Booknet Canada

This month we talked to Christen Thomas and David Stinson from CNIB Beyond Print about accessible audiobooks, braille, and more. Find the transcript here: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2023/6/27/podcast-making-books-accessible-for-everyone Further reading and listening: -CNIB Beyond Print: https://cnib-beyondprint.ca/ -Centre for Equitable Library Access: https://celalibrary.ca/ -CNIB braille transcription services portal: https://cnib-beyondprint.ca/braille-portal/ -Benetech’s Global Certified Accessible (GCA) Program: https://bornaccessible.benetech.org/global-certified-accessible/

Authors of the short book Reading Bestsellers: Recommendation Culture and the Multimodal Reader, Danielle Fuller and DeNel Rehberg Sedo, join us for this month’s episode to talk about their research into the relationship readers have with bestsellers and what they found from their qualitative work with a group of international Gen Z readers. Link to the transcript: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2023/5/30/podcast-reading-bestsellers - Reading Bestsellers: Recommendation Culture and the Multimodal Reader by Danielle Fuller and DeNel Rehberg Sedo: https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/reading-bestsellers/8C6D9254C5B8C6DD87714DE3A98CEA77 - Canadian Leisure & Reading Study 2022: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/canadian-leisure-and-reading-study-2022 - What makes a book a bestseller: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2018/11/12/what-makes-a-book-a-bestseller

Book industry leaders EJ Hurst from New Society and Jen Knoch from ECW Press talk about their work and progress in making their operations greener. Brian O’Leary from the Book Industry Study Group shares insight into the mission of the Green Book Alliance, the resources they have made available, and what they’re hoping to accomplish in the near future. Link to the transcript: www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2023/4/25/podcast-industry-leaders-on-making-publishing-greener Further reading and listening: - element6 Dynamics and Ingram Content Group Announce Strategic Supplier Relationship for Industrial Hemp-Based Paper: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/element6-dynamics-ingram-content-group-183000632.html - About B Corp certification: https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/certification/ - Banking on Climate Chaos: https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/BOCC_2022_vSPREAD-1.pdf - Green Book Alliance website: https://www.greenbookalliance.org/ - Publisher-Printer Sustainability Checklist: https://www.greenbookallian

It's clear that romance titles are seeing an increase in sales in the Canadian market. In this month’s podcast, we look beyond the numbers and discuss why we're seeing this trend. (Find the transcript here: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2023/3/28/podcast-the-resurgence-of-romance-books) Further reading/listening: - Romance book sales in the Canadian market: A love story: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/research/2023/2/16/romance-book-sales-in-the-canadian-market-a-love-story - Trendspotting: Book subjects on the move in the Canadian market - Tech Forum 2023: https://youtu.be/6huV7CUt-QI - The Canadian Book Market: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/canadian-book-market - The real impact of #BookTok on book sales: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/research/2022/9/29/the-real-impact-of-booktok-on-book-sales - How TikTok is changing the music industry: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-tiktok-is-changing-the-music-industry-marketing-discovery-2021-7 - How TikTok is changing book cover designs: https://www.re

This month we chatted with Taste Canada’s Karen Baxter about the work she and Taste Canada are doing to promote Canadian books and the business case for identifying Canadian authors in your metadata.

Wondering how events have changed for independent booksellers now that we’re three years into the pandemic? We sat down with John Toews, the Event Coordinator at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg to chat about the positive side of hosting virtual and hybrid events, how they measure success, the challenges that came with pivoting to virtual, and so much more. (Find the transcript here: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2023/1/31/a-conversation-with-john-toews-from-mcnally-robinson-booksellers-about-events)

The BookNet staff recaps 2022 in terms of book sales and library circulation in the Canadian book market, popular BookNet blog series, and some other 2022 book related highlights. (Find the transcript here: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2022/12/20/podcast-another-year-in-the-books-2022-highlights) Further reading/listening: - Tech Forum to-go series:https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog?tag=tech%20forum%20to%20go - Must-Watch, Must-Read: Book-to-Screen Adaptations in the Canadian Book Market 2022: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/must-watch-must-read-book-to-screen-adapatations-2022 - Book adaptations blog series: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog?tag=book%20adaptations - The real impact of #BookTok on book sales: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/research/2022/9/29/the-real-impact-of-booktok-on-book-sales - The real impact of #BookTok on library circulation: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/research/2022/10/7/the-real-impact-of-booktok-on-library-circulation - The State of Publishing in Canada: https://www.bo

In this month’s episode, we again pull back the curtain for a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to be a BookNet staff member. CataList Project Coordinator Vivian Luu, Project Manager and Retailer Liaison Tim Middleton, and Senior Software Engineer Tom Gerrard join this episode to tell us what they do, their favourite part of the job, and what they do when they're not working. (Find the transcript here: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2022/11/29/podcast-behind-the-scenes-again-at-booknet) Further reading/listening -Podcast: BookNet behind the scenes: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2021/8/31/podcast-booknet-behind-the-scenes - BNC CataList: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/catalist - The Legend of Drizzt series by R.A. Salvatore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Drizzt - BNC BiblioShare: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/biblioshare - BNC SalesData: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/salesdata - Peak Mind by Amishi P. Jha: https://bnccatalist.ca/viewtitle.aspx?ean=9780062992154 - The Great Transfo

In September, eBOUND Canada launched the Accessible Publishing Learning Network, an online resource library and community hub designed to empower publishers in Canada to create high-quality content that is accessible to all readers. We invited accessibility expert, Laura Brady, to tell us all about it in this podcast episode. Further reading: - eBound’s Accessible Publishing Learning Network: https://apln.ca/ - European Accessibility Act: https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1202 - The European Accessibility Act: Everything you need to know: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/05/11/the-european-accessibility-act-everything-you-need-to-know/?sh=4f191de05b86

This month, we interviewed Serah-Marie McMahon, a graphic novel editor at Annick Press. We talked about editing, comics and graphic novels, accessibility, and everything in between. Is the rise of comics and graphic novels just a trend? Find out what we think in this episode. (Find the transcript here: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2022/9/27/podcast-behind-the-scenes-of-childrens-graphic-novels) Further reading: - Tech Forum to-go: Emerging trends: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2022/5/20/tech-forum-to-go-emerging-trends - Subject spotlight: Comics & Graphic Novels: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/research/2022/5/9/subject-spotlight-comics-amp-graphic-novels

This month, we’re talking all about movies and TV shows. Specifically the ones based on books. Our newest research report, out today, Must-Watch, Must-Read: Book-to-Screen Adaptations in the Canadian Book Market 2022 gives you all the information we’ve been asked for and that you’ve been looking for about the impact that TV and movie adaptations have had on book sales and library circulation! Further reading: - Must-Watch, Must-Read: Book-to-Screen Adaptations in the Canadian Book Market 2022: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/must-watch-must-read-book-to-screen-adapatations-2022 - Book to screen adaptation blog series: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog?tag=book%20adaptations - The Rise of Must-Read TV: https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/07/tv-adaptations-fiction/619442/ - Media Tie-In blog post: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/research/2022/6/28/must-watch-must-read-and-more-about-media-tie-ins

Looking for a quick roundup of our most recent research? Look no further. In this podcast episode we’ll share a list of quick takeaways from our most recent studies including our Canadian Leisure & Reading Study 2021, The Canadian Book Market 2021, and the Canadian Book Consumer Study 2021. (Find the transcript here: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2022/5/30/podcast-booknet-research-roundup-what-you-need-to-know) Further reading/listening - Canadian Leisure & Reading Study 2021: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/canadian-leisure-and-reading-study-2021 - Canadian Book Consumer Study 2021: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/canadian-book-consumer-2021 - The Canadian Book Market 2021: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/canadian-book-market - Book to screen adaptations blog series: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog?tag=book+adaptations - Subject spotlight blog series: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog?tag=subject+spotlight - Backlist titles blog series: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog?tag=backlist - Bestselling books blog s

Just how many books are written by Canadian authors, anyway? In this episode we take look at why identifying Canadian contributors in book metadata matters for the industry — the work it involves, the impact it has across the supply chain, and how we can measure that change. (Find the transcript here: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2022/4/26/podcast-why-identifying-canadian-contributors-still-matters) Further reading/listening: - The Canadian Book Market 2021:https://www.booknetcanada.ca/canadian-book-market - Canadian authors: The whys and hows of identifying them in your data: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2020/5/26/canadian-authors-the-whys-and-hows-of-identifying-them-in-your-data - Identifying Canadian Authorship: https://booknetcanada.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/UserDocs/pages/1378508/Identifying+Canadian+Authorship - Easier with BookNet: Calculating your store's Canadian contributor sales: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2022/4/5/easier-with-booknet-calculating-your-stores-canadian-contributo

In this podcast episode we’re bringing you a small taste of a Tech Forum presentation given by Jennifer Chen and Nikoo Sarraf from McGill University’s .txtlab. They took a deep dive into the differences between queer fanfiction and mainstream published works and shared some insights about what publishing can learn from their work.

What does BookNet Canada know about independent bookstores? A lot. In this podcast episode, BookNet Canada’s Marketing Associates Nataly Alarcón and Aline Zara share highlights from the study The State of Independent Bookselling in Canada 2020, talk about what the last five years of independent bookselling have looked like in Canada in terms of book sales and the pandemic, and share a clip from a recent Tech Forum session. Further reading/listening: -The State of Independent Bookselling in Canada 2020: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/the-state-of-independent-bookselling-in-canada-2020 -What’s in Store: The State of Independent Bookselling in Canada: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/whats-in-store -Beyond #BookTok: When social media and publishing collide: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2021/7/27/podcast-beyond-booktok-when-social-media-and-publishing-collide -The State of Social Media in Canada 2020: https://socialmedialab.ca/2020/07/13/the-state-of-social-media-in-canada-2020-a-new-survey-report-from-the-ryerso

January 4 was World Braille Day and to celebrate we sat down to talk with Kerry Kijewski and Marcia Yale, two of the five authors of the study Improving Braille Availability in Canadian Public Libraries to learn more about the study and what the book industry can do to improve braille accessibility in Canada. Further reading/listening: -Improving Braille Availability in Canadian Public Libraries: https://nnels.ca/braillestudy -How to improve braille accessibility in Canada: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2022/1/4/how-to-improve-braille-accessibility-in-canada

The BookNet staff recaps 2021 in terms of book sales in the Canadian market, BookNet staff reading habits, and all the other book news fit to share. Further reading/listening: - See this as a webinar on YouTube: https://youtu.be/j5Ef4vImS2o - Subject spotlight blog series: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog?tag=subject+spotlight - Backlist blog posts: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog?tag=backlist - Canadian Book Consumer survey blog posts: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog?tag=canadian+book+consumer+survey - BookNet reading: Stats and staff picks 2021: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2021/12/13/booknet-reading-stats-and-staff-picks

We sat down with Kiley Turner, 49th Shelf’s Managing Editor, to have a conversation about the work she and her colleagues do to promote Canadian books, the role metadata plays in discoverability and marketing, the ways publishing and non-publishing people can use 49th Shelf, and much more. Further reading: -49th Shelf website: https://49thshelf.com/ -49th Kids website: https://kids.49thshelf.com/ -Identifying Canadian Authorship user document: https://booknetcanada.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/UserDocs/pages/1378508/Identifying+Canadian+Authorship -Canadian authors: The whys and hows of identifying them in your data: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2020/5/26/canadian-authors-the-whys-and-hows-of-identifying-them-in-your-data -Easier with BookNet: Sending interior images to supply chain partners via BiblioShare: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2021/11/16/easier-with-booknet-sending-interior-images-to-supply-chain-partners-via-biblioshare -Kiley’s article, “The one thing that can double your book sales”: http

A conversation with Fazeela Jiwa from Fernwood Publishing about sensitivity readers — what that term means, the shortcomings of using them, Fernwood’s approach, and what the future might have in store for sensitivity reading. Further reading: - Fernwood Publishing: https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/ - Authenticy reading. Part 1: What editors need to know: https://blog.ciep.uk/authenticity-1/ - Authenticity reading. Part 2: Becoming an authenticity reader: https://blog.ciep.uk/authenticity-2/ - A dog named Lavender by Vivek Shraya: https://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/poetry/dog-named-lavender

In this month’s episode, we give you a behind the scenes look at life as a BookNet staff member, aka a BookNetter. Join us for a chat with Project Manager Monique Mongeon, Product Coordinator Hannah Johnston, and Software Developers Ben Farrall and Madeleine Griggs to learn a bit about themselves and all about their work with us at BookNet Canada. Further reading/listening: Monique's backlist blog posts: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2021/5/4/everything-old-is-new-again-backlist-sales-growth-in-2020 & https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2021/8/13/aged-like-a-fine-wine-whats-the-ideal-age-for-a-backlist-title Hannah's LibraryData: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/librarydata Ben's BiblioShare: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/biblioshare Madeleine's Bibli-O-Matic: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2021/2/4/bibli-o-matic-the-metadata-extension-you-didnt-know-you-needed