Yes, yes, telling people to “Buy Canadian” is trendy right now, and for good reasons that don’t need too much elaboration. The recent tariffs are shortsighted and are hurting everyone and the reality is that most Canadians and Americans regard each other as good people and good neighbours and know that cross-border trade is a good thing for both countries. It is easy to let this madness distract us from what is possible, and what is possible is to add resilience to Canada’s book industry by buying books made here. In fact, the Canadian book publishing industry has been asking readers to do this for years, and Canadians are readers – reading rates as the eighth most common weekly leisure activity and seventh most common daily activity among Canadians (watching television or videos was No. 1) and a good portion of Canadian readers already read Canadian books. In 2023, the Canadian Book Consumer Study showed that 33% of Canadian book buyers searched for books by Canadian authors or illustrators.

These are encouraging trends but this does not mean that tariffs will not have a marked effect on Canadian book publishing and related industries. Publishers Weekly posted an article recently that shows the impact of tariffs on the US market: The USA imports $1.8 billion worth of paper annually, two thirds of which comes from Canada, and US publishers are already indicating that they will have to raise the price of their books to accommodate these costs. Now consider that books printed in the US on Canadian paper will face further tariffs when they are imported back into Canada, and we can expect the cost of books to rise significantly.

By comparison, the Canadian book market is tiny: The State of Canadian Publishing Report for 2023 notes that Canadian publishing companies published on average 35 books per firm in 2023, while multinational companies with branch plants in Canada published an average of 752 books across all divisions.

Small and mid-sized publishers are the mainstay of the Canadian publishing industry. Eighty-four per cent of new books published by mid-sized Canadian presses (that is, presses with a gross revenue of under $10 million) had at least one Canadian contributor (but likely more) and small publishers (gross revenue under $1 million) followed at 79%. Most Alberta publishers fall in the small to mid-sized categories. If you are going to read Canadian books and Canadian authors, there’s good reason to support the smaller independent publishers who publish the bulk of Canadian stories.

Canadian (and Mexican) booksellers already struggle to sell into the American market and exchange rates make it expensive to attend sales events there and offer books at competitive prices. Tariffs will raise the costs even more, leading to a greater number of smaller book and literary magazine publishers being unable to attend. It does not take great genius to see that that this will result in lower sales for writers and publishers who already struggle to make a living in the shadow of the dominant US market.

Regular assessments of the state of Canadian publishing and of Canadian reading habits over the last two decades show that when Canadians are reminded to buy Canadian books, they do. These studies also show that the more readers turn to Canadian books, the more booksellers stock Canadian books. Buying Canadian helps everyone involved with books.

Readers can also help Canadian publishers and writers by asking local and provincial governments to invest in the book industry. A 2020–21 Support for Distribution resulted in increased sales of mostly Canadian books as a result of government-funded incentives. The more governments (provincial and federal) invest in the book industry, the more everyone associated with the industry benefits.

The majority of Canadian readers find books online, and roughly half of book sales in Canada occur online, so visit sites like 49th Shelf for recommendations, and read review sites like The Miramichi Reader or The Seaboard Review to see what exciting new Canadian-authored books are out there. Visit Alberta book publisher websites directly. Or spend some time poking around Read Alberta—we’ve got tons of books recommendations.

One of the best ways to support Canadian publishing is to buy from local Canadian independent booksellers. For booksellers, the return on investment on Canadian-authored books is higher than on other books. Buying local content strengthens all aspects of the Canadian book industry. A 2018 report on the State of Independent Bookselling in Canada showed that the majority of bookstores surveyed had been in business for 15 or more years (68%). What this good news about longevity conceals is the corollary: just over 30% of bookstores in Canada are newer, and therefore more vulnerable. Alberta has seen an exponential growth in niche booksellers in the last five years – see our bookstore features on Porch Light Books, River Bee Books, Analog Books, Bailey Books, Magpie Books (then still Glass), Daisy Chain, and Slow Burn Books that showcase a few of these.

Supporting local independent bookstores also helps in subtler ways to keep our country diverse. Just over two-thirds of Canadian booksellers stock books in languages other than English (mainly French and Spanish), and 28% of Canadian bookstores stock books in Cree. Buying local and in the multitude of languages that are spoken here strengthens our awareness of the many cultures and languages that makes up this country.

If you are going to buy Canadian books (and you should), buy them from local independent bookstores to ensure their continued health and survival.

There are other ways to support the industry, too: book launches, book clubs, book signings and readings account for the highest returns on investment for booksellers, so get out and do events at local bookstores if you’re an author; if you’re a reader, go to these events and buy books.

At the end of the day, what’s important is supporting all areas of the Canadian book industry during these unsettling times.