A Business Point of View

The Business of Book Publishing in Atlantic Canada

With the decline in print media, one might naturally think that book publishing would also be in decline. That is not the case at all. Indeed, book publishing is alive and well in Atlantic Canada according to Terrilee Bulger, the Co-Owner and General Manager of Nimbus Publishing. In a recent Insights Podcast, Bulger indicated that Nimbus, which was founded in by John Marshall in 1978, is the largest publisher of English language books east of Toronto. Nimbus would be considered a mid-sized publisher in Canada. The company publishes between 35 and 45 original titles annually and has more than 2,000 titles to its credit to date. The company also operates Vagrant Press which was founded in 2002 which specializes in books of friction. Bulger and her partner Heather Bryan purchased Nimbus in 2012. The company’s Managing Editor, Whitney Moran became a minority owner in 2019.

The Challenges Associated with Book Publishing

Book publishing in general is a low margin business especially in a region like Atlantic Canada where the volume of sales for a book is normally much lower than in larger markets. There is some reliance on government support among smaller publishers especially such as the federally supported Canada Book Fund, but funding has not kept pace with inflation in at least the last twenty-years. The recent decision by the Nova Scotia Government to eliminate its $700,000 Publisher Assistance Fund to support book publishers in the province will make it much more difficult to publish books by local authors, and many books will not be published as a result. It can be argued that without local book publishers, part of the culture of Atlantic Canada would be lost without the stories from our region being told.

The rising cost associated with production and distribution, such as paper, printing and shipping, are further squeezing profit margins even further for most book publishers, especially smaller ones that don’t achieve scale of book sales to overcome rising costs. During the pandemic, book sales fell by 70 percent for Nimbus, while competition for cardboard boxes used to fight the pandemic drove up the costs of those boxes used to distribute books to book sellers.

Book publishers generally distributed their books to independent bookstores within their markets and rely on online sellers like Amazon and large chains like Indigo and Costco to expand their distribution networks. The challenge for smaller publishers like Nimbus is that these large global players have the buying power to demand deep discounts to sell their books, leaving smaller margins for these publishers.

Nimbus acts as a clearing house for distribution for other book publishes in the region like Goose Lane in Fredericton and Formac Publishing in Halifax. Handling wholesale distribution of other book publishes provides Nimbus with additional revenue as well as increases the scale of its distribution operations to increase efficiencies. It is important to note that Nimbus has its books mainly printed in Canada. The only exception is for specialized children’s books that are printed in China.

The Process of Publishing a Book

At Nimbus, most book ideas are unsolicited, although occasionally the company will commission a book such as the book written by Jim Meek about the late Ron Stewart called “Treat Them Where They Lie: Pioneering a Revolution in Modern Emergency Medicine”. In other cases, Nimbus will publish a book that has been fully funded such as the book that I helped get written and published about the late Sir Graham Day written by well-know author Gordon Pitts called “The Last Canadian Knight: The Unintended Business Adventures of Sir Graham Day”. In that case, I convinced Graham to agree to have the book written about him, secured the author (Pitts), the funding and the publisher (Nimbus). It was an excellent book about a significant Nova Scotian whose story might not have been told otherwise.

Nimbus reviews the submissions twice a year and through an internal review process selects the books it wishes to publish in the spring and fall each year. The company receives hundreds of unsolicited submissions annually and cuts off the submissions at 200. The book that David Campbell and I wrote, “Toward Prosperity: The Transformation of the Economy in Atlantic Canada”, went through that process. We essentially had to outline the content of the proposed book in some detail before it was selected to be published.

Nimbus works with commissioned sales representatives across the country and has 300-400 active accounts to distribute its books, including about nearly two dozen independent bookstores in the region, major retailers like Costco and Indigo as well as online retailer like Amazon. Christmas is the most important sales period for the book market and Nimbus produces a major catalogue of its titles that is delivered to more than half a million households in the period leading up to Christmas during the fall. Nimbus typically prints between 2,000 and 3,000 books in an initial print run.

The Future

Bulger is optimistic about the future of book publishing in Atlantic Canada and Nimbus remains committed to supporting the culture in the region. At the time of the Insights Podcast with her and prior to the government’s recent announcement to eliminate the Publishers Assistance Fund, Bulger has lamented about the relatively low level of support in Nova Scotia for the publishing sector compared to other provinces in Canada. There continues to be widespread interest among Atlantic Canadians for books published by authors in the region. There remains a strong case for more public support for book publishers such as the Nimbus to nourish and help maintain the culture of the region.