Traditions, and challenges, of publishing
A Precarious Enterprise: Making a Life in Canadian Publishing
by Scott McIntyre
Toronto: ECW Press, 2025
$39.95 / 9781770418196
Reviewed by Natalie Virginia Lang
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“Books are not mere merchandise. Books are a nation thinking out loud.”—Geoffrey Faber
In 2023, I published my first book—a memoir. The writing bit, I had mostly figured out. Even the editing process was easy enough to grasp. The inner workings of a publishing house, however—decisions around which books get picked up and why, how publicity and a launch could set the tone for success, the stresses and joys of navigating events and potential awards, not to mention the inner workings, politics, and indeed precarious nature of publishing in Canada—were all something of an enigma. It quickly became clear to me that it is a rare writer who makes a decent living on the integrity of their pen. It is even more rare for a publisher (Canadian in particular) to not only start a company and stay in business in an increasingly volatile and fluctuating economy, where cheap fiction is churned out like stacks of toothpicks, but also to maintain a vision and ethos which guides the publishing of some of the most important voices of our time.
In his debut memoir, A Precarious Enterprise: Making a Life in Canadian Publishing, Scott McIntyre invites readers into the various corners of Canadian publishing. He revisits his early days at McClelland & Stewart (recounting more than a few bridges nearly burned) before outlining the tumultuous beginnings, storied ups and downs of growth, and eventually the ending of his own publishing house—Douglas & McIntyre.
Founded in 1970 in Vancouver, B.C., with a combination of determined focus, a supportive family, and a variety of well-nourished relationships, Douglas & McIntyre (originally J.J. Douglas Ltd.) would become one of the most well-respected publishing houses in Canada, even being quietly referred to by some as Canada’s “crown jewel.” In its best years Douglas & McIntyre would create a powerful platform for Canadian voices, including Richard Wagamese, Margaret Atwood, and Farley Mowat.
As outlined in this memoir, Douglas & McIntyre started out by developing a particular proliferation for publishing educational volumes (picture that old Exploring Canada textbook from your early school days), and visually stunning art books, some of which included the work of Bill Reid, Emily Carr, and Doris Shadbolt. These authors and artists, as well as the creators of many children’s books (with associated publisher Groundwood Books), including Patsy Aldana’s A Salmon for Simon and David Suzuki’s Eco-Fun, have, according to McIntyre, helped to define Canada’s national literary identity.
With a career cultivated during Canada’s “literary coming of age,” Scott McIntyre certainly has a lot to say about publishing. Though perhaps a bit heavy into the nuts and bolts of how the business works, A Precarious Enterprise captures a time that saw incredible potential in Canadian publishing. Spanning the last few decades of the 20th century and dipping more than a few toes into the 21st, he was in the right place at the right time to leap into the literary void and contribute to a uniquely Canadian array of written work.
Upon first encounter, A Precarious Enterprise was, for me, a staccato-like read, moving quickly through detailed personal anecdotes to the inner workings of publishing, amidst seemingly relentless waves of successes and disappointments. Still, McIntyre’s voice rings true in the end. He shares, for example, his experience attending (and speaking at) the 2003 UNESCO Second International Meeting of Cultural Professional Organizations (with a toothache), as well as what it was like to attend the Frankfurt book fair when the Berlin Wall was still up. McIntyre even brings us into the room when a Giller Prize winner is announced, recounting the wild unfolding thereafter as publisher after publisher attempted to win the rights of a reprint and massive distribution of the newly famous book. Such anecdotes illuminate McIntyre’s passion and dedication to Canadian writers—an advocating voice in support of Canadian culture that is now perhaps more important than ever.
A publishing house is, according to Scott McIntyre, built on “luck, decisive behaviour, and perfect timing.” It is also, importantly, developed and cared for through a variety of very close “family-like” connections between authors, contributors, publishers, partners, and shareholders. Stories connected to each of these “family” members, are what punctuate this memoir. Snippets of the contributions of important people who helped to create, keep afloat, and develop Douglas & McIntyre since its inception, are wonderfully chosen accolades. They accentuate the overall success and long-lasting impact Scott McIntyre, and Douglas & McIntyre Publishing, have had on Canada’s literary imprint.
What can be understood through reading A Precarious Enterprise, is that McIntyre has been a staunch defender of Canadian publishing, bringing light to a vast array of incredible voices, settings, and stories which showcase Canada’s strength and diversity. His support of Canadian identity remained strong throughout the intensity of a literary boom in the eighties and nineties, the rollout of Chapters bookstores and the beginnings of a “superstore environment” (changing the book business forever and damaging many publishers’ bottom lines), right through to the digital age, where McIntyre began to elucidate that: “As a business strategy [book publishing] is pathetic. As a cultural strategy, it is essential to civilized nations.”
A Precarious Enterprise: Making a Life in Canadian Publishing is a valuable read for those mystified by the historic traditions of publishing and its many challenges, as well as just how lively and exhilarating publishing in Canada was during its literary golden age.
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Natalie Virginia Lang is a teacher and writer. She is an alumnus of the Graduate Liberal Studies program at SFU and has contributed essays to The British Columbia Review: “Living with Oil?,” “Remnants of Sumas Mountain,” and “Letters from the Pandemic: Dear Will.” Lang is the author of Remnants: Reveries of a Mountain Dweller (Caitlin Press, 2023), a memoir inviting readers to re-examine our relationships with the natural world. [Editor’s note: Natalie Virginia Lang has reviewed books by Elspeth Bradbury, Kate J. Neville, Steven Earle, Betsy Warland, Christina Myers, and Catherine McGregor and Shailoo Bedi (eds.) for The British Columbia Review.]
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The British Columbia Review
Interim Editors, 2023-26: Trevor Marc Hughes (non-fiction), Brett Josef Grubisic (fiction)
Publisher: Richard Mackie
Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an on-line book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.
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