glances. Sure, it's not traditional, but it is also not 'online-dating' meets 'the memories you have of that middle aged, creepy guy, selling cassettes from the trunk of his van'— online self publishing can actually be quite beneficial. However, you should approach online self-publishing the same way you would that creepy guy, or cupid.com— you have be careful and understand what you hope to get out of the experience.

First, here's some benefits.

Provided your manuscript is already complete, the online publishing process is Quick and Super Easy!

Here's how:

1. Set up an account through the publishing company, as well as a method for receiving profits (Paypal, etc.). This usually only consists of providing a bit of personal information.
2. Format and upload your manuscript. This process could be as simple as converting a word document into a pdf, but some companies require you to include things like page numbers, teasers, spine info, and proper sizing. Be careful. Most companies do not provide editors, so make sure your work looks exactly the way you want, before uploading.
3. Set a price for your book. Self-publishing companies usually require a flat distribution fee on top of a percentage of the total royalties, so your book must be expensive enough to outway the total cost of distribution. However, your work must be cheap enough to sell. If you're charging more than $10 for your title, ,make sure you have a really good reason.
4. That's it. Your done. Some self-publishing companies, like Lightening Source, require you to have your own publishing company— but this only means you have to drum up a company name before uploading your manuscript

You will retain complete creative control.

I mentioned before, that websites like Lulu and Creative Space do not offer editing services— well, technically they do , but the cost is too ridiculous to consider. However, this means that nobody will override your decisions on the title of your book, or which chapters get to make the cut, or how much info the teaser gives away, etc. By self-publishing, You own the rights to your work. You have the the final say.

The costs are light.

When publishing digital books, there are no cost at all, if your work is hosted solely on the website of your online publishing company. Companies like Lulu and Lightening Source offer ways to sell your books on Amazon and other canon online retailers, for a fee. They also offer ways to print your work— like, make actual books that you can pick up and read. Again, these options cost money, usually ranging from three to six dollars per book, but such routes certainly make your work more available to the public, and can therefore work in your favour.

I mentioned earlier that you should have the right approach to self-publishing online.

Don't expect to make any money. Every day, hundreds of new Authors self publish their work through Lulu, CreateSpace, etc. Almost none of these authors see any money from their publications, I'll repeat: Don't expect to make any money from the book you published last week. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, but while Hugh C. Howey and Sarra Cannon have had moderately successful experiences with publishing their work online, I would be willing to bet you haven't heard of either of them.

And if you have heard of them, guess which cliché I'm thinking of right now...

However,

the correct approach self-publishing isn't sales money, its publicity. And the best publicity is being able to refer people to a book that actually exists. It would be good practice to invest a little bit of money into having your work printed and available on Amazon or Kindle. Most websites will do these for you. By having copies in print, you can physically hand them to the right people— people you think can get you good publicity, like newspaper editors or local celebrities. Then, the right people can refer the public to Amazon or Kindle's website, where your book may be purchased. Ideally, a buzz will generate around your work.

And that is the goal of self- publishing your work online: Buzz.

If your book draws some attention, then that gives publishing houses a reason to look at your work. Then you have a chance at making some money from your second publication.

A Writer's Process: Tips in Scriptwriting from Quentin Tarantino

           

Quentin Tarantino

If you haven’t seen Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, Django Unchained, you better get yourself on the next bus to the theatre and cough up the admission price because it is certainly worth every penny. It is a fantastic modern Western movie with a great mixture of action and humour. Quentin Tarantino has been writing movies for over twenty years now and every single one has been a grand slam. A hole in one. Whatever the hell you want to call them, they’re great films, all right? Go see them. Go see them all.

            In his earlier films like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Tarantino used a non-linear storyline to tell his stories and intrigue viewers. But, what he is best known for is his interesting use of dialogue among his diverse and fascinating characters. However, he almost feels like he is taking credit for something that isn’t even his.

            Tarantino has stated that when he writes dialogue, it isn’t him that’s talking and writing, it is his characters that are doing the talking and he is simply jotting their own ideas down. That is a very introspective thought. To write great dialogue, one must completely immerse one’s self into the characters that they are writing. That isn’t to say that you can’t include your own thoughts; Tarantino has said that his characters sometimes go off on tangents about random things like Madonna or Amsterdam, similar to his conversations in real life with his friends.

            Another important aspect of writing great scripts for Tarantino is to write it with pen and paper first. Every time he starts writing a new film, he goes out and buys a notebook and pens and knows that "this is the notebook I'm going to write Kill Bill on" or "this is the notebook that I'm going to write Inglourious Basterds on". I don’t know about anyone else, but I also find it personally rewarding to write on paper. It’s easier to get a flow going between characters when you are actually making it with something in your hand, not pressing buttons.

          At times, Tarantino is worried that his dialogue will become old hat, but to keep things fresh, he sometimes co-writes scripts with other writers and adapts novels, such as his collaboration with Robert Rodriguez on Grindhouse (Death Proof and Planet Terror) and his adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch, Jackie Brown.

              As a last little glimpse of his genius, here are two clips of the man himself sharing his views on writing a great script. He explains that when writing scripts, perhaps it is better to have an overabundance of ideas or scenes and dialogue and to simply cut some when actually piecing together the film (or play or any other sort of production).

Self-Publishing: The Paperwork No One Tells You About

You've decided to self-publish. You may think that this means that you are free from the traditional publishing house. This is a delusion. You didn't avoid the publishing house. You became the publishing house, a reality I discovered when I went to do the publishing paperwork this summer. This was the soundtrack one night in front of my computer: Sorry, I can't get CIP? Why not? It costs how much for one ISBN? @#^%$&*!!!! How am I going to pay for this? I wonder how long I can live exclusively on Minute Rice before my blood iron dives ...

While these things went through my head, I realised that all the sites from which I was getting my information and that were offering services were American. Because I was in a patriotic mood, I wanted to give business to Canadian companies and went looking. That's when I found out that Minute Rice wouldn't be my diet. Virtually all of the services and paperwork for publishing are free in Canada. What follows are the major things you will need to apply for and obtain in order to self-publish in Canada.

ISBNs:

What, that number isn't pasted on by library staff to you help find books for essays? No, an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique, numerical code assigned to every book published worldwide and it's the responsibility of the publisher (you) to obtain one. The number of digits per code varies depending on the country and the point in history in which the book is published (Canada's now contain 13 digits). For this reason, it is imperative that you follow the proper method of ISBN acquisition for your country within your country. In Canada, ISBNs are provided for FREE by the Canadian ISBN Service System (CISS) of Library and Archives Canada. You apply for them by setting up an account online here, then following the instructions.

Example of a Canadian ISBN-13.

ISBNs aren't a legal obligation in Canada. However, they're necessary if you want to be able to complete the rest of the paperwork involved with self-publishing and to provide the legal deposit, which is required by Canadian federal law. It's like a SIN number; if you don't have one, you can't file your taxes or apply for other government services. Many printers in North America require that your book has an ISBN or they will not print copies (if they are meant for sale, not private distribution). This includes companies that provide print-on-demand and online sales such as CreateSpace and Lightning Source. ISBNs are needed to track sales and to manage book orders.

Barcodes:

Yes, you have to make/buy, your own barcode for your book; it won't be given by the stores that sell copies. You can't get any barcode you like; there are different kinds of barcodes and each one identifies a different kind of product. The one for books is called a Bookland EAN barcode. It's created using your book's ISBN. Some self-publishers generate their own barcodes using computer software; don't do this unless you have a superior knowledge of barcodes and are skilled in graphic design.



A Bookland EAN barcode generated from the ISBN used in the previous example.

 

The most important thing about a barcode: it can be scanned. Most booksellers won't supply your book if the barcode doesn't scan, because it's a nuisance at the checkout and for inventory. Many printers that offer print-on-demand also offer barcode generation; some provide this service for free. If barcode creation is offered by your printer, use it; printer-generated barcodes are high-quality enough to scan. Otherwise, it reflects badly on the printer, because deficiency in barcode scanning can be seen as poor printing instead of the result of a poor quality digital barcode file.

If you must or choose to get a barcode elsewhere, make sure that the company generating the barcode can (and does) give you a digital image that you can insert onto the digital copy of the back cover, which is submitted to the printer. Don't contract a company to print physical copies; you'll have to manually stick them onto your books.

***You need a barcode if you want booksellers to supply your book; some printers also require that you have one even if you sell exclusively online.

CIP:

CIP (Cataloguing in Publication) is a FREE, voluntary programme managed by Library and Archives Canada. However, like an ISBN, you need to have it if you want to be able to make the legal deposit. This programme gives standardized cataloguing to your book and must be applied for pre-publication; the information is available to libraries and booksellers, which helps promote your book. Unlike the US CIP programme, self-publications are eligible for it in Canada.

You can apply here. Other countries have their own CIP programmes; make sure that you're applying to the Canadian CIP programme. Otherwise, your book will be registered as published in another country. Even if your printer is in another country, you are the publisher and you are located in Canada; your municipality, province and country of residence are the locations of publication and the Canadian CIP programme is the one for which you apply.

Once your application has been processed, Library and Archives Canada e-mails you the cataloguing information as it must appear on the copyrights page inside your book. You cannot change the formatting or the spacing; copy and paste it directly from the e-mail into your copyrights page and arrange all other information around it.



Example of CIP information on a copyrights page.



Legal Deposit:

Thanks to the Library and Archives of Canada Act (2004), a copy of every book published in Canada must be given to Library and Archives Canada, with no reimbursement for costs of postage. If your print run is under 100 copies, you need to mail 1 copy. If it's more or you plan to use print-on-demand, its 2. I recommend sending 2 copies even if your print run is under 100, because you may do another print run or use print-on-demand in future. Mail them as soon as possible after publication with this form, or you'll get letters from Library and Archives Canada “reminding” you to make your deposit.

Please note: The information given about ISBNs, barcodes, CIPs and legal deposits applies only to books meant for public distribution/sale. Books privately printed for, say, family members or friends are exempt from these.

Also, separate ISBNs, barcodes, CIPs and legal deposits are required by Canadian law for every different format of your book (relevant Act section here). If you have a paperback version and decide to also offer a hardcover, you can't use the ISBN, barcode, and CIP of your paperback for your hardcover and you have to submit copies of the hardcover to Library and Archives Canada. If you decide to offer en e-book version, this, too, must have its own ISBN, CIP and legal deposit (no barcode).