Canadians Can Be Thankful

Got a nice bit of news yesterday, which was Monday of the Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. I planned to share it last night, but, due to a turkey-induced food coma, I fell asleep on the couch.

But I'm partially awake now, so here is the news I received from CreateSpace:

Hello,

Starting October 8, we began making CreateSpace titles enrolled in the Amazon.com sales channel available directly to readers in Canada on Amazon.ca. Your title may already be offered on Amazon.ca through Expanded Distribution or other channels, but now you can earn the same royalty on Amazon.ca that you would earn for a sale on Amazon.com.

You can expect to see a title enrolled in the Amazon.com sales channel on Amazon.ca in 30 days. [...]

Best regards,
The CreateSpace Team

What does this mean for YOU (assuming you're Canadian)? It means print versions of my books will now be available directly via the Canadian Amazon site.

I know this sounds like "so what?" news, so I'll tell you why it matters to me.

A couple years ago, when I published my award-winning trans lesbian novel The Red Satin Collection at CreateSpace, a library system in New Brunswick expressed interest in carrying the book. The problem was that they purchased their books at Amazon.ca (which was a surprise to me--I thought all libraries purchased through special secret library-only channels) and The Red Satin Collection was not available for purchase at Amazon.ca. For whatever reason, they couldn't buy from the .com site or any other channels.

When you're an author who starts self-publishing (especially when you began your career in a small press world), suddenly you're thrust into handling all aspects of your own little publishing business. And sometimes you don't know what the hell you're doing.

In this instance, I contacted CreateSpace and asked how this library could go about purchasing the book at Amazon.ca. In the end, I couldn't solve the problem. Now, two years later, CreateSpace has solved it. They're making print books available at the Canadian site.

Why it took so long... well, don't ask me. I still find this business baffling. But, in true Thanksgiving tradition, I'm grateful that Canadians will now be able to purchase my paperbacks more easily.