When it comes to self-publishing, every country or region has its own terms and of course, it will depend also on which platform you are going to do it. Let us find out how does self publishing Amazon Canada works.
Today's question has three answers and you're going to want to stick around for the third answer because I'm going to tell you why self-publishing in Canada can be better than self-publishing in other locations.
So let's get into it. The question that was sent to me today was, is it hard to do self publishing Amazon Canada? Now, this is clearly coming from somebody who's thinking about self-publishing in Canada.
It's not quite clear whether or not that's doable because if you do it in Canada, maybe there are special rules. As opposed to if you had done it in the United States. So, it would tempt you to maybe not publish it all in Canada.
Maybe you would be thinking, "how exactly do I go about doing this in Canada?" because you would like to get your book distributed all over the world. But if you do it from Canada, there can be some restrictions that you are not sure about.
That is what we are going to answer today. But before we get into the answers, check out my free Self-Publishing Checklist. It will help you get started on your journey and make sure you are not skipping any important steps.
So, is it hard to do self publishing Amazon Canada? Well, let me tell you a little bit when I first got started publishing. I was publishing from Norway.
As I continue to publish from Norway, it has created a few challenges that would actually be less, than they would be in Canada. Because when you are doing audiobooks or sometimes if you are doing affiliate marketing with regards to Amazon, you are going to need to get paid.
The payments need to go to a US bank in this case, or the UK as well is another issue. But at any rate, you can use Payoneer and that makes a possible gateway to get the payments. So, there is a little bit of a challenge here.
Check out this related article: Is Self Publishing On Amazon UK Difficult?
But in general, it goes through just fine. Now, Canada of course is even less of an issue than being in Europe when trying to do the self-publishing.
So I can tell you I can put my books out there. I'm able to take advantage of all the distribution avenues and such without it creating any problem whatsoever for me.
You Can Get An ISBN For Free
So, is it hard to do self publishing Amazon Canada? Let's get into the answers. The first is no, it is as easy as anywhere else in the world.
There are of course always going to be a few barriers when we're outside the United States and that's back to the payment issue. But if you ever experience payment problems, you can always go through Payoneer as a gateway.
In other words, it is where you can get the money accepted into a bank account there. So that makes it a little bit easier when you are dealing with the audiobooks in particular.
Audiobooks and affiliate marketing with Amazon, both of those can be a little bit of a challenge. Assuming it's even an issue any longer. One of the advantages that used to be the case which I do not believe is still the issue, it was putting ads out on the Canadian market.
In fact, I was unable to do that but recently, they have come up with a thing saying, now you can put the ads into the different regions. So, if you were in Canada, you had access to one of the most profitable ad markets in the world which was the Canadian Amazon market.
Second is you can get your books published in all locations without any issues. So, if you are working from Canada, that will not provide or create any barriers to you getting your books published.
All barriers are just ones you have created. So this will not be any issue whatsoever. Let's get into our secret answer of the day.
That is in Canada, you can get free ISBNs. Now, you may be wondering, first of all, what is an ISBN? The answer is it's a unique code that goes to any book in any format that you are publishing on the internet.
Even if it's the same format on 2 different publishing sites, they are going to have a different ISBN code for that book. It's sort of like their social security number or the number that goes along to identify exactly which book we're talking about.
All books will have it. The reason you may not have heard about them before is that if you are going with Amazon KDP or Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP Print, they just automatically assign an automatic Amazon ISBN.
The same would be true with Lulu. Now, you can use your ISBNs but considering the cost of buying a single ISBN is $158. That can be quite expensive.
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Ingram Spark Is Another Good Site
When publishing in Canada, you can get your ISBNs for free. It's a little bit more of a challenge in Norway. I can just ask them and get 50 ISBN codes.
Now, in Canada, they make a few more barriers but still, you can get them for free as opposed to paying. Obviously, if you buy a thousand of them, the price starts to drop.
It was like $10,000 if you buy a thousand of them or something. So the price drastically drops but the fact is it's still an expense and that will demotivate you from putting your books onto other sites.
The particular site that I'm thinking about is one of the most profitable ways of making money which is publishing through Ingram Spark. They usually have a promo code that will make it possible to publish your books for free there.
However, you do have to pay $50 to have them do the check on your book. The second thing to remember with Ingram Spark is they require you to supply your own ISBN. And there, we are back to that $150.
But if you can get them for free as I can in Norway, and as you can in Canada if that's where you're from, then I would highly recommend you go about doing it that way.
Check out this related article: Where To Get An ISBN Number?
Another thing to remember with Ingram Spark is that since it's so difficult to get your books out in Ingram Spark, fewer people are doing it. So the sales are a lot higher over there. Now, of course, if you have to pay for the ISBNs, then it would make you consider it.
Especially if they want to evaluate it because your books could cost you a hundred dollars just the process of getting them posted through Ingram Spark. That's something you are going to want to consider before actually publishing a book.
But from Canada, you can get your ISBNs for free. So that will not be an issue for you. Now, is it hard to do self publishing Amazon Canada?
What have you found? I would be very interested to hear if you've had any challenges. Maybe some of the rules have changed in the past since I'm not publishing from Canada.
Sometimes the rules change from day to day and I wouldn't see new restrictions or new things open up. I do know the advertisements have changed a bit. So let me know below in the comments.
I always respond to 100% of all comments, so please just let me know if you appreciated this article. I'd love to hear it. And check out my other blogs and videos for more answers to your self-publishing questions.