Behind the Books

Bye-Bye, tetita: La historia del destete natural de una niña is now available from your favourite bookstores  or ask for it at your local library today.  This Spanish edition is part of the Little Goodbyes collection, a series of picture books about small but meaningful childhood transitions. Like the English edition, Bye-Bye, tetita is told from a child’s point of view and follows the emotional process of natural weaning. The story is about a little girl who is growing, changing, and slowly saying goodbye to breastfeeding in her own time. It is a book about closeness, comfort, and the way love continues even as routines begin to change. From the back cover: Bye-bye, tetita es una tierna historia sobre el destete, contada desde la perspectiva de una niña. Desde los mimos antes de dormir hasta una fiesta con fuegos artificiales en el parque, la historia recorre momentos cotidianos con mamá, llenos de amor y contención. A medida que la niña crece, la lactancia da paso a abraz...

“They can put a tariff on what Canada makes, but they will never be able to put a tariff on what Canada is made of.” — Tareq Hadhad, founder and CEO of Peace by Chocolate Lately, Canadians have been paying much closer attention to where the things they buy actually come from for a variety of reasons both personal and political and that's great that we have so many choices available for things that it is something that can be a choice, or is it? Sometimes things marked "Canadian", have a shiny maple leaf on them, say "Product of Canada" or "Made in Canada" are not 100% Canadian nor do they have to be. In a high trust society people trust what the labels say - but more and more we are learning that labels are not telling the whole story of these products. 51% is the threshold for "Made in Canada" label which I discovered when I went to research writing this post. That is actually a bit disappointing to see. Buy Canadian Story on CBC The other d...

“There is no Frigate like a Book To take us Lands away” — Emily Dickinson Almost exactly one year later since I announced the book that started it all ( One weaning poem. Three English editions ) . Tomorrow, Bye-Bye, Boobies turns one. It is strange to even write that, looking back from where this started in a coffee shop with my friend who encouraged me to take the book out of my head and let it out into the world.  (A quiet thank you)   Plus, of course, my amazing editor Lauren and the rest of my friends and family as I slowly shared I was doing this. When I think about it, a year ago, I was putting one small book out into the world and hoping someone, somewhere, might find it useful. I had no idea who would buy it, where it would end up, or whether it would travel much farther than home. . (I had learned that you don't want your friends/family to buy your books so it would have to be strangers). And now, a year later, I have a scratch map showing me just how far this ...

“Worms have played a more important part in the history of the world than most persons would at first suppose.” — Charles Darwin The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms (1881) A banana peel,  a handful of shredded paper, and a box full of worms may not look like the beginning of something useful. Inside a worm bin, however, they become part of a busy little recycling system. Vermicomposting is a way of using worms and other tiny organisms to break down food scraps and turn them into rich, dark compost. It requires very little space, can be done indoors, and gives some kitchen scraps somewhere useful to go instead of sending them straight to the garbage. What Is Vermicomposting? The word vermicomposting comes from vermis , the Latin word for worm. Unlike a traditional outdoor compost pile, a worm bin does not need to become hot to break down the pile. Instead, composting worms live among damp bedding and help process the organic material added to their home. The...

“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” — John F. Kennedy I recently saw someone say, "That books should always be published on Tuesdays." I've seen it before and when you first read it, it sounded like one of those publishing rules that gets repeated often enough that it starts to feel universal.  But is it actually universal does every book need to be published on a Tuesday?  As with so many things in publishing, the answer depends on what kind of book you are publishing, how it is being distributed, and what you are hoping the release date will accomplish. Why Tuesday Became a Publishing Day In traditional publishing, Tuesday releases can make sense. Major publishers are often coordinating bookstore stocking, media coverage, preorder campaigns, bestseller tracking, warehouse schedules, and launch-week publicity. When a book is being released nationally with a large marketing push, choosing a specific weekday can be part of a much bigger strategy. That...

“A word after a word after a word is power.”  — Margaret Atwood, “Spelling” There are thousands of book publishers operating across Canada, from large publishing houses to independent presses and people publishing under their own imprint names. But where can you find them? In the Canadian ISBN Publishers' Directory of course. The Library and Archives Canada maintains a searchable  Canadian ISBN Publishers’ Directory   containing information about publishers that have registered through ISBN Canada. It is one of those useful Canadian publishing resources that is easy to miss unless you already know it exists. If you're publishing in Canada, it's definitely worth checking to ensure that all of your information is correctly listed and that any links they have are current and working. What Is the Canadian ISBN Publishers’ Directory? The short answer is, this directory contains information supplied by English-language publishers that have received their ISBNs through ISBN Cana...