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Federal Publications, the #1 seller of Government of Canada publications

When Juliet began working for her father's new bookstore in 1985, it was just a summer job. "I'd just graduated from university," she says, "and I was waiting to get regular work."

But then she got hooked. "I loved the fact that I could come up with an idea and get it implemented right away without going through levels of approval."

Successful strategies

Federal Publications has a wide selection of books from Canadian Government Publishing

Today, Juliet is President of Federal Publications, Inc. with an MBA under her belt to give her more skills in running a small business. Two strategies, her Web site and e-newsletter, have been very successful.

The store's site gets requests from around the world. "It's a wonderful experience," Juliet says, "to find out how many people are interested in Canada."

And her customers eagerly await the arrival of the monthly e-newsletter. "Some people must be sitting by their computers waiting, because as soon as it goes out, we get orders."

Business trends

Federal Publications has a wide selection of books from Canadian Government Publishing

During the past 17 years, Juliet has seen two significant trends. The first is more Canadians and foreigners interested in travelling in Canada and looking for books about Canada.

The second trend is growing sales of maps and electronic charts. "We now go to trade shows for boaters, cottagers, and people interested in outdoor adventure."

Juliet has also found that other niche trade shows are also good for business - for example, shows for law librarians, geography teachers, and import/export firms.

Positive relationship with Canadian Government Publishing (CGP)

Close-up of signage provided by Canadian Government Publishing

Juliet finds that CGP is very responsive and always trying to improve its services. But, equally important, she appreciates the fact that "they supply non-partisan information about Canada. Our customers don't want biased material."

Finally, Juliet attributes her store's success to being pro-active about promoting government publications and also being highly customer-oriented.

"We like to say that we're a first stop for people looking for information on Canada, and if it isn't in a book, we steer them in the right direction."

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