The Association of Manitoba Book Publishers is an organization that represents a group of Manitoba-based publishing houses.
We have listed some resources that writers might find helpful.
Publishing
We do have links to our member publishers (AMBP) on our web page under members and most of these will give you information on what they publish, how to submit manuscripts etc. It is important to note the genre (ex. children’s, drama, poetry, etc) that the publishing house publishes, as they will not look at other types of genres. You may want to find books at your local bookstore and library which are similar to the one you want to publish, and check out where they were published.
You should also ensure that you accompany your manuscript submission with a cover letter which is neat, coherent and brief.
There are also many publishing houses outside of Manitoba which you may want to check out. You can find these listed on the Association of Canadian Publishers web page at www.publishers.ca.
The Writers Union of Canada web-page (www.writersunion.ca) also has an excellent information page on getting published, which will likely answer many of your questions. You can also contact the Manitoba Editors Association at [email protected] (www.manitobaeditors.ca ).
For information on illustrators see www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/childrenliterature, where they list many sites to check out.
Also check the Canadian Children’s Book Center at www.bookcentre.ca . They have a kit on how to get published in the children’s genre and more.
You may also wish to self-publish your book, in which case you could check out http://www.independentpublisher.com/ . Printers can also be a source of information, check out www.hignell.mb.ca or www.friesens.com, both here in Manitoba. You may also want to speak to other self-published authors for morel advice. At this point there is not a recognized resource for information of this sort, so you would be well advised to do extensive research before making any decisions.
Help with Writing
It is an excellent idea to also check out Writer in Residence programs at local libraries and bookstores. If you need help preparing your manuscript, or information on editing, printing, design or some other aspect, these places, along with continuing education programs, Universities and Colleges, and bookstores hold various workshops, and creative writing classes designed to assist new writers. The Manitoba Writers’ Guild at http://www.mbwriter.mb.ca also has writer workshops as well as writers groups that you may wish to access. And again, The Writers Union of Canada web-page (www.writersunion.ca) has a great resource guide for aspiring writers.
We hope this information has been helpful. And please don’t hesitate to call if you have any further questions!
