Saskatchewan’s Best Scenic Drives Provides Large Economic Spinoff

Robin Karpan was successful in applying for a Book Publishing Production Grant (Author-Funded stream) for their book, Saskatchewan’s Best Scenic Drives – Revised Edition.

Robin Karpan knew he was onto something with his book, Saskatchewan’s Best Scenic Drives – Revised Edition, and was happy it was made possible through the Book Publishing Production Grant (Author-Funded Stream). “We think that the key factor was showing how the project would be economically viable,” says Karpan. “It also helped that we have a track record of producing books that have been successful and have sold well.”

Karpan and his wife, Arlene, own and operate Parkland Publishing where they are also the authors and photographers of the 16 titles they have published. This book is a travel guide to scenic driving routes throughout Saskatchewan, with the theme of “taking the road less travelled.” Instead of sticking to major highways, the drives concentrate on secondary highways, backroads, and off-the-beaten-track routes. Each route includes an introduction to why it is an attractive drive, a detailed map, a description of the route with precise directions and GPS coordinates, stories, descriptions of points of interest along the way, and plenty of eye-catching colour photography.

The Karpans became aware of the grant through SaskBooks and were pleased to find out their project fit the requirements for the grant. The grant was used for book production and some marketing, with the biggest cost being printing which has increased in price significantly in the past few years. “The grant helps to spread the financial risk of the project.  It allowed us to become profitable earlier in the process because of the sharing of the production costs,” says Karpan.

Saskatchewan obviously plays a large role in the Karpans’ work and they are proud to have their book put the focus on Saskatchewan. “All of the funds in the production were spent in Saskatchewan. We use a printing company in Saskatchewan. Most of the retailers handling our books are in Saskatchewan, so they benefit from sales of our books. Our most recent project, as well as most of our other books, deals with travel and tourism in Saskatchewan. They encourage people to explore different parts of the province, so there are numerous economic spin-offs for tourism businesses and communities throughout Saskatchewan. Many people from outside Saskatchewan purchase our Saskatchewan-related travel books, then travel to Saskatchewan and spend money here,” explains Karpan. “We have found that Saskatchewan people are extremely interested in learning more about places around the province, so as a consequence our books have sold well. The most rewarding part of running a creative business in the province is seeing our products being accepted by Saskatchewan people.”

Karpan addresses the importance of being an entrepreneur in the arts. “A business in the arts is the same as any other business. It needs to be profitable to survive. Some arts organizations do not support writers who want to publish their own books. They take the view that writers should ‘know their place’ and not become entrepreneurial and strive to become more profitable,” says Karpan. “We’re fortunate to have a program like Creative Saskatchewan which fosters entrepreneurship in the arts rather than stifles it.”