Guide on how to publish a book in Canada, including how to publish a book on Amazon KDP
Authors are spoiled for choice when it comes to publishing options and how to publish a book in Canada. Canadian authors have far more publishing options than they did a decade ago. With the assistance of a talented and experienced team, you are closer than ever if you’ve been searching for how to publish a book in Canada.
Publishing has come a long way, and Canadian authors now have multiple publishing pathways, including traditional publishing, self-publishing, and hybrid/vanity publishing.
The real question Canadian authors need to ask themselves is: What is the best publishing option for me and my book?
Once you evaluate each of the three publishing options, determine which one works best for you, your book, and your budget. You’ll then be in a much stronger position to publish a book and make informed publishing decisions. However, and we can’t stress this enough, do your research. Ensure that you understand the costs associated with each publishing option,
In the following guide, How to Publish A Book In Canada, we’ll cover the three most popular publishing options available to authors, including traditional publishing, self-publishing, and hybrid/vanity publishing. In the following guide on how to publish a book in Canada, you’ll discover:
Key Article Insights
- Do your research and choose a publishing pathway carefully: Evaluate traditional publishing, self-publishing, and hybrid/vanity publishing, and choose the pathway that best suits your book, genre, budget, and publishing goals.
- Securing a literary agent for traditional publishing: Research agents in your genre and learn their submission guidelines. If you successfully hire a book agent, ensure you research the contract carefully before you sign.
- Commit to investing in professional manuscript file preparation: Regardless of which publishing pathway you choose, invest in professional editors. If you’re self-publishing, invest in professional cover design, print and ebook formatting, illustrations, and final layout.
- Plan your book advertising, promotion, and distribution carefully: Research metadata, keywords, categories, BISAC codes, purchase ISBNs, and plan a comprehensive advertising and marketing campaign from the pre-launch through to launch day and beyond.
Traditional Publishing
The traditional publishing pathway hasn’t really changed over the last ten years or more:
- You secure a literary agent to represent you and your book.
- Your literary agent will submit your manuscript to publishers.
- If accepted, you sign a publishing contract, and your book is published.
It sounds easy, but in reality, it is a long, arduous process that typically involves a lot of rejection. Many new authors fail at the first step, unable to secure a literary agent. Traditional publishing isn’t for the faint of heart and will require a thick skin and a lot of perseverance.
While I can’t find an exact study or data to support this, it’s widely accepted that the rejection percentage for regular authors, non-celebrity and unpublished authors, is between 95-99%.
Within the publishing industry, it’s also widely accepted that the 90-90-90 Rule is that 90% of manuscripts or authors will never secure an agent; of the 10% that do, 90% will never secure a publisher; and of the 10% that do secure a publishing deal, 90% won’t earn out their advance.
Publishing is hard, brutally hard, and let’s be honest, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. If you have been learning about how to publish a book in Canada, then traditional publishing is one option all authors should either attempt, or at least consider.
The Canadian Publishing Scene
Traditional Canadian publishing is largely focused on specific genres. While there are several award-winning publishers, including Penguin Random House Canada, HarperCollins Canada, Simon & Schuster Canada, Dundurn Press, and many others, they typically focus on specific genres.
Acquisition editors or publishers receive manuscripts through trusted book agents. They then work with their in-house editing, cover design, and design and layout team to complete the book. The publisher covers all these costs. If you sign a traditional publishing deal with a book publisher, you won’t have to cover any of these costs.
Authors typically sign a contract, which includes an advance. An advance is an upfront payment that must be repaid through royalties earned on book sales. It will depend on how many copies you sell and how quickly you repay your advance and start earning periodic royalties from your book.
3 Steps for Authors to Secure A Traditional Publishing Deal in Canada
Step 1: Signing A Literary Agent
While not a ‘must-have’ requirement, a literary agent can make the possibility of securing a traditional publishing deal in Canada so much easier to achieve, especially for new Canadian authors who are focused on publishing their first book. Not having a book agent will directly affect which publishers you can work with, as many publishers don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts from authors.
Having an agent will also give you more leverage when you negotiate your publishing contract and help you to avoid many common pitfalls.
Publishers and agents are assuming a financial risk when they accept a new author for a publishing contract, so they want to ensure that not only are you a good investment, but there is a possibility for them to get a return on their investment.
If you’re ready to start approaching literary agents, there are some resources available to Canadian authors, including Writer Beware and Query Tracker. They will provide you with a list of potential literary agents, their preferences, required query formats, submission guidelines, and approximately how long it takes them to reply to submissions. Some agents have lead times of up to 6 months, while others simply list no reply as a no.
If you are lucky enough to receive a positive response from an agent, they may request additional pages, revisions, or the whole manuscript. If you manage to take the next step and secure a literary agent, typical fees are 15% of any domestic contract they secure and 25% of any foreign rights contracts they secure.
Step 2: Submitting Your Manuscript to Publishers
If you are one of the fortunate few authors lucky enough to secure a literary agent, the next step is for your agent to build a list of publishers and acquisition editors who they believe will be interested in your book. Your agent will then use this curated list to approach potential book publishers.
After that, you just need to wait. If any publishers are interested in your manuscript, you may receive a request for revisions, additional chapters, or sequel propositions.
Publishers receive thousands and thousands of submissions and publish only a small percentage of them, so there are a lot of potential hurdles a manuscript needs to overcome before it finally rolls off the printing press as a physical book.
Step 3: Publishing, Promotion, and Marketing Your Book
Typically, once a publisher accepts a manuscript, they assign an editor to the author, along with any other editors, graphic designers, or team members needed for the project.
As the author, you’ll most likely be responsible for revisions, reviews, and making any requested edits as the manuscript progresses through different pre-publishing stages.
Dates and deadlines are extremely fluid and will fluctuate depending on team member workloads and availability, current events, and industry fluctuations.
Unfortunately, many marketing and publicity costs will fall on you as the author. You will need to organize public appearances, book tours, author interviews, book signings, etc. Your literary agent may be able to assist with some of these, but hiring a professional book publicist could be a very worthwhile investment. Remember, as the author, you won’t start to receive any royalty payments until you hit your ‘earned out’ mark. Not only that, but if your first book isn’t considered successful by your publisher, there won’t be a second opportunity.
What happens if you don’t hit your ‘earned back’ target? When you receive an advance, it’s not free money. It’s money the publisher expects to make back through sales of your book. If you don’t sell enough copies to pay back your advance to your publisher, you won’t receive any royalty payments, you’re unlikely to receive a second chance, and your publisher is unlikely to do additional print runs of your book.
Any unsuccessful books are unlikely to be re-printed, and your chances of getting any additional book deals are extremely low. Not only that, but you signed the rights to your book over to your publisher, so you can’t sell the book yourself until your contract expires.
Self-Publishing
Some authors try the traditional publishing pathway first and, if unsuccessful, move to self-publishing. However, some authors skip traditional publishing and go straight to self-publishing, as it allows them 100% freedom on any editing or design choices and ultimately allows them to retain 100% of all royalties while maintaining full copyright control over their book. It’s a great option if you’re a Canadian author and you want to publish a book in Canada and use a Canadian team of editors and designers.
As a self-published author, you’ll be responsible for 100% of the costs associated with publishing your book. This typically includes editing and proofreading, cover design, interior print and ebook formatting, proof copies, and ISBNs.
How much help you get, how much you spend, and how much you attempt to do yourself will be entirely up to you, your budget, and what level of finished product you want to release.
As the publisher, you’ll control deadlines and release dates. However, please don’t plan release parties until you’re 100% sure your book will be ready. Each stage of the publishing process can take a lot of time, and rushing through parts to meet release deadlines often adds undue stress and pressure.
4 Steps in the Self-Publishing Process
There are four key steps authors need to focus on in the self-publishing process: manuscript preparation, cover and interior book design, layout and formatting, publishing, printing, and distribution, and finally, marketing and promotion.
Step 1: Manuscript Preparation
The manuscript preparation stage involves writing, self-editing, editing and proofreading, beta readers, and final proofreading. Typically, authors will go through professional developmental or structural editing, copyediting, and proofreading.
The more time you spend working through the different editing stages, the fewer issues you’ll run into once you start print and ebook formatting and layout. Some authors work with one editor for editing and proofreading, while others prefer to split the work to get a fresh set of eyes on the project.
This is also a good time to think about your ISBNs, especially as a Canadian author, because there is currently a significant delay in applying for ISBN accounts and obtaining ISBNs from Library and Archives Canada. In this guide, Do I Need an ISBN for My Book in Canada, we cover everything you need to know about organizing ISBNs.
Step 2: Cover Design, Interior Book Design, Layout, and Formatting
You will split the design into two distinct areas, interior and exterior, but it’s essential that both areas work well together and don’t clash with one another. While the old saying, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover‘ sounds romantic, the truth is that most customers will, and a bad cover will really let your book down. It can also have a big impact on sales. If you’re in the process of learning how to publish a book in Canada, it’s vital to learn the importance of a great book cover design. Luckily, we have an extremely talented and professional cover design team standing by to help you!
You can work on your cover design first, especially if you don’t anticipate any title or subtitle changes, while your editing is being done so that it’s ready for when you start your interior print and ebook formatting.
While having graphic design experience is a must for any cover designer, book cover design is extremely important. Designing a book cover involves much more than creating an image. You need to understand front, back, and spine requirements, image quality for printing, trim size, bleed requirements, and more.
Interior formatting, for both print and ebook, is another specialized area that requires intricate knowledge of trim size, bleeds, margins, and formatting rules governed by the Chicago Manual of Style, which most traditional publishers follow.
Books are printed at specific sizes known as trim sizes. While you can choose a custom trim size, it can greatly impact printing costs and publishing options.
By the end of the formatting and design stage, you should have print-ready interior and cover files that you can submit to self-publishing sites such as Amazon KDP and IngramSpark Publishing or take to a private printer to print copies.
We can’t stress this next part enough. Get proof copies printed. If you make a change after reviewing a physical proof copy, get another proof copy. If you’re self-publishing in multiple formats, paperback and hardcover, get a proof copy of each format. Not only is it a great feeling to hold a physical copy of your book, but it’s also a great way to do a final proofread and ensure that elements such as colour or décor that looked good on your screen also look good when printed.
Step 3: Publishing, Printing, and Distribution
Once the red editing pen has been put down and the files have been formatted correctly, you’re ready for the final step in the self-publishing journey: publishing, printing, and distribution. You can incorporate a variety of self-publishing platforms into your book distribution plan. When you’re planning how to publish a book in Canada, there’s a lot of information you need to understand at the start. It can all feel a little daunting, but the good news is, you don’t need to do it alone. Even if you choose the self-publishing pathway, there’s a lot of information available on how to publish a book.
If you’re still considering where to self-publish your book, read The Best Self-Publishing Platforms for Canadian Authors! In this guide, we cover everything there is to know about the most popular self-publishing platforms available to authors in Canada, including Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), IngramSpark Publishing, Apple Books, and many more.
You can self-publish on multiple platforms, such as Amazon KDP and IngramSpark Publishing, but you need to plan your expanded distribution. For example, both Amazon KDP and IngramSpark Publishing offer expanded distribution. However, both platforms utilize the same expanded distribution network, Ingram Content Group.
What does this mean for you as the author? If you upload your paperback title to Amazon KDP first and choose expanded distribution, when you try to upload the book to IngramSpark Publishing, they will tell you your ISBN and title are already in use because you already chose expanded distribution through Amazon KDP.
No big deal, right? Well, it kind of is. Bookstores, libraries, and schools don’t love ordering books through Amazon. They prefer regular wholesalers. Even though your book is on expanded distribution, it’s listed as coming from Amazon.
The best way to approach this is:
- Add your paperback and ebook to Amazon KDP but choose not to use their expanded distribution. Once your books are live and published on Amazon – this is important because if you upload to Amazon KDP and IngramSpark Publishing at the same time, IngramSpark Publishing includes Amazon as one of its wholesale clients, and they can push your book to Amazon faster than your Amazon listing is approved. This will then override your Amazon KDP direct upload, and you won’t be able to manage your title through your Amazon KDP dashboard because IngramSpark would have pushed it first – You then upload your book to IngramSpark Publishing and utilize their expanded distribution.
Along with Print-On-Demand (POD) self-publishing platforms such as Amazon KDP and IngramSpark Publishing, you can also incorporate local printers for physical copies of your book that you can sell at book signings, author events, and launch parties.
When you order physical copies of your book through a printer, the trim size, paper type, page count, and paper colour determine the per-copy price. Most printers will offer bulk discounts. For example, your per-copy price when you order 10 books might be $6.50, but your per-copy price when you order 100 books may drop to $6.25 per copy. The number of books required to order, and the amount the price drops, will depend on the specific printer you’re working with.
If you’re planning a bulk order of printed books, please ensure you have a safe, secure, and suitable place to store them. Not all printers offer the same products. So, if you’re planning to use a custom trim size, duplex cover, or gold inlay, for example, check with the printer first when shopping around for quotes.
You’ll also need to start thinking about your keywords, categories, and BISAC codes.
Amazon KDP allows authors to choose 7 keywords and 3 Amazon-specific categories for each format of their book. Print categories and ebook categories aren’t always the same, so make sure that you choose both. For an in-depth guide on Amazon KDP keywords and categories, check out our guide, Using Amazon KDP Keywords Correctly in Your Book!
IngramSpark Publishing also lets you choose 7 keywords, but it doesn’t use the same categories as Amazon KDP. IngramSpark Publishing uses BISAC codes, a nine-character alphanumeric standard used across the publishing industry to help categorize your book by subject and genre.
The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) has compiled a complete and interactive list of BISAC codes to help you choose your BISAC codes in advance.
We also offer complete book metadata, category, keyword, and BISAC code research packages for both Amazon KDP and IngramSpark Publishing, where we analyze your book, determine the most competitive keywords and categories, and analyze your competition.
Step 4: Marketing and Promotion of Your Book
The marketing and promotion of your book officially start once your book is available to purchase, but there’s also a lot you can do prior to launch, including promoting pre-release copies of your book. Marketing and promotion for both you and your book are essential parts of the journey to understanding how to publish a book in Canada.
You should have started organizing your marketing and promotion plan before publishing your book. Choose which social media platforms you’re going to focus on. The three most popular platforms for books and authors are probably Instagram, TikTok, and Threads.
Rather than posting a little on many platforms, focus on posting a lot on fewer platforms. More posts, better quality, and more frequent posts on one or two platforms will be more effective than spreading yourself too thin across multiple platforms.
You should break your marketing up into three categories:
- Pre-Release Marketing
- Release Marketing
- Post-Release Marketing
Pre-Release Marketing
Focus on things like introducing yourself as the author, how you’re working on the book, interests, and hobbies. You can also include things like cover reveal sneak peeks, character bios, book snippets, and other small bits of information that fuel interest in your book.
Release Marketing
Pre-orders are huge if you want to get a bump in your book rankings when your book goes live on sites like Amazon. Cover reveals, book reveals, release parties, author street promotion, author interviews, and reader reviews are all huge on release. Aim to do as much promotion as possible on release day and during release week.
Post-Release Marketing
Once the big rush of release marketing is over, it’s time to settle into the post-release marketing. While not as intensive, it’s equally important to capitalize on any exposure you got during your release stage. Focus on reviews, author interviews, what went into making the book, alternative covers, video trailers, and more about you as the author.
Hybrid or Vanity Publishing Companies
Another option if you want to publish a book in Canada is a Hybrid or vanity publisher. These are a mix of traditional publishing companies and self-publishing service providers. When someone refers to them in a negative light, they typically call them vanity publishers. When they’re referring to them in a positive light, they typically call them hybrid publishers, but both follow the same format.
Hybrid publishers offer the same outcome as traditional publishers; they’ll publish your book for you. Most will also retain the rights to your book, as well as an ongoing commission from any royalties you receive. However, the process and costs are very different.
As the author, when you work with a vanity/hybrid publisher, you’ll cover costs associated with editing, formatting, cover design, and marketing. You also won’t get an advance like you would with traditional publishing.
So, the benefit of this publishing model is you’re potentially getting a team of experienced people, all in one location, to work on your book for you. The disadvantage is you’re not only paying for all these services like you would if you are self-published, but you’re also losing the rights to your book, including how and when you publish, and you’re also losing a % of royalties for the length of your contract.
Please read any ‘hybrid or vanity’ publishing contract carefully. If you don’t understand something, ask or seek legal advice prior to signing.
Important things that authors need to ask and understand:
- Understand what you’ll be paying for pre-publication services like editing, proofreading, cover design, print and ebook formatting, and what they’re delivering.
- Ask for source files for all files, including print interior files, ebook files, and cover design files, so that when you get the rights back to your book, you have all final source files if you want to adjust and re-publish.
- How long your contract lasts and how long you will be locked into it.
- What options you have if you want to break the contract early, and the costs or penalties associated with breaking your contract.
- What rights to publish your manuscript elsewhere you have, and if you can do alternative formats like hardcover or audiobook, or foreign language editions.
- Where they plan on publishing your book, and how it’s any different from simply using the expanded distribution options available on Amazon KDP and IngramSpark Publishing.
- What percentage of royalties will they take as a commission on sales, and will their percentage be calculated before or after printing and shipping costs and platform fees?
This part is very important! Understanding your royalty fee.
For example, your book may sell on Amazon for $15. Before Amazon takes their sales fee and printing and shipping costs, the royalty may be $7, but after these fees are taken into consideration, the final royalty may be $3. However, many of these hybrid/vanity publishers calculate their fee from the sale price before Amazon takes its fees.
So, if they’re operating under a 20% commission, they may calculate it as 20% of $7 = $1.40. This $1.40 is then taken from the final royalty amount of $3, leaving you as the author with a final per-copy royalty of $1.60.
Most vanity/hybrid publishers also have a payment schedule and threshold amount, combined with a payment fee. For example, they may pay out royalties every 3 months, but only if you reach a pre-specified threshold, and then they may take a payment fee to cover payout costs.
If you self-published your book, you would receive the full $3 per copy royalty; your royalties are paid out every month (starting 3 months after you publish your book), and you wouldn’t have any other fees. So, it’s something to consider carefully when you evaluate what you’re paying for and what you actually get.
Check out this article by Author Services Australia, where they do a full breakdown of vanity publishing: Vanity Publishing: What Are You Really Paying for and What Is It Ultimately Costing You?
How to Publish a Book in Canada | Conclusion
Publishing continues to grow and evolve, and the advent of AI has made it both easier and harder. It’s easier to publish a low-quality book, but harder to compete against new titles flooding the market. The publishing industry has proven time and time again that the cream always floats to the top.
AI books may be flooding the market now, but hopefully in the future, consumer choices and platforms such as Amazon and IngramSpark will see these low-quality books end up where they belong, fading away into obscurity.
Authors in Canada have three main pathways to publishing: traditional publishing, self-publishing, and hybrid/vanity publishing. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, so do your research carefully and choose the best option for you, your book, and your genre. If you want to publish a book in Canada, it’s never been easier, but that doesn’t mean that you need to do it alone.
If you are writing a book and need any assistance with paperback or ebook formatting, cover design, professional editing, uploading to self-publishing sites such as Amazon KDP and IngramSpark Publishing, or Amazon KDP keyword and category research, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We also offer children’s book illustrations and formatting services.
For Canadian authors still considering whether or not Amazon KDP is the best self-publishing platform for them, check out The Complete Guide to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing for Canadian Authors, where we cover everything you’ll need to know about getting started on Amazon KDP for the first time.
Chrissy Hobbs is the owner and founder of Indie Publishing Group, a self-publishing services provider based in Ontario, Canada, which helps authors self-publish their books on Amazon KDP, IngramSpark Publishing and other self-publishing platforms. With over a decade of experience in the publishing industry and also being a best-selling children’s book author of The Day My Fart Followed Me to Hockey and Hockey Wars, you know your book is in good hands.
Chrissy Hobbs is the owner and founder of 
