This is an email I received...
Today was supposed to be the kick-off of an email series on preparing for holiday book sale opportunities. Instead, I need to share some breaking news that might affect your publishing plans.
The US-China tariff war has arrived at your local bookstore. As of September 1, nearly all books manufactured in China have been hit with a 15 percent tariff. (The only exceptions are religious books, including Bibles, and some children’s book products.) The publishing industry lobbied hard against this action, but I’m not going to waste your time debating international economics. Instead, I want to demonstrate how this trade tiff impacts you, the self-published author, and how you can take action.
Few readers of our Weekend Edition emails are buying their books directly from China. The estimated $5 billion in Chinese printed books come from large- to medium-sized publishers printing thousands of books at a time. It’s the trickle-down effect of this new 15 percent tax that I believe will have a dramatic impact throughout the entire printing industry over the next few months. Why?
- Chinese manufacturers will be sure to pass along the 15 percent tariff to their customers. Suddenly, pricing from US companies offering offset and digital print services will be much more competitive.
- Publishers will start to bring production back home, filling up the US printing pipeline to over-capacity.
- Right now, printers are operating on a six-week production schedule. With the huge wave of books being printed for the holiday season, we could be looking at two-to-three-month backups at presses around the nation very soon.
Replies