Giller winner may get faster print run

Gaspereau Press says it hopes to make a decision by Monday on how to get more copies of Johanna Skibsrud's Giller Prize-winning novel The Sentimentalists into bookstores.

The tiny Nova Scotia publishing house, known for its handcrafted books, has made headlines for being unable to keep up with the demand for the novel, which won the $50,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize on Tuesday night.

On Friday, Skibsrud said she's touched by the "overwhelming support" she's received from readers across Canada and hopes to have good news "very soon" about the availability of her novel. 

"Thankfully, in this case, it appears that everyone's interests can still be met," Skibsrud wrote in an email, adding that she's happy readers could soon get their own copy of the book. 

"It strikes me that it is this that literature is (or should be) primarily about: the readers."

On Wednesday, Gaspereau said that despite the Giller win and a flood of requests for The Sentimentalists, it was sticking to its policy of making its books locally with no outsourcing. But on Thursday, Gaspereau co-owner Gary Dunfield said he and fellow publisher Andrew Steeves were considering several ways to produce the book more quickly.

"There are three or four options and we've got to take a look at them and see which ones work," he said in a phone interview from the Gaspereau office in Kentville, N.S. "Obviously we can't make these decisions alone, either. We also have to deal with the author."

Gaspereau prides itself on high-quality books and can print only about 1,000 copies of The Sentimentalists a week.

Indigo Books & Music has thousands of copies on order, but none on store shelves.

'[On Kobo, The Sentimentalists] is outselling George W. Bush's memoir that landed the same week with an incredible amount of promotion and buzz behind it.' —Michael Tamblyn, Kobo

The days and weeks following the Giller usually see a huge boost in sales for the winning book. Indigo has not been told when The Sentimentalists will arrive and has suggested that the buzz around the book may die down if readers don't get it soon.

However, Gaspereau's inability to keep up with demand has been a boon for Indigo's Kobo — the only online retailer currently selling the book, which isn't available at Amazon's competing Kindle store.

Though Kobo declined to release hard sales information, The Sentimentalists has sold 10 times as many copies since winning the Giller as it did in its entire run before that, said Michael Tamblyn, executive vice-president of content, sales and merchandising with Kobo.

"To put it into context, that book is outselling George W. Bush's memoir that landed the same week with an incredible amount of promotion and buzz behind it," Tamblyn said Friday in a telephone interview.

"So it's shown both the power of the Giller Prize in terms of being able to focus Canadian readers' attention, and also the degree to which people really wanted to get their hands on this book as soon as possible."

Hope for holiday sales

Dunfield hopes Skibsrud's book will be in stores by Christmas. "That would be my hope, yes," he said. "I would expect that given the nature of this beast, we will make a decision fairly soon."

When asked if he anticipated making a decision by the weekend, he said: "I hope so, because you know what? I have lots of other things to do and I need to get on with them."

Skibsrud, who, at age 30 is the youngest Giller winner in the 17-year history of the prize, has expressed concern that readers can't get their hands on physical copies of her debut novel.

Dunfield said the publishing house has been in touch with Skibsrud via email as she vacations in Istanbul. "We are listening to her and we're concerned about what she wants," he said.

"I have all sorts of people who are coming up to me and saying, 'If there's anything we can do,'" he added. "I met a whackload of people on Tuesday evening and so everybody's interested in talking, but we'll leave it at that."

Published over a year ago, The Sentimentalists charts a daughter's quest to learn about her dying father's experiences in the Vietnam War.

Skibsrud, who grew up in Pictou County, N.S., and is based in Montreal, says she mined her own father's experiences in the Vietnam War for the book.

Getting the story out to thousands of curious readers is "certainly one of the priorities," Dunfield said.

"Is it the main priority? What's the main priority? I don't know."