Publication woes during a trade war

​This is just an update prior to the final edit and eventual publication of my second novel, THE PROPHET OF FROGS HOLLOW. Since completing my first draft a few things have happened. The USA has elected a new leader, and he has led his government into a trade war with Canada. While Canadians will do their best to fight back with a BUY CANADIAN approach to consumption, authors, musicians, and artists find themselves in a pickle due to American control of the production and distribution of art.
 
Let me tackle this issue from an author’s perspective. I will be releasing my new novel in May 2025. For my first novel, MY FATHER’S SECRET, I hired a company that did a wonderful job launching my book. However, I have since learned that I can do a lot of the things they did on my own for a fraction of the cost. This will allow me to release my novel more cheaply while giving my reader the same access to my work that a self-publishing company can provide.
 
Now the tricky part: if a person like me wants to self-publish to a global audience, they have two reasonable options—Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP-Amazon) and/or IngramSpark (I know there are other companies, but these are the two biggest). Both are US-based. KDP gives you access to the powerful reach of the Amazon marketplace and IngramSpark gets you into almost every distribution channel imaginable along with access to libraries and bookstores (who don’t want to do business with Amazon). While most self-published novels have a very limited reach (an average of 250 books sold by some estimates), every author needs to think and act BIG if they want their work to succeed.
 
Back to the self-publishing companies … I could go to the same company I used before (FriesenPress based in Victoria, B.C.). This would be a seemingly Canadian option that might make the purchaser of my novel feel better about keeping their money out of the United States because of the trade war. However, a self-publishing company is just going to do what I will be doing on my own: they will upload my paperback and e-book onto KDP/Amazon and Ingram. When a reader buys the novel, it will roll into the print-on-demand system and either come out of one of Amazon’s many subcontracted print houses or from Ingram’s facilities in Tennessee or Pennsylvania. 
 
The only ray of sunshine for this self-published author: if a reader buys my novel from amazon.ca, KDP will use a sub-contractor in Canada to print the book. A friend of mine published her novel and on the last page it read ‘Printed in Bolton, Ontario.’ At least a contractor in Canada will get some business if you order my novel from amazon.ca.
 
I just wanted to be transparent about this process. My hope is that people will support my work as an author even though I am tied into the US channels that dominate the industry. While I could explore Canadian printing and distribution, the cost of the novel would triple, and no one would be reading it. I am just too small a player to make this viable.
 
I believe THE PROPHET OF FROGS HOLLOW is a very good novel (based on my own feelings and the feedback I have received from my editor and BETA readers) and I hope that the trade war will not keep readers away. In the meantime, my book promotion efforts will continue and I intend to make sure you have the opportunity to have a novel in your hands (or on your tablet/e-reader) by the end of May 2025.

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