The Canada Book Fund for Booksellers and Organizations fund provides two years of support for the costs associated with online sales, including shipping costs, and helps Canadian booksellers improve their business model for online sales.
The CBF’s Support for Organizations stream contributes to the marketing and promotion of Canadian-authored books and strengthens the infrastructure and efficiency of the Canadian book industry through professional development, internships, and technology projects.
About the Initiative
Support for Booksellers (SFB) is a 2-year program component of the Canada Book Fund (CBF) that will provide support in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 to help Canadian booksellers increase their online sales for Canadian-authored books and improve their business model for online sales.
The SFB component of the CBF supports individual Canadian booksellers or affiliated groups of booksellers. It provides funding for eligible expenses related to the sale of new print books online. This funding is allocated based on past sales of Canadian-authored books.
At the time of application and through to the end of your funding agreement, a bookseller must meet all of the following requirements:
- be at least 75% owned and controlled by Canadians
- have its headquarters and at least 75% of its employees based in Canada
- specialize in the sale of new print books to the public
- sell Canadian-authored print books
- have a physical retail store that is open to the public
- have been in operation since at least January 1, 2022
- sell books by a minimum of 25 publishers
- have eligible total book sales of $50,000 between January 1 and December 31, 2022
- sell new print books online to the public through a transactional website at the time the application is submitted
The following organizations are not eligible for support:
- booksellers that exclusively sell used books, discounted books, or digital books
- booksellers that do not sell any Canadian-authored titles
- events like festivals and salons du livre
Application Open Date (Status)
Open
Application End Date (Deadline)
April 1, 2023
Funding Limits
Coverage of 75% of eligible costs up to $1.5 million
Funding rules are strictly bound to the terms of the successful Grant Application.
Purpose & Commonly Used For
- Improvement of technological or logistical tools directly related to the sale of print books online
- Promotion and marketing of Canadian-authored books for online sale
- Marketing projects
- Technology projects
- Professional Development projects
- Internships
More Information
Eligible industry organizations can also apply for funding for collective projects aimed at supporting and strengthening online sales of Canadian books through a special call under the Support for Organizations component of the program. The 2023-2024 special call for applications will close on April 24, 2023.
To learn more about who can apply for funding under this initiative, see the Booksellers Initiative – Support for Organizations component of the CBF.
