Rod Raglin
It’s 2025 and most Canadian publishers are still discriminating in favour of marginalized authors.
My new novel, The Thin White Line, challenges an assumption nearly all Canadian publishers adhere to religiously. That assumption is that Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOCs) as well as writers from other marginalized groups (see the ever-growing list at the end of this article) are discriminated against. Furthermore, they deserve special privileges during the submission process, privileges which are, apparently, at the publisher’s discretion.
Matt Bennett, the protagonist in The Thin White Line, is an author/freelance investigative reporter who is frustrated that his manuscript keeps getting passed over by publishers whose stated preference is for BIPOC or marginalized authors. The preferential treatment is considered a way to atone for “historical and systemic barriers that have existed in publishing,” However, Matt’s research has shown him that this assumption is not borne out by facts. Marginalized authors are not underrepresented today in Canadian literature, indeed, just the opposite.
But when he publishes his findings challenging the assumption that BIPOC and marginalized authors should get special consideration he’s met with significant blowback that evolves into cultural warfare and murder.
The novel was completed six months ago, and when I say completed it was written, rested, revised, vetted by six reasonably accomplished authors and then revised again incorporating their suggestions. It was then submitted to publishers, agents and competitions no less than fourteen times.
My lack of talent as a fiction writer aside, you can see where this story might be a hard sell, especially when no less then eleven major traditional Canadian publishers have statements on their submission pages that offer preferential treatment to authors whom they consider (it’s arbitrary) marginalized.
Here are samplings lifted from a few of the publisher’s submission pages*:
“…are committed to doing our part in correcting the historical and societal imbalance of representation in literature. In the spirit of moving towards an inclusive publishing program that reflects the rich diversity of our communities, we welcome submissions from Indigenous writers, writers of colour, writers with disabilities, writers from the LGBTQIA2S community, and writers from any other community that have historically been underrepresented. If you identify with any of these communities, and you feel comfortable in doing so, we encourage you to mention this in your submission letter.”
“…we are looking to engage with work by writers from historically underrepresented communities, including—but not limited to—those who are Black, Indigenous, people of colour, disabled, neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, debuting later in life, or without an MFA.”
“…is excited to open our submission policy exclusively to LGBTQIA2S+ and BIPOC writers, as well as those from other traditionally underrepresented communities.”
“We encourage submissions from all Canadian writers, including Indigenous writers, writers of colour, writers from the LGBTQ2S+ community, writers with disabilities, and writers who identify with other marginalized groups. If you require an accommodation to submit your manuscript, please contact us at...”
At first, I found it disappointing that all these publishers would think in lockstep. Then, I began to wonder if there was a reason for their conformity in thought and action, so I reviewed all their submission pages again and there it was, on the submission page of Coach House Books. It reads,
“We publish primarily Canadian authors. The reason for this is that most Canadian-owned publishers, including Coach House, are made viable in part by grant funding from federal and provincial levels of government. Access to these grants requires that we prioritize the publication of Canadian authors.”
“What,” you say? “Where does it say anything about giving preferential treatment to the work of historically unrepresented authors?”
The grants (up to $250,000 annually) that make most Canadian-owned publishers viable are from The Canada Council for the Arts (CCA), a federal Crown corporation accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
In 2022-23, the CCA distributed $366.5 million. The criterion for receiving these grants is available at https://canadacouncil.ca/funding There is significant attention given to supporting programs with an Indigenous component as well as “strategic funding for individuals, groups and organizations from racialized (culturally diverse) communities.”
The CCA 2021-26 Strategic Plan includes the following “Action”:
“50% of total grant funding to projects to help better understand and address the numerous barriers faced by youth, official language minority communities, and historically underserved and marginalized communities including Indigenous, Black, racialized, Deaf and disability, and 2SLGBTQI+ and gender-diverse communities, women, and artists at intersections of these groups.”
You can imagine that publishers do whatever is necessary to access these funds, including offering preferential treatment to authors from marginalized communities to help the CCA fulfill its Strategic Plan. This despite the lack of evidence that these groups are underrepresented.
So, when a novel appears on their desk that challenges these assumptions, what’s the likelihood they’ll consider it? Who bites the hand that feeds them?
The Thin White Line – Culture War – With Deadly Consequences, is a racially charge story of political suspense, domestic terrorism and murder, and is available from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU
It’s my fourteenth self-published novel and like the previous thirteen, received no grants, subsidies or special consideration.
**Additional excerpts from the submission pages of major Canadians publishes indicating their bias are available on request.
*The Marginalized Population is defined as a group of people that are excluded from full participation in society and/or have a feeling of being insignificant or unimportant
including immigrants, refugees, ethno-cultural and racialized groups, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ2S individuals and people experiencing homelessness, children and youth in care, people living in institutions and people living in remote areas.
- As defined in Building Understanding: The First Report of the National Advisory Council on Poverty, April 21, 2022
My new novel, The Thin White Line, challenges an assumption nearly all Canadian publishers adhere to religiously. That assumption is that Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOCs) as well as writers from other marginalized groups (see the ever-growing list at the end of this article) are discriminated against. Furthermore, they deserve special privileges during the submission process, privileges which are, apparently, at the publisher’s discretion.
Matt Bennett, the protagonist in The Thin White Line, is an author/freelance investigative reporter who is frustrated that his manuscript keeps getting passed over by publishers whose stated preference is for BIPOC or marginalized authors. The preferential treatment is considered a way to atone for “historical and systemic barriers that have existed in publishing,” However, Matt’s research has shown him that this assumption is not borne out by facts. Marginalized authors are not underrepresented today in Canadian literature, indeed, just the opposite.
But when he publishes his findings challenging the assumption that BIPOC and marginalized authors should get special consideration he’s met with significant blowback that evolves into cultural warfare and murder.
The novel was completed six months ago, and when I say completed it was written, rested, revised, vetted by six reasonably accomplished authors and then revised again incorporating their suggestions. It was then submitted to publishers, agents and competitions no less than fourteen times.
My lack of talent as a fiction writer aside, you can see where this story might be a hard sell, especially when no less then eleven major traditional Canadian publishers have statements on their submission pages that offer preferential treatment to authors whom they consider (it’s arbitrary) marginalized.
Here are samplings lifted from a few of the publisher’s submission pages*:
“…are committed to doing our part in correcting the historical and societal imbalance of representation in literature. In the spirit of moving towards an inclusive publishing program that reflects the rich diversity of our communities, we welcome submissions from Indigenous writers, writers of colour, writers with disabilities, writers from the LGBTQIA2S community, and writers from any other community that have historically been underrepresented. If you identify with any of these communities, and you feel comfortable in doing so, we encourage you to mention this in your submission letter.”
“…we are looking to engage with work by writers from historically underrepresented communities, including—but not limited to—those who are Black, Indigenous, people of colour, disabled, neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, debuting later in life, or without an MFA.”
“…is excited to open our submission policy exclusively to LGBTQIA2S+ and BIPOC writers, as well as those from other traditionally underrepresented communities.”
“We encourage submissions from all Canadian writers, including Indigenous writers, writers of colour, writers from the LGBTQ2S+ community, writers with disabilities, and writers who identify with other marginalized groups. If you require an accommodation to submit your manuscript, please contact us at...”
At first, I found it disappointing that all these publishers would think in lockstep. Then, I began to wonder if there was a reason for their conformity in thought and action, so I reviewed all their submission pages again and there it was, on the submission page of Coach House Books. It reads,
“We publish primarily Canadian authors. The reason for this is that most Canadian-owned publishers, including Coach House, are made viable in part by grant funding from federal and provincial levels of government. Access to these grants requires that we prioritize the publication of Canadian authors.”
“What,” you say? “Where does it say anything about giving preferential treatment to the work of historically unrepresented authors?”
The grants (up to $250,000 annually) that make most Canadian-owned publishers viable are from The Canada Council for the Arts (CCA), a federal Crown corporation accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
In 2022-23, the CCA distributed $366.5 million. The criterion for receiving these grants is available at https://canadacouncil.ca/funding There is significant attention given to supporting programs with an Indigenous component as well as “strategic funding for individuals, groups and organizations from racialized (culturally diverse) communities.”
The CCA 2021-26 Strategic Plan includes the following “Action”:
“50% of total grant funding to projects to help better understand and address the numerous barriers faced by youth, official language minority communities, and historically underserved and marginalized communities including Indigenous, Black, racialized, Deaf and disability, and 2SLGBTQI+ and gender-diverse communities, women, and artists at intersections of these groups.”
You can imagine that publishers do whatever is necessary to access these funds, including offering preferential treatment to authors from marginalized communities to help the CCA fulfill its Strategic Plan. This despite the lack of evidence that these groups are underrepresented.
So, when a novel appears on their desk that challenges these assumptions, what’s the likelihood they’ll consider it? Who bites the hand that feeds them?
The Thin White Line – Culture War – With Deadly Consequences, is a racially charge story of political suspense, domestic terrorism and murder, and is available from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU
It’s my fourteenth self-published novel and like the previous thirteen, received no grants, subsidies or special consideration.
**Additional excerpts from the submission pages of major Canadians publishes indicating their bias are available on request.
*The Marginalized Population is defined as a group of people that are excluded from full participation in society and/or have a feeling of being insignificant or unimportant
including immigrants, refugees, ethno-cultural and racialized groups, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ2S individuals and people experiencing homelessness, children and youth in care, people living in institutions and people living in remote areas.
- As defined in Building Understanding: The First Report of the National Advisory Council on Poverty, April 21, 2022
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