Ontario Creates Book Fund
no fixed amount
Grant
Description:
The Ontario Creates Book Fund is designed to increase financial viability and overall business growth of Ontario-based publishers through marketing initiatives which profile the works of Canadian authors to both foreign and domestic markets, and/or activities that enable publishers at various levels to achieve business development objectives that best suit their individual corporate goals.
Funding will be provided to support projects that have clear, objective and measurable results and/or indicate direct and positive impact that on the overall long-term business growth of the book publisher. Priority results include enhancement of publisher revenues and the creation/retention of jobs in the Ontario publishing industry. Ontario Creates will measure results of the program based on return on investment and jobs created and retained.
Comments on Funding:
Applications are closed. Stay tuned for future intake announcements.
Eligibility:
Applicants must:
1. be a book publisher, defined as a corporation that undertakes professional activity involving the selection, development and editing of manuscripts or draft
manuscripts, entering into contractual agreements with authors or copyright
holders, publishing books under the publisher’s own imprint, in printed or other
form, and assuming the risks associated with their production and marketing;
2. be Ontario-based, with its central place of business located in Ontario, file Ontario
corporate taxes and carry out three of the following primarily through its Ontario
office: editing, production, marketing, sales, distribution or management. In
addition, at least 50% of the publisher’s employees must be based in the Ontario
office;
3. be Canadian-owned and controlled, as defined in the Investment Canada Act
(Canada);
4. have been incorporated in a Canadian jurisdiction for at least two fiscal years;
5. have published at least two books per year for the previous two years or have
published a minimum of four books during the previous two years;
6. distribute its books through normal bookselling channels;
7. have annual net book sales revenue of at least $20,000 (calculated as the average
of the most recent two fiscal years);
8. derive more than 50% of their total sales revenues for the applicant Company from
book sales;
9. have at least six Canadian-authored titles in print;
10. provide financial statements for the past two complete fiscal years including a
balance sheet and an income statement at time of application. Review
engagement and/or audited financial statements are preferred; however, Noticeto-Reader financial statements will be accepted. Exceptions may be considered for
companies with less than two years of operations. Companies in this situation
should contact Ontario Creates in advance of the application submission deadline;
11. be financially solvent and be deemed by Ontario Creates to be an ongoing entity;
and
12. be in good standing, i.e., not in default of any contractual obligations, with Ontario
Creates at time of application submission. This includes any reports, interim or
final, that are to be submitted by or prior to the deadline date of this application
round. Applications from publishers not in good standing with Ontario Creates will
be considered ineligible and will not be accepted.
13. At least 50% of titles published by the corporation in each of its two most recent
fiscal years must be Canadian-authored;
14. Revenues derived from the sale of vanity titles must not exceed 25% of the
corporation’s total revenues; and
15. At least 50% of the titles published during the financial year for which the
application is made must have been written by authors who are neither
shareholders nor owners of the publishing firm.
Application Steps:
Applicants must:
1. Submit via the Ontario Creates Online Application Portal (OAP). Applications submitted by any other method will not be accepted.
2. Before beginning an application, your company’s corporate information must be registered with the OAP. If you do not have a user account on OAP, please go to https://apply.ontariocreates.ca and click on “Register”. If your company is registered, the Ontario Creates Book Fund deadline will appear in your dashboard. To start the application, click on “Start new application” and follow the onscreen directions to access the application form.
3. Applicants are strongly encouraged to begin the application process early to allow ample time to compile and complete the necessary information. There is flexibility for completing the application form – you may begin at any time and save information as it is entered. Once saved, you can go back and edit and/or add information until the time when the application is actually submitted.
4. If you encounter problems setting up your company’s corporate information, you can email applyhelp@ontariocreates.ca for assistance. This email address can also be used for any technical questions you have about the OAP.
Documentation Needed:
Applicants must submit:
1. Articles of Incorporation or Master Business Licence
2. Budget template (provided by Ontario Creates)
3. Financial statements for the most recently completed fiscal year (Notice-to-Reader
statements are preferred, but internally-prepared profit & loss statements will be
accepted.)
4. At least two of the following pieces of supporting documentation:
a. Resumes/CVs of founders or key management personnel
b. marketing materials/press clippings
c. social media metrics (to demonstrate audience reach/growth potential)
d. letters of support
e. corporate slide deck
f. business/marketing/strategic plan
Other Things to Note:
About the author
Maurice
