Launching Constellate Publishing: An evaluation of small press genre fiction publishing in Canada

The small press genre fiction publishing community in Canada is a tight-knit group that supports and promotes each other. After examining the need for increased awareness and accessibility to Canadian titles, I decided to launch a new digital publishing venture focused on Canadian speculative fiction content, Constellate Publishing. Using the business planning and launch of the Constellate E-zine as a caste study, this report discusses several topics related to small press genre fiction publishing in Canada and digital publishing more generally: Canadians’ awareness of and accessibility to Canadian titles, the community of genre fiction publishing, ephemerality in digital publications, and using Patreon as a publishing platform. These topics are brought together by how they affected the business planning decisions and ultimate launch of the Constellate E-zine in November 2018.