Wordfest 2025: Tricks and tips from the publishing industry
By Ansharah Shakil, November 20 2025—
There’s nothing cozier than to curl up with a good book during autumn — or to attend a show hosted and attended by others who enjoy a good book, and who have all kinds of stories about writing and reading books. In this case, that would be The Sh!t No One Tells You About Publishing, an event held by Wordfest as part of their 2025 Imaginarium Festival.
The festival, a kingpin in Calgary’s literary scene, took place this year from Oct. 14-19. This year, it celebrated 30 years since Wordfest’s inception, with over fifty creative events attended by international and local bestselling authors. The Sh!t No One Tells You About Publishing took place on Oct. 18. Hosted by Wordfest CEO Shelley Youngblut, and starred author and podcaster Bianca Marais, Editor-in-Chief at HarperCollins Canada Jennifer Lambert and publisher of McClelland & Stewart, Stephanie Sinclair.
Youngblut announced the event’s guests one-by-one to a packed room, and spent the first half-hour asking them questions before turning it over to the audience. The four shared their insights on what the publishing industry is like and how to break into it.
“There’s this perception that it’s a closed door into publishing,” Lambert said. “[But] it’s much better when writers come to us understanding how a business works.”
Because as Lambert explained, publishing is a business, or to be exact, an intersection between art and business.
Youngblut shared that the acknowledgments page is a great place to look to see how many people are involved in the publishing of books and who they are.
“We should be reading to learn, reading to feel inspired,” said Youngblut.
As resources, Lambert named the Publishers Marketplace, Publishers Lunch, Publishers Weekly Daily, podcasts like that of Marais’s, and open calls, which are occasionally done by agency and publishing websites as resources for aspiring writers. Sinclair recommended the Professional Association of Literary Agents as well. Other resources include the Alexandra Writers’ Centre and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, as shared by Youngblut.
Youngblut asked at the beginning of the event what kinds of things are looked for in publishing. Marais, in response, asked the others how they felt about dinosaur erotica, to lots of laughter in the crowd.
Lambert said editors look for something that would make them sit up, take notice, and make the hair stand up on the back of their necks: something that would resonate with others.
Sinclair, who focuses on advocacy and activism, is looking for people who are unapologetically themselves in their writing.
Marais’s path to getting published as an author involved taking the craft of writing seriously, and reading like a writer. She stressed that to get traditionally published, you generally need an agent, and nowadays you can find ones more easily thanks to social media.
“Everyone has a Substack now,” she said. “I know because I have a Substack now.”
One important hurdle to cross there is writing a query letter — condensing your manuscript into one page saying what it’s about, comparing it to other books and then talking about who you are.
Sinclair, who was formerly an agent, said that agents have the job of matchmaking writers and editors. For example, getting something to the right agent or publisher who may be interested in your genre, is also key.
Lambert said that authors can build their own community, like at Wordfest.
“It can be so lonely to sit down and stare at this blank page, especially if you don’t have writer friends,” Marais agreed.
One member of the audience wondered what manuscript of theirs they should focus on getting published.
“[Ask yourself] what is the book of your soul?” Marais said. “What is the book that keeps you up at night, that keeps you up at night, that if you don’t write it, you will die?”
Lambert first started out in PR and magazines, ended up writing press releases, did publishing programs, and wrote book reviews before getting a job through someone else leaving theirs. The pathway to a job in the publishing industry doesn’t have to be clear-cut or immediate.
“Publishing certificates and programs are great because the teachers are working professionals,” Sinclair added.
Marais said that if anyone was conflicted about choosing, they can be both an editor and an author.
“We contain multitudes,” she said.
More about Marais, Sinclair, and Lambert can be found on the Wordfest website. Though the Imaginarium festival is over, Wordfest events run year-round and tickets for upcoming ones are available now.