Tag: Book Publishing

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Professional Profile

Versatile leader, publisher, editor, author, and writer dedicated to building and working in teams of committed professionals. A creative, analytical, and strategic thinker accustomed to an open communications style. Professional, flexible, system-oriented and process-driven, but goal-focused.

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Relevant Professional History

• Executive Editor, ARP Books (Arbeiter Ring Publishing Ltd.), Current
• Owner/Arts & Culture Consultant, The Cultural Attaché, 2011 – 2016
• Program Consultant, Artspace Arts Management, 2012 – 2013
• General Manager, Virtuosi Concerts Inc., 2009 – 2011
• Managing Editor, Turnstone Press Ltd., 2001 – 2009
• Executive Director/Co-director, Assoc. of Manitoba Book Publishers, 1998 – 2001
• Editor/Editor, Prairie Books NOW, 1995 – 1999

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Publications and Awards

• The Ravishing Corpse, Long-list 3-Day Novel Contest, March 2021
• “We’ve Burned,” 3^rd Prize Winner, 14^th Geist Postcard Story, October 2018
• “The Conditions of My Parole,” Prairie Fire Issue 4, 2010
• Winnipeg Arts Council Individual Artist “B” Grant, January 2008
• “I Really Liked It and You Liked It Too,” Front & Centre #6, April 2004
• “Scenes from a Spiteful Business,” CV2 Winner 2-Day Poem Contest, CV2 2003
• Manitoba Arts Council Writers “C” Grant, September 2001
• “Some Variation of No,” Winner sub-TERRAIN Short Fiction Contest, Summer 2000
• “You and Other Women,” CV2, Spring 1998
• “Could Superman Have Benefited From Isometric Exercise?,” Zygote, Summer, 1995

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Education and Specialized Professional Development

• Business for the Arts, ArtsVest Sponsorship Training Workshops
• University of Winnipeg, Professional Studies, Manitoba Arts and Cultural Management Certificate
• Cultural Human Resources Council, Cultural Human Resource Management
• Erhard Associates, Managing and Leading in the Not-for-Profit Sector
• Lesley Ellen Harris’s E-course, Canadian Copyright Law
• Simon Fraser University, SFU Summer Book Publishing Immersion Workshop
• Red River College, Honours Diploma (Journalism), Creative Communications

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Selected Self-directed Writing Professional Development

• Literary Citizenship for Introverts and Extroverts Alike, March 2023
• Negotiation Skills for Writers with Pia Owens, February 2023
• Get Your Writing Life Organized with Paulette Perhach, January 2023
• Short Story Writing for Publication with Elizabeth Sims, November 2022
• Maybe It’s Not Your Plot with Susan DeFreitas, June 2022
• 5 Steps to Airtight Plot with Tiffany Martin Yates, October 2021
• The Inside Outline with Jennie Nash, September 2021
• How to Self-Publish for First Timers with Jane Friedman, August 2021
• Effective Book Marketing for Any Author with Jane Friedman, August 2021
• Advanced Self-Editing Master Class with Roz Morris, April 2021
• This Is the Year You Finish Your Book with Jane Friedman, January 2021
• Blogging Strategies That Work in 2020 with Jane Friedman, October 2020
• Diversify Your Writing Income with Jane Friedman, June 2020
• Getting Your Book Into Libraries: Digital Distribution with Jane Friedman, May 2020
• One True Thing: Create a One-Page Strategic Plan to Finish Your Writing with Sage Cohen, May 2020
• Creating Income and Connecting with Readers Using Short Fiction with Mark Leslie Lefebvre, April 2020

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Selected Volunteer, Community, and Professional Engagement

Board Leadership

• Board of Directors, eBound Canada, June 2022– Current
• Board of Directors, Secretary, Association of Canadian Publishers, 2019 – Current
  • Executive Committee
  • Hiring Committee, Executive Director
  • Nominating and Governance Committee
• Chair, Bylaws Committee, Association of Manitoba Book Publishers, 2018 – 2021
• HR Committee, Association of Manitoba Book Publishers, 2018 – 2020
• Executive Committee, Prairie Book Now , 2018 – 2020
• Chair, Literary Distribution Co. (LitDistCo), 2018 – 2019
• Chair, Communications sub-committee, Manitobans for the Arts, 2013
• Chair, Literary Press Group, 2007 – 2009
• Founding Treasurer, Literary Distribution Co. (LitDistCo), 2006 – 2007
• Treasurer, Literary Press Group, 2005 – 2007
• Vice-President, Association of Canadian Publishers, 2005 – 2006
• Council Member, Association of Canadian Publishers, 2003 – 2006
• Advisory Board, Winnipeg International Writers Festival, 2001 – 2003
• Board Director, Winnipeg International Writers Festival, 1999 – 2001
• Treasurer, Artspace Inc., 2000 – 2001
• President, Manitoba Writers’ Guild, 1998 – 2000
• Board Director, Artspace Inc., 1997 – 1999
• Committee Member, Manitoba Book Awards, 1995 – 2000
• Board Director, Manitoba Writers’ Guild, 1995 – 1998

Peer Juries

• Juror, Saskatchewan Book Awards, Publisher Category, 2022
• Peer Assessor, Canada Council for the Arts Sector Innovation & Development, 2019
• Peer Assessor, Canada Council for the Arts Literary Publishing Projects, 2019
• Juror, Manitoba Arts Council Individual Support/Strengthen Program, 2018
• Peer Assessor, Canada Council for the Arts Sector Innovation & Development, 2018
• Peer Assessor, Canada Council for the Arts Literary Publishing Projects, 2018
• Juror, Manitoba Arts Council Individual Artist’s Travel Grant, 2017
• Peer Assessor, Canada Council for the Arts Literary Support Organizations, 2017
• Juror, Manitoba Arts Council Individual Artist’s Travel Grant, 2016
• Juror, Winnipeg Arts Council Project Grant, 2011
• Consultant, Canada Council for the Arts Block Grant Review Committee, 2006
• Juror, Canada Council for the Arts Cooperative Projects, 2003
• Juror, Alberta Book Awards, Trade Non-fiction Book of the Year, 2000
• Juror, Saskatchewan Book Awards, Book of the Year, 1999
• Juror, Saskatchewan Book Awards, Best First Book, 1999

Presentations, Facilitations & Interviews

• Panellist, Literary Press Group, Demystifying Grant Writing, March 2021
• Interviewer, Thin Air (WIWF) An Afternoon with Elaine Dewer, September 2017
• Presenter, Creative Manitoba, Basic Grant Writing for Writers, August 2014
• Presenter, Creative Manitoba, Basic Grant Writing for Writers, August 2013
• Presenter, Creative Manitoba, “With a Little Help from Your Friends” [Crowdfunding], February 2013
• Presenter, Creative Manitoba, “Digital Strategies for Analog Artists,” January 2013
• Facilitator, Creative Manitoba Advanced Grant Writing Summer Intensive, August 2012
• Presenter, Creative Manitoba Basic Grant Writing for Writers, February 2012
• Facilitator, Creative Manitoba Advanced Grant Writing Summer Intensive, August 2011
• Speaker, McNally Robinson Booksellers, “An Evening to Celebrate Author Michael Van Rooy,” March 2011
• Featured Reader, Aqua Books Anthology Reading Series, March 2010
• Reader, Prairie Fire: A Winnipeg Fiction Extravaganza, November 2009
• Panellist, Manitoba Writers Guild, “Making it as a Professional Writer,” AGM 2009
• Roundtable Participant, Literary Press Group Publishing, Stabilization Program, 2009
• Presenter, Literary Press Group, Competition Policy Review Panel, Formal Consultations, 2008
• Panellist, Writers’ Union of Canada, “The Editor’s View,” 2008
• Interviewee, Master Thesis, The Neoliberal Market & Contemporary Literary…, June 2008
• Panellist, Manitoba Editors’ Association, “Editing Books: A Panel with the Pros,” AGM 2006
• Interviewee, Mystery Ink Television, April 2005
• Facilitator, Manitoba Book Awards Juries (AMBP), 1998 ­– 2001
• Interviewee, Winnipeg Free Press, Various
• Interviewee, Quill & Quire, Various

Other

• Grant Writing Mentor, Literary Press Group, 2021
• Canadian Delegate, IV Programme/International Festival of Authors, 2017
• Mentor, Creative Manitoba Youth Mentorship Program in the Arts, 2009

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All material, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © Todd Besant. All rights reserved.

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Photo credit: The Marmot on VisualHunt.com

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How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts?

Julian Barnes

Professional profile

Third Person Pertinent

Todd is a colonial settler who lives and works on the bed of an ancient glacial lake in the heart of Turtle Island. He lives on Treaty 1 Land that is the territories of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, Lakota, Inuit, and Dene Peoples, and on the Traditional Homeland of the Métis Nation, in Winnipeg, MB, a static colonial city carpet tacked to the still damp clay bed of a proglacial lake created during the Holocene Glacial Retreat.

He has over 35 years of experience as a book publisher, writer, editor, not-for-profit board member, arts and culture administrator and manager, journalist, communications professional, bookseller, and occasional author.

Currently he is the executive editor of Arbeiter Ring Publishing Ltd. (operating as ARP Books).

From 2001 to 2009 he was the managing editor of Turnstone Press. In that time the company published many acclaimed books, including the Giller Prize finalist, Kilter: 55 fictions and Turnstone was a finalist for the Canadian Bookseller Association’s Small Press Publisher of the Year Award.

In addition, was the executive director of the Association of Manitoba Book Publishers, and was the book and publishing columnist for Uptown Magazine and the editor of Prairie Books NOW. Authors he’s interviewed include Dionne Brand, Douglas Coupland, Carol Shields, and Richard Van Camp.

An experienced community advocate

Todd is dedicated to book culture and is an advocate for publishers, authors, poets, writers, and other creators. Right now, he is the Board Secretary of the Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP) and a Board Member of eBound.

He has also served as the Chairperson (and Treasurer) of the Literary Press Group, the Chairperson of (and founding Treasurer) of LitDistCo, the Vice-president of the ACP, and the President of the Manitoba Writers’ Guild. He was once a member of both the board and the advisory council of the Winnipeg International Writers Festival

Todd has also served on peer juries for the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council, and the Winnipeg Arts Council and on many book award juries. As well, he has been a speaker and panellist at writing and publishing annual general meetings and professional development sessions.

Todd is a RRC Polytechnic (formerly Red River College) graduate in Creative Communications (Honours, Journalism) and has an Arts & Culture Management Certificate from The University of Winnipeg.

You can find his fiction in a few literary magazines, including Geist, Prairie Fire, and subTerrain. These stories and others can be read on this blog.

He has received grants from the Manitoba Arts Council and the Winnipeg Arts Council to support his development as an author and publishing professional.

For more professional information, Todd’s kitchen sink CV/Résumé is here.

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Personal Profile

First Person Impertinent

I’m a blue-collar guy working in a white-collar world and I think mastering a craft or trade and blurring the line between work and life fosters happiness or, at least, contentment.

So given that I spend more hours of the day than I’d like teetering on vexation, I’m not meeting my standard.

But reading, writing, and thinking about stories and storytelling walk me off the ledge.

Stories are what people do, perhaps even what we are. And books–as objects and for the stories they hold–are vital to humanity. I’ve spent a good chunk of my life working and volunteering in book culture.

Sometimes it seems like a hard–and occasionally frustrating–way to make a living. But it’s a great way to make a life.

To help keep me on course my semi-guiding mottoes are “Accept Events as They Occur” and “Être fort pour être utile.”

If you want to buy me a gift, I have fetishes about shoulder bags, notebooks and pencils, and sundry office supplies. As well, I’m keen on generous pours of strong dark coffee (black), American bourbon, Scottish Whisky, Irish Whiskey, Canadian Rye, hoppy microbrew ales, New Zealand Pinot Grigio, and Argentinian Malbec.

My sense of humour is dark, profane, occasionally grotesque, and deep, deep blue.

Contact me if you have time on your hands and you’re willing to buy the first round or if you want to offer me a lucrative and useful sinecure.

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All material, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © Todd Besant. All rights reserved.

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Image Copyright © Todd Besant

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