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| Don Gorman | |
Don Gorman, publisher of Rocky Mountain Books and the national sales director for Heritage Group Distribution, has also been a bookseller, publisher sales representative and acquiring editor. He is president of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia and has served on the boards of Pubwest, the Association of Canadian Publishers, and the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. Here he offers observations on how the 25% tariff that the U.S. plans to impose on Canada will affect publishing and bookselling:
If the proposed 25% U.S. tariff on books goes through, Canadian-published titles will either become more expensive for American readers or harder to find in U.S. bookstores and libraries. Publishers will have two choices: raise prices to offset the cost--making our books less competitive--or absorb the tariff, which simply isn't sustainable in an industry where margins are already razor-thin.
On top of that, U.S. distributors like PGW (our distributor) will have no choice but to pass any additional costs associated with the tariffs back to publishers through chargebacks, increasing the financial strain even further. And it doesn't stop there--managing the accounting and administration that comes with these extra expenses will drive costs even higher.
With resources stretched so thin, a publisher's ability to effectively market and promote their books and authors in the U.S. will inevitably take a serious hit. That means fewer opportunities to introduce new Canadian voices to American readers, reduced visibility in bookstores, drops in advertising, and a tougher time competing in an already challenging market.
The bottom line? Fewer Canadian books in the U.S., making it harder for readers to find them and tougher for booksellers to stock them. This isn't just a publisher problem--it's a disruption that will ripple through the entire industry, impacting authors, distributors, booksellers, and readers alike.
We're all hoping that books will eventually be exempt from the tariff, but until that happens, the consequences for Canadian publishing in the U.S. will be significant.