Our most recent reports
Marketing & Promotion
The ABPBC works to develop and expand markets for and to raise awareness of BC-published books through the following programs:
BC Books Online: A Digital Reference Collection
This collection of 1000+ BC-published books in digital form will be launched as a beta in March 2010. Libraries throughout British Columbia will offer BC Books Online to library users in selected post-secondary, public and K-12 institutions across the province. A consortium of publishers and librarians is directing this pioneering project with commercial support from Gibson Publishing Connections. For more information on this important project download the BC Books Online brochure.
BC Bestseller List
Compiled by TBM BookManager, this weekly list is distributed to media outlets, bookstores and sales representatives and is posted weekly on the ABPBC website.
Open to all BC publishers.
BC Books for BC Schools
This catalogue of BC-published books suitable for school libraries features titles selected and annotated by teacher-librarians. The catalogue is distributed to all schools in BC and is available as a PDF on our website in the Resources section under “For Teacher-Librarians”.
Open to Active, Associate and Supporting members.
BC Ferry Promotions and Book Passage Brochure
The ABPBC works actively with the BC Ferry Corporation and its book supplier to promote members’ books on the ferries through good signage, special promotions, seasonal posters and the brochure Book Passage.
Open to Active, Associate and Supporting members.
Canadian Aboriginal Books for Schools
This catalogue features Canadian published titles by, for and about Aboriginal peoples and suitable for K-12 libraries. The books are selected and annotated by teacher-librarians. The catalogue is available as a PDF on our website in the Resources section under “For Teacher-Librarians”.
Open to ABPBC and ACP member publishers.
Displays
The ABPBC attends conferences throughout the year with information about BC publishing and displays of our members’ books.
Open to Active, Associate and Supporting members.
Poetry in Transit
This much-loved project has been running since 1996 and in that time has featured 190 poems from established and emerging writers.
Poems eligible for the project must be written by BC writers and published in book form by Canadian publishers. Poems are submitted by publishers for consideration in the project in May of each year. The works are selected by a jury comprised of a poet, a representative of TransLink and an industry professional. The ABPBC is currently obtaining the rights to place poems that have been included in this project on our website. A partial selection appears in the Poetry in Transit section.
Open to all Canadian publishers.
Awareness
The ABPBC works to raise the profile and visibility of the British Columbia book industry in the following ways:
Booksellers
The ABPBC, through our customer relations committee, works to promote BC books provincially and nationally.
Gray Campbell Distinguished Service Award
This annual award is presented to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the BC book publishing industry.
Jim Douglas Publisher of the Year Award
This award is presented at the discretion of the ABPBC board to recognize an active BC publisher that has earned the respect and applause of the community.
Media
The ABPBC responds to all requests from the media to discuss issues related to book publishers and writing.
Public Events
The Word On The Street, the BC Book Prizes and the former BC Book & Magazine Week were all either originated by or were undertaken with considerable input from the ABPBC. Our members and staff continue to serve on boards of or participate in these organizations.
UNESCO World City of Literature
Vancouver is a city with a distinguished literary history ranging from the unique story-telling tradition of our First Nations peoples to the many poets, novelists and non-fiction writers currently at work in the province who have been inspired by the physical environment as well as stimulated by our modern urban culture. In addition, we have a very strong publishing scene and festivals celebrating the literary arts. The ABPBC, in partnership with Alma Lee, former Artistic Director of the Vancouver International Writers Festival, is putting a proposal to UNESCO to have Vancouver designated a UNESCO City of Literature. Should Vancouver be successful in our bid, we will join a network of literary cities honoured by UNESCO. The World City of Literature designation will stimulate further literary activity in the city, strengthen the economic benefit of our practices and raise the profile of Vancouver as a literary city in the the international community. For more information on the concept visit the UNESCO site. Download Vancouver’s proposal here.
