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Canadian Author Rebecca Eckler to Launch RE:books Publishing House Focused on Female Authors and Fun Reads
The former National Post columnist says her tagline is ‘What’s read is good, and what’s good is read.’” / BY Andrew Wright / July 22nd, 2022
After making her mark on the literary world with 10 books in less than 10 years, Canadian author Rebecca Eckler is spreading the wealth.
The 49-year-old writer — who’s dedicated an abundance of her time to encouraging and advising aspiring female writers through a newsletter she began in 2021 — is now taking matters into her own hands with the launch of RE:books, an independent publishing house that will spotlight female talent and focus on entertaining books.
“My tag line is: ‘What’s read is good, and what’s good is read,’” Eckler told the Canadian Press. “I would love to see more female voices. And I would like to see people be less snobby about what people read.”
“RE:member,” Eckler adds in a press release, “Reading doesn’t have to be fancy. It just has to be fun.”
Through her newsletter, Eckler discovered an appetite for breezy and enjoyable reads, a need that current publishers, preoccupied with literary merit, seemed unwilling to fulfill.
While some releases will tackle more serious subject matter, Eckler says she’ll publish stories that she’d “personally like to devour.”
The former National Post columnist, who’s written books on pregnancy, motherhood and relationships, says she’s been working on launching the publishing house for years and even returned to school in 2020 to learn the business side of the industry.
But that doesn’t mean she’ll be going by the book with her new venture. For instance, she doesn’t plan on following traditional book-release schedules, where new titles are organized by season.
“I’m just going to release books when they’re ready. And whenever I want to,” she told the Canadian Press, explaining that her freewheeling method will make her less reliant on big box retailers.
“There’s many, many other places that people buy books that are not in your traditional bookstore.”
Eckler is also going a bit off script with her annual writing contest, which will award this year’s winner with a book contract at the new imprint.
On Nov. 22, RE:books will release its debut title, I Married a Thrill Seeker, a memoir by Danielle Kaplan about dealing with her adrenalin-addicted husband’s antics. According to a blog post from the author, RE:books has six other titles in the works.