"W hile it could provide a decent living, there was never any serious money to be made in book publishing. The shadow of insufficient cash flow constantly hung over the passions of acquiring the next book. Geoff Feilding, then executive editor at McClelland & Stewart, cautioned me about this early in my career. I wasn't listening very intently. In 1970, James Douglas and I founded the Vancouver-based Douglas & McIntyre."
"The first quarter absorbs bookseller returns from the previous fall season. The second quarter is neutral, which is disappointing because new spring books never enjoy the sales success of fall books, and backlist sales seldom make up the difference. The third quarter is full of promise as fall books are being shipped and beginning to sell. The fourth promises redemption as lead fall titles are beginning to sell and are reordered."
Book publishing can provide a decent living but rarely yields serious profit, with insufficient cash flow shaping editorial decisions. Douglas & McIntyre was founded in Vancouver in 1970 and became a prominent Canadian independent publisher. Quarterly fiscal results are discouraging: first-quarter returns absorb fall-season returns; second quarter is neutral because spring titles underperform; third quarter brings promise as fall shipments begin to sell; fourth quarter and Christmas determine reorders and redemption. As a business strategy the model is weak, but as a cultural strategy it remains essential. Canadian ideas are frequently squeezed to the margins of distribution.
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