As publishers roll back marketing dollars, more and more authors have had to become savvy entrepreneurs in addition to writers, and local author N.P. Thompson has learned a lot of lessons on her own journey.
But now, she’s taking her efforts to the next level, organizing a free nationwide virtual festival to showcase the work of Canadian authors at a time when costs have become prohibitive.
Based in Ottawa, Thompson is the author of The Arcanium Saga, an award-winning series of fantasy novels for middle-graders.
But like most authors, writing isn’t her full-time gig.
“This is something that is a wide misconception out there,” she said. “When people hear you’re an author, they instantly assume you’re rolling in it, like J.K. Rowling. Everyone assumes you’re rich, and it’s like, yeah, no. Especially not in Canada. The vast majority of authors out there have at least one day job.”
For her part, Thompson has worked in a variety of fields, earning degrees in cognitive science, education and interactive media design. “In a previous life,” she said, she worked for the federal government, where she gained project management experience.
These days, she’s a web designer and UX/UI specialist.
But being an author is a job on its own, and in the current publishing landscape, Thompson said most writers are essentially running their own business.
“For an author, it’s usually more than two jobs,” she said. “You’ve got the job that pays your bills and keeps your children from starving to death; that’s critically important. You’ve got your other job, which is trying to fit writing around whatever time you can steal from other parts of your life. And then, you also have to do the website and the marketing and figuring out how to get your book noticed. If you think about it, marketing is a whole separate profession. There used to be people whose jobs were to create the blurb on the back of the book, and that was a whole separate skill.”
Thompson said authors have to do pretty much everything when it comes to promoting and distributing their work, from contacting journalists and reviewers and setting up signings to creating social media posts and figuring out how to get the book onto shelves and online marketplaces.
This is true of indie authors like Thompson, who do everything from writing to publishing to marketing on their own. But it’s also true of traditionally published authors working with publishing houses.
“It used to be, back in the good old days of publishing, that there was a budget to spend on marketing dollars for all authors,” she said. “Book advances were much higher than they are now. I’d say probably in the last 10 years or so, what my traditionally published friends are telling me is that there is really not a lot of marketing dollars being spent on debut authors or even mid-list authors. It’s all being focused on known sellers and celebrity projects.”
So in true entrepreneurial spirit, Thompson decided to create her platform to push Canadian authors into the spotlight.
Thompson describes Canadian Fiction Fest as a “big online book fair,” featuring 121 authors from 11 provinces and territories. In addition to a virtual showcase, where attendees can browse Canadian novels across a range of fiction genres across all age groups, the festival will include 36 live online events, such as panel discussions and readings.
The event is also free, something Thompson said was important to her, as many authors are priced out of larger industry events such as conventions.
“I wanted to do something that involved indie authors, and traditionally published authors, and hybrid authors, all working together,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like that done before.”
The focus on Canadian authors, she said, comes back to a long-standing issue across all arts sectors.
“I have lots of American author friends, especially in the middle-grade area, but I really wanted to do something Canadian, especially with all the political stuff going on. Especially with the excitement of ‘Elbows up,’” she said.
“It can be really disheartening being an author, especially in Canada, where we’re so overshadowed by the American market. We have 41 million people and they have 300 million. We’re dwarfed by their market and it’s hard to get noticed. We have an unbelievable amount of talent here in every arts sector. But there are very, very few individuals in any of these sectors that actually get the recognition for the stuff they’re doing.”
Putting the festival together, she added, has been a labour of love. Co-ordinating dozens of authors across six time zones is no easy feat, she said, and she coded the festival’s website and digital showcase herself.
“I’d never done anything like this before,” she said. “This festival is happening just out of sheer determination … It’s been a steep learning curve, but I’ve actually surprised myself.”
The festival, which is taking place June 21 to July 4, is free to attend and open to the public.
“I’m really happy with the way things are going so far,” Thompson said. “I hope things will work well for everyone, and I’m really hoping that people have fun with this. I’m hoping people check out the authors and find some new books. That would make it all worth it.”
