News

What independently-published books were most borrowed by patrons in September 2024? We consulted the data - specifically, the BookNet Canada LibraryData - to find the top 50 loaned books.

Note that this graphic represents the four-week period of September 2-29, 2024.

The Literary Press Group of Canada joins colleagues across the publishing industry in mourning the loss of Noah Genner, President & CEO Emeritus of BookNet Canada. His two decades at BookNet Canada, with 15 as President & CEO, resulted in innovations that are essential to the success of publishers across Canada. The book supply chain runs on BookNet products such as SalesData, LibraryData, CataList, and BiblioShare, which provide users with powerful data-driven insights and help booksellers, librarians, and readers discover Canadian books in an efficient and convenient way. BookNet’s research and publication program is equally valuable, illuminating trends in book sales and reading habits. Beyond his many professional accomplishments, Noah Genner’s dedication to the book publishing community, as well as his good humour and kindness, was obvious to all.

LPG publishers continue to rely on the tools that Noah Genner shepherded into being: his contributions to this industry cannot be overstated. We will miss his regular presentations and his friendly and collaborative presence in our community.

On behalf of our board of directors and member publishers, we extend heartfelt sympathy to Noah’s family and friends, and to our valued colleagues at BookNet Canada.

What independently-published books were most borrowed by patrons in August 2024? We consulted the data - specifically, the BookNet Canada LibraryData - to find the top 50 loaned books.

Note that this graphic represents the four-week period of August 5–September 1, 2024.

Thanks to support from the Canada Book Fund’s Accessible Digital Books Initiative, the LPG completed a second round of its Accessible Digital Books creation and conversion project. The result? The addition of 132 titles joining our existing 600+ title ebooks for Everyone collection, ensuring even more works of Canadian literature are accessible to all Canadian readers.

Working with assistive reading technologies, ebook accessibility features include scalable text, alternative text for images, and a navigable table of contents. It is estimated that less than 5 percent of books published each year are accessible to readers with print disabilities. The hard work undertaken by LPG participating member publishers, project partners at eBOUND Canada, and conversion partners Newgen and Laura Brady means that more entertaining, engaging, and critical cultural work is available to a wider reading public.

The expanded ebooks for Everyone collection will be available to borrow via the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) and the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA). Librarians and educators interested in acquiring books in the collection should ask their sales representatives or reach out to the LPG for assistance. The books are also available for sale to readers via All Lit Up and through participating publisher websites.

Moreover, the in-house capacity for creating, testing, and releasing accessible epubs has increased across participating LPG members. Three well-attended training sessions on accessible ebook QA and metadata were hosted by LPG and eBOUND Canada. Over 20 LPG members are Benetech-certified for creating accessible epubs, as well.

“We were thrilled to see CBF’s investment in this critical program, which enabled Canadian literary publishers to create and market more accessible ebooks,” said Laura Rock Gaughan, executive director of the LPG. “Our member publishers have increased their capacity for producing accessible formats, which will benefit all readers. We know the demand from librarians and educators for accessible formats continues to be high. Now, we hope for new public investment to support this activity going forward, given the high costs involved.”

A social media marketing and influencer campaign conducted with the help of ZG Stories concluded earlier this summer, resulting in nearly 1.7 million impressions and plenty of positive user engagement.

We thank our funders at the Department of Canadian Heritage, through the Canada Book Fund, for their necessary support in this important initiative. Browse and buy the ebooks for Everyone collection via All Lit Up.

What independently-published books were most borrowed by patrons in July 2024? We consulted the data - specifically, the BookNet Canada LibraryData - to find the top 50 loaned books.

Note that this graphic represents the four-week period of July 1-28, 2024.

What independently-published books were most borrowed by patrons in June 2024? We consulted the data - specifically, the BookNet Canada LibraryData - to find the top 50 loaned books.

Note that this graphic represents the four-week period of June 2–30, 2024.

What independently-published books were most borrowed by patrons in May 2024? We consulted the data - specifically, the BookNet Canada LibraryData - to find the top 50 loaned books.

Note that this graphic represents the four-week period of May 6-June 2, 2024.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Canadian Writing and Publishing Organizations Advocate for Artificial Intelligence Regulations in Ottawa

May 2, 2024

In honour of World Book and Copyright Day, a coalition of ten writing, publishing, and creator organizations from across the country convened in Ottawa this week to meet with parliamentarians and government officials on the opportunities and challenges that generative artificial intelligence poses for Canada’s book industry. The organizations, spanning both French and English Canada, represent more than 300 book publishers and over 10,000 individual creators from across the country.

Canada has the opportunity to create a regulatory system for AI that supports the value of human creation and sustains our vital cultural industries. It has become commonplace for some generative AI companies to highlight their innovation and investments as a reason for governments to grant broad copyright exceptions. But these companies owe their considerable success to the prior innovations and investments of others—the intellectual and creative investments of authors and the financial investments of publishers. There is no good public policy reason to weaken copyright protection for the convenience of technology companies. It is imperative that the livelihoods of writers and publishers are protected, if not enhanced, by AI regulations.

Publishers and writers own the copyright to the works that are of greatest value in the training of generative AI: books. “Protecting an author’s work is difficult at best, and not having appropriate measures in place to defend against generative AI companies could be catastrophic to our creative communities,” said Travis Croken, Co-chair of the Canadian Authors Association, at a reception on Parliament Hill highlighting the hardships faced by Canadian creators due to the upsurge of generative AI.

The focal point of the reception was a book display featuring a selection of the thousands of Canadian titles that have been used without consent to train generative AI systems. The technology companies that have made use of these books did not seek the permission of the authors and publishers concerned and have made no effort to compensate rightsholders for this use.

The book display at the Canadian book industry’s reception on AI and copyright featured a selection of Canadian titles that have been used without consent to “train” generative AI.

The Canadian book industry has put forth several key recommendations concerning AI to safeguard the moral rights of authors and the copyright protection of authors and publishers. The sector is advocating against implementing new copyright exceptions or compulsory licensing regimes, instead proposing a free market for text and data mining licenses where rightsholders can share in the economic value that generative AI will inevitably build on the foundation of their work. Furthermore, the Canadian book industry stresses the need to adopt transparency provisions, like those recently introduced by the European Economic Union in the AI Act, to stop unattributed and uncompensated AI training on copyrighted works. Transparency is essential to the development of a fair and safe AI ecosystem—otherwise, generative AI models will continue to develop in an opaque, unfair, and undemocratic manner, without respecting the rights of creators.

“We need writers, and we need writers to be paid properly for their work, because they bring us new ideas,” said Lisa Hepfner, Member of Parliament for Hamilton Mountain and parliamentary sponsor for the reception. “Anything that AI is coming out with is being scraped from something else—there’s no ingenuity, there’s no creativity, there’s no human spirit, and that’s what we have to protect.” The Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage, was also in attendance.

“In the age of artificial intelligence, we are at a new crossroads, and fortunately solutions exist so that books can continue to be published in a respectful and equitable environment for creators and rightsholders,” added Karine Vachon, Executive Director of the Association nationale des éditeurs de livres.

As the Canadian book industry continues to advocate for the interests of publishers and creators, it remains committed to working collaboratively with the Government of Canada to address the pressing needs of the creative sector. Their recommendations are also supported by the associations of artists and cultural enterprises grouped within the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE).

The book organizations that have signed this press release include:

Access Copyright
The Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP)
Association nationale des éditeurs de livres (ANEL)
Canadian Authors Association (CAA)
The Canadian Publishers’ Council (CPC)
Copibec
The Literary Press Group of Canada (LPG)
Regroupement des éditeurs franco-canadiens (REFC)
Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois (UNEQ)
The Writers Union of Canada (TWUC)

For more information in English, please contact:

Jack Illingworth | Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP) | jack_illingworth@canbook.org

Robert Gilbert | Access Copyright | rgilbert@accesscopyright.ca

Travis Croken | Canadian Authors Association (CAA) | travis.croken@me.com

David Swail | Canadian Publishers’ Council (CPC) | dswail@pubcouncil.ca

Laura Rock Gaughan | Literary Press Group of Canada (LPG) | laurag@lpg.ca

John Degen | The Writers’ Union of Canada | jdegen@writersunion.ca

What independently-published books were most borrowed by patrons in April 2024? We consulted the data - specifically, the BookNet Canada LibraryData - to find the top 50 loaned books.

Note that this graphic represents the four-week period of April 1 - April 28, 2024.

Literary Press Group appreciates Budget 2024 investment in Canada Book Fund and calls for government action to fulfill permanent funding promise, fix copyright

Creators and publishers must be protected from ongoing, massive, uncompensated copying

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Toronto—April 18, 2024: The Literary Press Group (LPG) welcomes Budget 2024’s investment of $10 million in the Canada Book Fund. The CBF provides critical cultural funding for the creation of Canadian books, and this temporary infusion, delivered over three years, will provide a measure of support to the Canadian book sector.

“We appreciate Budget 2024’s boosted investment in the Canada Book Fund and recognition of the importance of elevating Canadian authors and stories. At the same time, a new, permanent investment is needed to help the Canadian publishing sector sustain itself and grow, which in turn will provide opportunities for writers in all regions of the country,” said Rebecca Rose, chair of the Literary Press Group and publisher of Breakwater Books. “We call on the government to fulfill its longstanding commitment to increase the Canada Book Fund’s permanent budget envelope by 50 percent.”

The Canada Book Fund’s baseline budget envelope has been static for more than 20 years. Its value has eroded by more than half in that time due to inflation, while funding for other cultural industries has increased. Demand for this underfunded program continues to rise as new literary presses seek to establish themselves and existing presses strive to grow their publishing programs—reflecting and amplifying the experiences of multiple communities across Canada.

LPG member publishers do vital cultural work—nurturing diverse voices and styles of writing by Canadian authors; editing, designing, producing, and marketing their books; and getting them into readers’ hands nationally and internationally, despite myriad challenges.

“The Canada Book Fund makes it possible for literary presses to continue publishing Canadian stories, poetry, drama, graphic novels, literary nonfiction, and more,” said Laura Rock Gaughan, executive director of the Literary Press Group. “In a real way, this program preserves space for Canadian literature. It merits a permanently increased base budget, and that’s what the government has promised.”

More work is also needed to fix the severe and ongoing damage caused by our flawed copyright regime. This, too, has been a longstanding government commitment, supported by parliamentary committee reports and members of all parties. It was a commitment in Budget 2022 and in ministerial mandate letters. Over $200 million in lost royalties since 2012 threatens the livelihoods of writers and publishers. The uncompensated copying by educational institutions continues unabated—hundreds of millions of pages per year. This demonstrates a dangerous lack of understanding of how Canadian literature and educational materials are created. And it shows a troubling lack of respect for the ingenuity and labour of creators and publishers, from the very institutions that should most value their books.

“The copyright situation is approaching scandalous,” said Gaughan. “Our copyright regime, outside of Quebec, has become an international embarrassment. It’s long past time for the government to deliver on its copyright promises.”

About the Literary Press Group

Founded in 1975, the LPG is a not-for-profit association that represents Canadian-owned and -operated literary book publishers located across the country. Our members produce books by some of Canada’s most innovative and creative writers, giving readers access to diverse voices that have not been well represented in mainstream publishing. In addition to their cultural contributions, LPG members are small businesses that support local economies through the full range of their business activities, from editorial, design, and production to marketing, sales, and distribution.

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Contact: Laura Rock Gaughan, Executive Director, laurag@lpg.ca

Tags: Canada Book Fund, Public Lending Right, Copyright, Fair Dealing, Books, Writers, Creators, Publishers, CanLit, Culture