More and more small-scale publishers are using the Ottawa Small Press Fair, partly because the stores where they used to sell their works have been closing down, Ottawa Small Press Fair co-founder rob mclennan said.
The fair, now in its 19th year, has been growing too quickly to accommodate all the participants.
“The last two fairs have been the first ones that I’ve had to say no to people,” mclennan said.
About 30 publishers held tables at a room where Tai Chi and seniors’ fitness classes happen on other days—room 203 of the Jack Purcell Community Centre, located on Elgin Street.
The tables ranged in content, from fiction to poems to zines. Mclennan said he sells tables on a first-come-first-served basis, but prefers to have publishers as opposed to self-published authors to add more variety.
The community centre was alive with movement, with people constantly filing in and out to check out the goods.
“I think it’s an increased amount of activity, and . . . the fact that we’ve lost four to five bookstores in Ottawa over the last 18 months. I think some publishers are scrambling to find venues to sell their books,” mclennan said.
In the long-term scope of things, mclennan said he sees a self-repeating process in the world of small press.
“Most small publishers start because they are frustrated that what has come before them has gotten too big, and they think . . . they are ignoring all the cool stuff that is happening underground,” mclennan said.
For example, Caroline Frechette, a full-time librarian and author, co-founded an Ottawa-based publishing company in May 2013.
She said she was frustrated with how a publisher treated an author she assisted in getting published. The publisher wanted the book’s printing rights, a marketing plan upon signing a contract, and did not proofread “professionally,” Frechette said.
Her new publishing company, Renaissance Press, reflects this sentiment. The press suggests changes to the work, including typos, but never changes the content without the author’s consent.
Mclennan, an author himself, said he has been organizing the fair by himself since its second year.
“I’ve been telling myself for a long time that, as long as it’s fun I’m just going to keep doing it,” he said. “And it’s still fun.”
