Selling Books in Canada
I recently tried to include my book for sale but was unable to do so due to being based in Canada. Are there any plans to allow sales from other countries, and do you sell books from authors based outside of the US, despite them not being able to share in the profits? From what I can see, you do.
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Yes…we are working through the reporting of earnings on a per country basis and compensation in a preferred currency . Once both are resolved we will extend Set Your Price to users outside the US.
We’ll be sure to announce this in the blog and forums once this is extended.
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Oh, man.
I was all set to order when I saw this. I’m a photographer and have a series of books I want to sell. It is perfect for me. But…
... I live in Canada.
I sure hope you get it up and online soon :)
Would the timeframe be, like, before tourist season is over? Or are we looking at Santa Claus here?
Thanks.
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It’s difficult to say right now. We are actively researching extending SYP and finding a resolution is a priority. It is the complexity of this resolution that will be the primary driver of a date.
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Hi, I’m a photographer working on my first photo/inspirational book and was greatly dissappointed to see Canada not listed as well. cheers, j
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How’s the research going for international SYP? I’m from Belgium and I’d love to earn a little money with my book asap! Can you estimate when this will be possible? It’s a bit weird since there’s international buying but not selling, isn’t it done the same way but vica versa? Maybe you could implent PayPal, that would allow easy payments! I’m looking forward to a reply! :)
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I realize it may seem like the same but, when you factor in, for tax purposes, the need to report earnings on a per country basis it becomes more complex.
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Oh yeah of course, I forgot about those sorry :)
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I’m not sure what the problem is. As a Canadian, I sell photos through several microstock agencies, most based in the US. They make it known that if a photographers earnings are over a certain limit (I think it is $400 US) then it is their responsibility to report that on a US tax form. None have ever asked for any personal tax info (SIN/SS) upfront, they seem to leave it to the individual to ensure they are complying with US and local tax laws. Are these companies not following proper procedures, or is Blurb being over cautious?
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You may be right in that we are begin overly cautious but we are doing our due diligence as this does apply to revenue and taxes.
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it’s not rocket science, folks. LOTS of companies are selling products and services in Canada from US sites. The Canadian market is yours for the taking—if you resolve this issue soon. If not, there are players emerging in the domestic market that will eat your potential share. Hurry up!
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I’m obviously not releasing anything public before I can make some profit…
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Summer turns to autumn…
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HI all You can always sell on other bookstores ….amazon.com etc. mC
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that’s true, mC, it is possible to sell via Amazon, but once you factor in shipping costs from Blurb, it’s not likely anyone but your mother will buy a book.
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Any update on this? When I set up my first book, ovar a year ago, this was "in the works"... now I’ve got my second book ready to go, and it doesn’t look like there’s any change. With the UPS-only shipping option to Canada (and UPS’s brutal brokerage fees), it severly impacts my possible pricing. Direct sales for us Canucks would greatly appreciated.
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Yeah, can we get an update on this? I’m yet another Canadian who is anxious to use SYP. I’m going to start looking at another service if this isn’t resolved. Please don’t make me do that – I’ve invested considerable time and effort in Blurb and I like the product.
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Since sending my book for publishing on November 26 I received hundreds of views on my book – before even getting a copy of it in my hands. I would like to sell it through Blurb, but I am in Vancouver BC so I cannot share in the profits. I also would not want to allow this book to be sold without a portion of the proceeds returning to me (or to a charity of my choice). (1) Why doesn’t Blurb use PayPal to share proceeds with authors outside of the US? This works fine for eBay and has worked well when I licensed my images to US based agencies. Why not here? (2) If I make my book view-public, can others purchase it without my knowledge? That would be unfair to me, I would have to revert the book to private only cheers – CWall
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CWall….your EBay example is not applicable as EBay is facilitating a transaction between the buyer and seller not a buyer and merchant (Blurb). Do know we are actively looking at this complex issue of international Set Your Price and we plan to have something rolled out the first quarter of 2008. To your second question, it is a tough one that we have wrestled with internally. On one hand the author wants to know everyone who purchased their book. A seemingly reasonable request from the author’s perspective. There are also buyers of books that want to protect their anonymtiy for the obvious reasons. We will continue to evaluate this and do what we feel is ultimately best for both buyers and sellers.
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any updates on profit sharing with authors outside of the USA?
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CWall,
If you conduct a search query on the topic related to profit for authors OUTSIDE of the United States abroad, you could find many discussions at Blurb forum.
I have seen a couple of good rapport discussion back forth between Blurb staff and forum participants on the topic. You “are” encouraged to conduct search query.
Hope that helps.
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Blurb, Regardless of when you roll out the SYP program, which seems to be d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g on and on since last year, in the interim please will you simply add the ability for me to see how many copies of each of my books have been sold. This cannot possibly offend anyone’s privacy concerns. Because I live outside the US I am unable to participate in your Set the Price option, and so have (reluctantly) decided to allow my books to be sold at cost, just for the exposure. Now I find that I cannot even get statistics on the number of books sold. I am making you money and getting nothing in return, not even statistics. This has got to be an easy fix, please do this as soon as possible. Also please expand the hit counter to differentiate by book.
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