CANADIAN Writers' Support Thread

[ImaWriter]

I saw the Australian thread and thought we should start one for Canadian authors as well. The original KB thread had a ton of relevant info, so maybe we can replicate a lot of it here.

Feel free to ask any Canadian specific questions, add useful tips, or just shout out I AM CANADIAN!

ETA. I like Eugene's idea, so I'm adding relevant links here. Much easier for everyone to find.

Canadian Banks w/US Based Accounts
http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/dms/cross-border-banking/index-i-or.html (promotion good to 11/30/2018)
https://www.rbcbank.com/index.html (the regular link of the above)
https://www.tdcanadatrust.com/products-services/banking/cross-border-banking/index.jsp

It's been a while since I researched these, so do your due diligence. I used to have the TD account, but now have the RBC. (Because I was pissed at TD in general, not because of this account.) IIRC, TD automatically gives you a better conversion rate when you transfer your money, but the fees are higher. To get the better rate with RBC, you need the premium cross border account. Depending on your sales, the higher fees may not be the smartest choice. But hey, they're a write off!

Free ISBN for Canadians
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/isbn-canada/Pages/isbn-canada.aspx

Copyright in Canada
https://cb-cda.gc.ca/act-loi/index-e.html

(can get guide emailed chapter by chapter or buy one)
http://www.bdc-canada.com/BDC/services/Copyright_reg.htm?msclkid=59f3e4a72f38100beb1dbf0f064fca7d

The Writers' Union of Canada
https://www.writersunion.ca/ghostwriting
Members can offer ghostwriting. Membership cost is $100 for the first year, then $205 each subsequent year. There's a discount if you're over 80. 

For a book of 60,000 to 90,000 words, the Union recommends a total minimum fee of $40,000, payable as follows: 15% on signing; 10% on delivery of detailed outline; 25% on delivery of first draft of one chapter; 25% on delivery of first draft of entire manuscript; and 25% on delivery of revised manuscript.

If anyone has useful links, add them to a post below and then PM me so I know they're there. I'll add them here. Thanks Eugene, for suggesting this.

[Tulonsae]

Can someone post the details about how to do the "get an account in Canada that lets you get US funds deposited in the US and easily transferred into CDN"? I think it was something like "get account at CIBC and specify the US Georgia branch".

[ImaWriter]

I have an RBC Cross Border account.

They have a promo on right now, and it's dead easy to sign up.   http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/dms/cross-border-banking/index-i-or.html

One thing to note, if you go with the higher priced chequing account, you get a higher conversion rate when you move your money from your US to CAD account.  So it's a good idea to crunch some numbers to see if that benefits you.

[Trina Lee]

Fellow Canadian here! Saying hello from Edmonton, Alberta.

[RappaDizzy]

I am Canadian 

Greetings from the shores of Lake Erie.

[RappaDizzy]

And how about adding links like this along with your RBC Cross Border account info in your first post as a 'sticky'

Free ISBN for Canadians

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/isbn-canada/Pages/isbn-canada.aspx

Copyright in Canada

https://cb-cda.gc.ca/act-loi/index-e.html

(can get guide emailed chapter by chapter or buy one)

http://www.bdc-canada.com/BDC/services/Copyright_reg.htm?msclkid=59f3e4a72f38100beb1dbf0f064fca7d

[guest120]

Greetings, fellow Canadian Earthlings. Take me to your litre.
 

[Eric Thomson]

Greetings, fellow Canadian Earthlings. Take me to your litre.
 

Sorry dude.  I still drink my rum from a 40 ouncer

[guest120]

Sorry

My people!

[Denise]

Reporting for duty! I'm in Montreal, the land of language confusion and language police.


Don't we all love the free ISBNs? 

[Virginia McClain]

Reporting for duty! I'm in Montreal, the land of language confusion and language police.


Don't we all love the free ISBNs? 

The free ISBNs are the best! I am not actually Canadian yet. Just a legal permanent resident for the moment. But I'll be applying for citizenship in the near future. Meanwhile, I live with my Canadian spouse and our Canadian daughter in the city of Winterpeg.

[WriteOn]

Canadian here. Hello!!

I have my Georgia RBC US bank account. I also have a US bank account on the Canadian side. It's a pain, but I transfer from the US side to the Canadian side and don't pay any conversion fees unless you mean then converting the US funds to Canadian? I tend to leave the US money there for trips to the US, or to pay off my US Visa account.

When I do convert from US to Canadian, I use one of those currency stores. As one of the bank tellers told me, you get a better rate from them.

[WriteOn]

Reporting for duty! I'm in Montreal, the land of language confusion and language police.


Don't we all love the free ISBNs? 

The free ISBNs are the best! I am not actually Canadian yet. Just a legal permanent resident for the moment. But I'll be applying for citizenship in the near future. Meanwhile, I live with my Canadian spouse and our Canadian daughter in the city of Winterpeg.

Winnipegger here! Hey, Alberta got snow a week before we did.

[Virginia McClain]

Winnipegger here! Hey, Alberta got snow a week before we did.

True! Wonders never cease. ;-)


ETA: Also, hi!

[guest116]

Hello from Ontario!  I never bothered with a US branch, etc. I just use my TD account for KDP and Payoneer for CreateSpace. I guess I'm not going to need the Payoneer account so much going forward.

[RappaDizzy]

Reporting for duty! I'm in Montreal, the land of language confusion and language police.
Don't we all love the free ISBNs? 

The free ISBNs are the best! I am not actually Canadian yet. Just a legal permanent resident for the moment. But I'll be applying for citizenship in the near future. Meanwhile, I live with my Canadian spouse and our Canadian daughter in the city of Winterpeg.

You will know you’ve become Canadian when you go to Florida and people look at you strange...and you realize you used “toonie” and “loonie” in a sentence. And you know what h-e-double-hockey-sticks means.... :icon_lol:

[Virginia McClain]

Reporting for duty! I'm in Montreal, the land of language confusion and language police.
Don't we all love the free ISBNs? 

The free ISBNs are the best! I am not actually Canadian yet. Just a legal permanent resident for the moment. But I'll be applying for citizenship in the near future. Meanwhile, I live with my Canadian spouse and our Canadian daughter in the city of Winterpeg.

You will know you’ve become Canadian when you go to Florida and people look at you strange...and you realize you used “toonie” and “loonie” in a sentence. And you know what h-e-double-hockey-sticks means.... :icon_lol:

Well, if that's all it takes then I'm already Canadian. ;-) Except I never go to Florida. I do my snowbirding in Arizona (cause I'm sorta-kinda from AZ anyway).

[Tulonsae]

I live in Greater Vancouver. We immigrated here 10 years ago and became citizens 5 years ago.

[Steve]

Reporting for duty! I'm in Montreal, the land of language confusion and language police.

Salut... from the Montreal suburbs!

[EllieL]

Hello from Climax, SK! Just a teensy little village in SW Saskatchewan that we moved to a couple years back from the big city of Calgary. Still work in Calgary, so I am only home one week out of the month. Just waiting for this writing thing to make me a million so I can be home with hubby and the dogs full time!


Still waiting...

[Royal Editorial (Katie)]

Hello from the centre of the universe! Three guesses at my city. :P

[Steve]

Hello from the centre of the universe! Three guesses at my city. :P

LOL Nice try, Moose Jaw 

[ImaWriter]

Hello from Climax, SK!

Please tell me you write erotica!

[Edward M. Grant]

Please tell me you write erotica!

That was my first thought .

Still in Saskatchewan, but I want to be able to retire somewhere in the countryside in Alberta in the next few years. I just need to write some best-selling books so I can afford it.

Or go total redneck and buy one of the acreages with a cheap mobile home.

[Denise]

Question: Does anyone write in Canadian English?


I used to. But then, realizing that I sell mostly to the USA, I changed my spelling to American English.

I still use the metric system, though, just because I have a lot of sci-fi elements in my writing (and I consider myself mostly a sci-fi writer).

Salut... from the Montreal suburbs!

Hey, there!

[guest120]

Question: Does anyone write in Canadian English?

I used to. But then, realizing that I sell mostly to the USA, I changed my spelling to American English.

I still use the metric system, though, just because I have a lot of sci-fi elements in my writing (and I consider myself mostly a sci-fi writer).

I use American English because that's the market I'm most focused on at the moment. I think more Americans would have an issue with Canadian spelling of certain words than Canadians would seeing American spelling of words.

[Edward M. Grant]

I use Canadian English. So far none of the reviews I've seen have given that as a reason for not liking the book.

The last novel I wrote is set in England, so it kept jumping from metric to imperial units as the PoV switched between the teenage character who grew up on metres and kilograms and the fifty-something character who grew up on feet and pounds.

[Tulonsae]

I write in American English.

For one, it's my natural English. (I was 50 when we immigrated here. Although I use Canadian English here as much as possible.)

For another, my books (if they sell) would be more accepted in the US market. I belong to a local writers' group (for several years) here - and I'm reasonably certain that I can't write anything that would appeal to the Canadian market. (I know there's some cross over.)

[Steve]

I use American English. I write contemporary thrillers based in the US.

Since French is my native language, I pretty much decided from the start to skip Canadian English. Just because. Who knew it would be a useful decision decades later?

[Royal Editorial (Katie)]

Canadian English! I don't sell enough to know if anyone hates it.

[Edward M. Grant]

Since French is my native language, I pretty much decided from the start to skip Canadian English. Just because. Who knew it would be a useful decision decades later?

I had a hard time deciding how much French to include in my French-Foreign-Legion-in-space novel. In the end I just used it now and again and assumed people would imagine the characters speaking it the rest of the time.

So, yeah, effectively French people in space speaking Canadian English in subtitles . But it was my best-selling book for a year or more, regardless of that.

[Steve]

So, yeah, effectively French people in space speaking Canadian English in subtitles

#TrueFact :Tup3a:

[Virginia McClain]

Question: Does anyone write in Canadian English?


I used to. But then, realizing that I sell mostly to the USA, I changed my spelling to American English.

I still use the metric system, though, just because I have a lot of sci-fi elements in my writing (and I consider myself mostly a sci-fi writer).

Salut... from the Montreal suburbs!

Hey, there!

I use American English, largely because it's what I'm most familiar with, but also because of the market. However, I prefer grey (British) to gray (North American) and luckily, my editor supports this choice. Meanwhile, I just can't get behind the extra vowels in Canadian English. ;-) (I totally use metric wherever possible though.)

[Royal Editorial (Katie)]

Question: Does anyone write in Canadian English?


I used to. But then, realizing that I sell mostly to the USA, I changed my spelling to American English.

I still use the metric system, though, just because I have a lot of sci-fi elements in my writing (and I consider myself mostly a sci-fi writer).

Salut... from the Montreal suburbs!

Hey, there!

I use American English, largely because it's what I'm most familiar with, but also because of the market. However, I prefer grey (British) to gray (North American) and luckily, my editor supports this choice. Meanwhile, I just can't get behind the extra vowels in Canadian English. ;-) (I totally use metric wherever possible though.)

Nooo our vowels are the best!


Except manoeuver. That word's messed up.

[Virginia McClain]

Nooo our vowels are the best!

Except manoeuver. That word's messed up.

I'm sorry but I can't help but pronounce colour, valour, and honour as if they all contain the word 'our' at the end, and it makes me laugh every time!

[Royal Editorial (Katie)]

Nooo our vowels are the best!

Except manoeuver. That word's messed up.

I'm sorry but I can't help but pronounce colour, valour, and honour as if they all contain the word 'our' at the end, and it makes me laugh every time!

But without the U everything would be pronounced like Hodor! And that's even funnier.


(Confession: I actually have no preference and am happy to read either.)

[ImaWriter]

Question: Does anyone write in Canadian English?

It depends.

If I write something set in T.O. I'll use Canadian English, but most of my books are set in the US since that's my biggest audience, so for those I use US English.

[EllieL]

Hello from Climax, SK!

Please tell me you write erotica!

lol sorry, I tried my hand at erotica, but I just blush too damn hard. But I do write romance, and some of my love scenes can be pretty steamy.
The name of the village is what drew us to look around at homes. We figured, if people lived in a place called Climax, they had to be pretty awesome folks. And they are. We love it there. Incidentally, the town motto is 'You may be coming or going, but you always get to Climax.'

[Steve]

Incidentally, the town motto is 'You may be coming or going, but you always get to Climax.'

:icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol:

[Trina Lee]

Question: Does anyone write in Canadian English?

I write in American English. My first few books were published with a small US press before I went indie and they edited everything to be American English. I kept going with it since the majority of my sales/audience tend to be in the US.

[guest116]

Question: Does anyone write in Canadian English?


I used to. But then, realizing that I sell mostly to the USA, I changed my spelling to American English.

I still use the metric system, though, just because I have a lot of sci-fi elements in my writing (and I consider myself mostly a sci-fi writer). 

I write in American English. I wrote textbooks for years for Osborne/McGraw-Hill and Coriolis Technology Press. The editors there hated my 'u's and double 'l's, so I quickly learned to adjust my writing to American English. It's so drilled into me that Canadian English just looks wrong to me now.

[Rebecca M]

I'm in Northern Ontario, planning on my first release next March or April.


I feel like I have to write in Canadian English. Other than some of the obvious words (ex. colour, favour) I wouldn't even notice I was picking the "wrong" spelling for a lot of things and would have to slow down to think about it.

[Edward M. Grant]

Spelling is the easy part, since the word processor can do it for you. The difficult part is using the correct words the way an American would, which is one reason I avoid writing stories set in America.

That said, I have two different versions of LibreOffice installed on two different PCs, and they disagree about Canadian spelling for some words.

[ImaWriter]

Hey, Edward!

I sent you a PM the other day about the sig you said you lost. Did you get it?

[Edward M. Grant]

I sent you a PM the other day about the sig you said you lost. Did you get it?

Yeah, but I completely deleted it from kboards rather than just disabling it.

I should create a new one anyway, since it was mostly old books on there that I hadn't updated in quite some time.

[ImaWriter]

I sent you a PM the other day about the sig you said you lost. Did you get it?

Yeah, but I completely deleted it from kboards rather than just disabling it.

I should create a new one anyway, since it was mostly old books on there that I hadn't updated in quite some time.

Okay, I guess you didn't see my post here -- in the thread where you mentioned it. I think it was in the let everyone know you're here thread.

I found your KB sig in Google cache and copy/pasted it for you in the above mentioned thread.  I'll see if I can find it and add it. 

ETA:  check this post. It has your old sig:  https://writersanctum.com/index.php?topic=64.msg2693#msg2693

[CindyCarroll]

I'm here!

I also have the RBC cross border account and I don't pay a fee either.

I set all of my books (except one series) in Canada but I write in American English since that's where most of my sales will be. Wondering if I should change them to Canadian English though.

[littleauthor]

Hi everyone! I'm in West Quebec, about 30 min from the bridge into Ottawa. I switched to US spellings for the last couple of books but there was no reason. The readers didn't care. I just got it into my head it was an issue and it's not really. (I found). It's weird typing "color" instead of "colour". Looks naked without the 'u.'


(I'm suffering Canadian guilt because a Canadian company was the monkey wrench for WC.    Anyone else?)

[maiasepp]

Greetings from Toronto! Any one else from these parts?

[RappaDizzy]

(I'm suffering Canadian guilt because a Canadian company was the monkey wrench for WC.    Anyone else?)

Typical Canadian.


Sorry for breaking your board eh!