Print Your 3-Day Novel at the Library
The start of September is just around the corner. While students prepare to go back to school, some writers will be preparing for something gruelling and, hopefully, enlightening—the 3-Day Novel Contest.
If you happen to be one of these writers, maybe you want to publish your novel at the library!
The annual 3-Day Novel Contest occurs on Labour Day weekend. Participants will begin writing at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, September 2 and stop writing at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, September 4. Writers can write wherever they’d like and on whatever genre they choose.
Running now for over 40 years, this contest began as a challenge between a few writers in Vancouver, BC. Now, contestants from all over the world—including Australia, Israel, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Japan—participate in this challenge. Registration costs $50 for Canadians, and the last day to register is September 1.
If signing up for the contest seems like a commitment you’re not ready to make, you should still try the challenge! Book off the long weekend for yourself or with a group of friends and see where your writing takes you. Come September, you’ll finally have a chance to write that novel you’ve been meaning, but never had the time, to write.
Do-It-Yourself Book Printing at TPL
Once you’ve written out your story, you have the option of taking the do-it-yourself route to publish your book. Toronto Public Library offers a book printing service, Asquith Press. Asquith Press is located in the Digital Innovation Hub at the Toronto Reference Library.
Anyone, whether you’re a Torontonian or not, can use this service. Through Asquith Press, you can print many books or just one. There is a setup fee ($25), a cost per book ($6), and a cost per page ($0.04). You can also print in whatever language that you’d like. For instance, past authors have printed in French, Korean, Russian, Urdu and Italian.
Asquith Press provides a detailed guide on how to format your book for printing. It also provides cover and interior design templates that you can use. For more information on Asquith Press, you can'talk to friendly and knowledgeable staff at Toronto Reference Library's Digital Innovation Hub.
4 thoughts on “Print Your 3-Day Novel at the Library”
I did that a couple of times in the 90s. I didn’t finish either time, but my roommates were impressed enough to see me sitting in one place for so long that they started bringing me tea and snacks.
Thanks for this blog post, Frances!
I participated in this contest back in 2005. I didn’t win but I remember that it was quite a fun and frantic experience! Some of the winning submissions are really great too – and look forward to reading about the winning title this year!
Thanks for sharing your experiences, P@. It’s nice to hear that your roommates gave you tea and snacks while you were writing!
Thanks for reading the post, Ab. Velasco! I haven’t tried the challenge yet, but it does seem like fun, especially if you’re doing the challenge with friends!