We're Made Out of Meat

This will be an unusual blog post. Most weeks, I post something about writing, editing, publishing, or marketing your book. Today, I want to dive deep into something I've only said in passing before: writing making us human.

This idea has been taking up too much brain space lately. It moved in when I heard about the tariffs the Canadian government is planning to levy on US books on April 2nd. 2025. That will affect big publishers, but it will also affect small publishers like Siretona Creative.

Why? Some of our authors use IngramSpark's printing services to produce physical copies of their books. IngramSpark wants to keep its costs down, so it keeps its printing facilities in the United States. If the tariffs come in, every book IngramSpark prints and sends to Canada will have a 25% markup. Bookstores usually have a 30% markup on costs. Either your books will get more expensive or they'll only have 5% of the cost to pay things like bills and staff wages.

I'm not saying these tariffs are a bad thing. Every tariff has an impact like this. I imagine zookeepers are livid about the camel and emu tariffs. (Yes, those are real.) I want to bring these abstract numbers down to a human level.

That's the same level where authors in small niches find themselves sharing digital shelf space with books with AI covers, AI descriptions, and AI text. The fastest humans can't hope to challenge these AI book mills when it comes to volume. Even I've been caught out when researching book markets, only to realize the book I was looking at wasn't real.

But readers want to connect with other people. I've talked before about how human connection sells books. That extends to every part of the writing and publishing process. It takes more time. It takes more effort. It's worth it in the end.

Whether you're a writer or a reader, you should make local connections in your community. Go to local bookstores and libraries. The IngramSpark system also lets booksellers buy any book in their system, so they can order thousands of books. Support writing programs near you. Attend craft fairs. Post reviews for books you love, especially ones from local authors.

This blog post's title is a play on the short story "They're Made Out of Meat" by Terry Bisson. It's a conversation between two aliens studying humans. It's safe for all ages, though the complicated language might confuse younger readers.

Ultimately, Siretona Creative is the people who are involved with it. Colleen is the founder and the leader that brings all of us together. Charity coaches authors and helps us to understand ourselves. Celeste edits and does assessments. Joanna is an administrative wizard. I do marketing. We have other freelancers and collaborators that help us help our authors.

We are Canadian. We are human.