Fresh from the Vancouver International Publishing Conference on June 8, 2025, I am happy to share my insights after attending sessions with panelists from Doubleday Canada, Penguin Random House, Douglas & McIntire, Scribd, and other experts in the field.
Publishing generates a $30 billion annual revenue for the American market. According to Publishers Weekly, sales rose by 7.3 %. In Canada, publishers project an annual growth rate of 2.98 % starting in 2025. Good news: people read more!
About Trends and Themes
An overarching theme might be in the past, although self-help and health books dominate the market. Narrative nonfiction (memoir) remains difficult to get traditionally published and to reach an audience. Trends come and go and return as new ‘trends.’ Memoirs became more marketable as ‘books of essays‘ until they lost appeal and reverted to ‘memoirs.’ Vampire and horror stories were a big trend until they had to reinvent themselves. Romance is a growing segment both for traditional and self-publishing. Mystery is still going strong. Canadian stories sell well abroad, and graphic books are a trend for foreign rights. Trends will die! With nearly 11,000 books published in the U.S. daily (traditionally and self-), there are too many ‘trends!’
About Platforms
Ah… the bane of unknown authors! Celebrities and public figures have a platform as big as their fan base. In other words, unknown authors rely on who they know, and personalities rely on who know them. Platform is a problem for memoir: you must sell yourself to sell the book. In fiction, you must sell the story.
About Pitching Agents or Publishers
Some of the big traditional publishers are now accepting un-agented submissions. The key is to find a unique angle for your story and prove you are the person to write it. Warning: Don’t pitch your ego, pitch how you felt about writing it, why you felt compelled, and what it means. Let your introduction hang so that agents and publishers beg (!) for more. Know who your target audience is and pitch to the right place. Celebrate your first rejection because you are now ‘a rejected author.’
About Writing About Trauma
The creativity process is always uncomfortable because everyone is afraid of making mistakes. Take the leap and write until you feel something; what does it mean? Be willing to learn something new about yourself. Let the passion (even the burden) sit you down and create the first draft. Value your first draft because it’s the matter from which you will rewrite and revise umpteen times until your final copy. We are all a story; write yours to contribute to the larger story, the collective remembering.
About Journalism and Narrative
Journalism is about an event’s facts, and narration is about how it affected you. Be authentic to connect with the reader. Will your story have resonance? If it helps even one person, you’ve met your goal. A reading should be about the essence of the story; it should have meaning.
About Marketing and Copyrights
A book should reflect you as your brand. Who are you? Everyone is terrified to reveal it. Regarding social media, engaging with a few is better than not connecting with 100K followers. Pushing social media with pushy posts (!) feels calculated. Any number helps, even one reader at a time, which is the norm for most authors. The key is an enticing hook paired with a good comparative title. Substack is popular right now. Pinterest is coming back because it’s visual.
About Self-Publishing
More writers turn to self-publishing to bypass the lengthy process of finding an agent who must then find a publisher, which could take years. A self-publishing agency like TSPA in Vancouver, the conference’s sponsor, works with professionals who team up to get a book to market in less than a year.
About AI
AI is ineffective at conveying themes such as spiritual development or the dismantling of various beliefs (religious, social, family), etc. An AI-created pitch shows its weakness: it’s not heartfelt on both ends (from the writer and by the reader). It’s a matter of honesty; an author will always be morally confronted with an AI-created book, now out in the world. However, AI works well for books about ‘How to…”
My final takeaway: I have already created a Pinterest board for Biography of a Friendship.