Marketing Grant Helps Radiant Press Add to Great Reputation

Radiant Press was a successful grant recipient of a Marketing Grant (Major stream) to support its marketing and publicity efforts for their 2023-24 books and general corporate marketing.

Debra Bell, publisher and co-founder of Radiant Press likes where things are going. “We’re building a good reputation outside of Saskatchewan for the quality of books we’re putting out,” she says. With numerous award nominations and wins under their belt, it’s no surprise why.

Radiant Press published three books in the fall of 2023 and another three in the spring of 2024. With the help of the grant, they were able to hire a publicist to find media and festival opportunities for their books. The grant has also allowed Radiant Press to create video trailers used on social media. These book trailers have been very helpful in marketing new titles.

“The marketing grant Creative Saskatchewan offers is highly beneficial to local publishers like Radiant Press,” Co-publisher John Kennedy states. “It’s not common to have a separate grant stream for marketing, but Creative Saskatchewan recognizes there is as much a need to market the product as there is to create it.” Kennedy calls these marketing funds “absolutely invaluable.”

As the books win awards and the company becomes more visible, there is a spillover effect in that you become flooded with manuscripts. “We’re getting 200 – 300 really good submissions each year. It’s a good problem to have. Only about 2% of the submissions we get end up in print. That makes for some really great books,” says Kennedy.

When asked what they’re looking forward to, the team mentions the upcoming book from Regina author Suzy Krause. Kennedy calls Krause “Regina’s most famous author you’ve never heard of”. Krause is a best-selling author in the United States and Radiant Press want her to be just as well known here in her home country. “We’re thrilled she’s chosen Radiant Press as her Canadian publisher,” Kennedy says.