DC Canada brings more Canada to the world, one story at a time
Transcript — DC Canada brings more Canada to the world, one story at a time
Video length: 00:02:57
[Light piano music accompanies sweeping aerial views of the Ottawa River and a bridge behind Parliament Hill. Projected against this view is a woman seated in a warmly lit office library filled with displays of children’s books.]
Woman 1: I think the world needs more Canada. That's why Canadian publishers should go beyond this market. Here, it's very competitive.
[On-screen text: ‘Creative Export Strategy’ then ‘DC Canada Education Publishing’. Transitions to a DC Canada Education Publishing sign, then to a woman working at desk, surrounded by children’s books.]
[On-screen text: Meizhen Dang, Publishing Director]
Woman 1: My name is Meizhen Dang. I'm the publishing director of DC Canada Education Publishing.
[A second woman seated in the library. Transitions to the woman in a boardroom in discussion with colleagues.]
[On-screen text: Kara Cybanski, Editor-in-Chief]
Woman 2: My name is Kara Cybanski and I’m the editor in chief. At DC Canada, we believe that every learner deserves to have a story where they can see themselves represented, and that everyone has a story to tell.
[Close-ups of a “Kids’ Bookstore” sign and colourful children’s books in English, French and Mandarin. Two elementary school-aged girls enter the library, select some books and begin reading them.]
Meizhen: We got into publishing by collaborating with a Chinese publisher and a Canadian publisher to bring Canadian-flavored textbooks to China. We publish from grade 1 to grade 12, student book, activity book, teacher guide, and storybook.
[Kara seated in the library.]
Kara: And now, almost 30 years later, we have a very large catalogue with all kinds of books that we're targeting to any kind of learner around the world.
[Meizhen in the library, then in a boardroom with colleagues reviewing artwork and books. A person opens a box of books and flips through them, transitioning to colourful books on shelves.]
Meizhen: Publishing in general, I think, is a great challenge these days. The competition, social media, multimedia platforms, all these make it hard to keep kids interested in books.
[Kara seated in the library, interspersed with scenes from around the office, including an illustrator at work on her computer.]
Kara: We found out about the Creative Export Strategy funding in the Canada Book Fund newsletter, and we realized that would be a great fit for us. The Canadian market for children's books is quite small, and we needed to reach a much bigger international market in order to grow as a company. One of the best ways to do that was to seek out funding to help us with some of the costs associated with international marketing.
[Aerial views of downtown Ottawa, a central neighbourhood, and the Ottawa River near downtown. Kara seated in the library, interspersed with photos of her, Meizhen and DC Publishing colleagues and authors at trade shows around the world.]
Kara: Now that we've had this fund, we're able to go to a few more events per year. We were just in Shanghai and in Frankfurt, Germany, and the Guadalajara International Book Fair in Mexico. And through collaborations, we were able to expand to five new markets. Our export revenue increased not just in the Asian market but in Europe as well. Our memberships to our online platform increased in China and in Canada, and we were also able to hire a new salesperson to help us with sales here and abroad.
[Meizhen and Kara in a boardroom reviewing documents, then Meizhen seated in the library.]
Meizhen: I think that if you are in the creative industry, this is the program to support you. I think that this will increase your chance to find a new market, to go to the potential and to bring jobs to Canada, and to let the world discover the Canadian talent.
[Light piano music resumes. Aerial views of the Parliament clock tower, and the Ottawa River. On-screen text: Canada.ca/creative-export-strategy. Transitions to the Government of Canada logo.]
Sector: Educational publishing
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Creative Export Strategy support: Creative Export Canada (CEC) funding program
About the company
DC Canada Education Publishing is an innovative publisher of children’s books, games, and music based in Ottawa. Its team of writers, editors, illustrators, creative directors and sales staff is dedicated to providing children with stimulating educational materials and stories that promote diversity.
An exporter since its early days, the company began publishing English as a Second Language (ESL) textbooks for Chinese schools in 1995. It later expanded into science, literature, math and more recently, French as a second language. The company has since sold millions of books worldwide, with its One Story a Day series being a top seller for over a decade.
The export challenge
In 2020, DC Canada launched a new digital reading platform and apps to grow its exports in ESL markets. As a small publisher, the company was looking for support to take the next step, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. After learning about Creative Export Canada (CEC), the company decided the funding program would be a perfect fit for its export aspirations.
The export project
With CEC funding over fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, DC Canada was able to launch a marketing plan to expand in East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the U.S. Activities included carrying out digital and traditional marketing campaigns, attending trade events abroad, promoting its reading resources online, and translating key titles into French.
Project goals included raising export revenues by 25%, doubling European sales, increasing digital subscriptions fivefold and expanding platform content by 40%.
The outcome
With CEC support, DC Canada met and surpassed its targets – doubling its European revenues, growing subscriptions by a whopping 30 times and increasing digital content by nearly 60%.
The company also hired a salesperson. Since then, it has licensed its One Story a Day series in China, Korea, Vietnam and Pakistan, along with other titles in the U.S. market.
With new print and digital titles ready for export, DC Canada secured CEC funding for a second project in 2025-2026 to build on its exports to South Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Advice for potential exporters
“The world needs more Canada. If you are in the creative industries, this program will help you reach new markets, grow your potential, create jobs, and showcase Canadian talent.”