The publisher Scott McIntyre discusses his new memoir A Precarious Enterprise: Making a Life in Canadian Publishing (ECW Press, 2025), with Joseph Planta.
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A Precarious Enterprise: Making a Life in Canadian Publishing byScott McIntyre (ECW Press, 2025).
Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: A Precarious Enterprise |
Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:
I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.
I’ve had a unique perch these last twenty-one years doing the program, seeing the various books that have published in this country, and the publishers themselves. A new memoir sheds more light on the process and the experience of being a publisher. In A Precarious Enterprise: Making a Life in Canadian Publishing, Scott McIntyre recounts the heady days of publishing books when he started working in books in the late 1960s. As he chronicles the rise of independent Canadian publishers like Jack McClelland’s McClelland & Stewart, where he worked early in his career, to the founding of his own house Douglas & McIntyre, he chronicles the fall of the independents, as well as booksellers. In his nearly forty years at Douglas & McIntyre, they published some two thousand books, becoming one of Canada’s largest and most respected houses. And as one reads, the author was always at the heart of the enterprise. You read about how a publisher obtains a book, and the sort of money involved, and the interpersonal relationships that invariably need to be cultivated; and in some cases, personal friendships that develop. You get insights as to the process of publishing something of high quality, and how one goes about promoting and selling the thing. Mr. McIntyre, who joins me now, highlights the memorable bestsellers, some that were even at the centre of the national conversation soon after they were released. This book is full of great stories, and is published by ECW Press. Scott McIntyre is a member of both the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia. For over forty years, he has worked in publishing, and fought for more supportive publishing policy, even shaping a groundbreaking UNESCO treaty that enshrines the principle of cultural diversity within international law. He joined me from here in Vancouver earlier this month. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Scott McIntyre; Mr. McIntyre, good morning.
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