A diverse and exciting enterprise

A diverse and exciting enterprise ROBIN M. FARR My remarks are entirely personal. They represent observations derived from a relatively brief period in Ottawa, and I will focus them on two related matters: first, on the diversity which seems a major condition in publishing in Canada today (one of the least understood aspects of English-language book publishing in this country) and second, on government programs directed to support of publishing activity. The theme of this Conference is the state of, English-language publishing in Canada. Ottawa provides a kind of vantage point from which to see publishing literally from the Maritimes to Vancouver Island. However representative the group in this room is, it is not totally representative of the enormous diversity in publishing activity taking place across this country. In the fall of 1972, when I joined the Canada Council, I felt that I knew something of publishing in this country but I quickly learned that what I knew was closely centred to Toronto and Montreal. Nothing had prepared me for what I have encountered. The growth in small regional and small literary and small specialized publishers has come about with dramatic suddenness in the last few years. Suddenly there were book publishers in Victoria, in the Queen Charlotte Islands, in all the Western provinces and throughout the Maritime provinces (except Newfoundland). Others may be aware of this phenomenon from a distance or may have seen a head count of new publishing operations probably embedded in some statistic. It is only possible to understand this phenomenon of growth and to get the real sense of it if you have visited and talked with the new publishers in all the unlikely places where they are. Publishing in Canada today is not only widely scattered geographically, it is diffuse because of special interest, diverse in its problems and varied in its focus. And in 50 many ways immensely exciting. A variety of reasons brought this about. There still operates in publishing a dangerously deceptive ease of entry. Apart from this, however, the growth in publishing operations also represented a response to an enormous creativity observed in all regions, and many writers were addressing themselves to purely regional audiences. There has been, to my mind, an over-production of books at a time when it seemed almost foolhardy. What I have described poses both practicaI and philosophical problems for the implementation of a national program. The most immediate problem is in determining who will parUcipate. At what point and by what measurement do you invoke the right to restrict support faced with this diverse and varied publishing community? How many publishing operations can participate in a support program? How many have a valid claim on limited resources? And how can these decisions be reached on objective measurements? It is not the prerogative of a government support program to make subjective or value judgements. Finally, how far can a support program extend before it will have no benefits for the community? Each year some 200 operations across Canada identify themselves to us as publishers . Although not all are totally engaged in book publishing, many undertake sizeable book publishing programs. Most weekly newspapers are regional book publishers and many associations, societies and institutes undertake occasional or peripheral publishing programs. The first requirement, therefore, is to develop criteria to identify the primary book publisher, and the next is to apply these criteria objectively. Our criteria include some evidence that book publishing is a primary, not peripheral, activity; some evidence of professional publishing staff (particularly editorial staff); a record of Revue d'etudes canadiennes sustained prior publishing performance and evidence that there is both a strategy and a facility for reaching an audience whether that audience is regional, specialized or national. When these criteria are applied, participation in the program becomes limited to a relatively small group of primary book publishers . Yet there remains such diversity among the publishers participating that a single national program cannot by itself accomplish clear miracles for anyone and it will have varying degrees of significance to the publishers participating in it. Every government program operates within an established set of boundaries, and these boundaries represent the limits of action which...