The Latest on Writing and Publishing in Canada
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | BOOK SALES | PRIZES | POETRY | TAXES
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
BookNet Canada Report Sees Increased AI Use in Publishing
A recent report cooperatively published by BookNet Canada and the Book Industry Study Group follows a study of AI usage at both the organizational and individual levels in North American publishing. The report shows mixed results.
Organizational use of artificial intelligence tools and processes sits at 63 percent of respondents, an increase of 32 percent since 2025. Larger organizations in the sector were much more likely to be integrating AI. On the other hand, reported use by individuals across the sector actually declined from 46 to 38 percent, likely reflecting growing individual concerns about AI’s impact on the sector and society as a whole.
BOOK SALES
Nonfiction Category Leads Summer Book Sales in the U.S. in Canada… Not So Much.
Publishers Weekly reports a very good summer for U.S. books sales in general, with June’s numbers up 11 percent over the same period in 2025, and July being driven to even greater heights (16.5 percent) on the strength of nonfiction titles such as Regime Change, the examination of Donald Trump’s second term’s early days by New York Times political writer Maggie Haberman and author Jonathan Swan. Hardcover nonfiction sales increased 28.6 percent and trade paperback was up by 27.4 percent.
Meanwhile, in Canada, BookNet reports a four-year trend of greatly increased interest in Canadian authored fiction, while non-fiction has seen a slight decrease over the same period. The compound category of Fiction / Romance / LGBTQ+ / Gay showed a whopping year-to-year increase of 128,251 percent. Close observers of the industry will know why. Author Rachel Reid’s magnificent success with her Heated Rivalry series leads that category and has undoubtedly started an industry trend toward more books on similar themes.
PRIZES
Giller Foundation Secures Major Gift for Award
A $4 million multi-year gift has been made to the Giller Foundation from The Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation, in honour of the late Ontario Lieutenant Governor, Hilary M. Weston. In its announcement of the new funding, the Giller Foundation note the “investment will help broaden the prize’s reach and impact by increasing support for Canadian authors, expanding a national book tour featuring shortlisted authors, and enhancing digital engagement and book club programming.”
The Giller Prize ceremony takes place each November, and celebrates both a longlist and shortlist of Canadian-authored titles. The prize award is $100,000 to the winner and $10,000 each to four runners-up.
The Weston family has previously contributed $1 million to the Giller Foundation.
POETRY
Poets Protest Cancellation of Transit Poetry Program
For thirty years, Books BC has partnered with TransLink and BC Transit on the Poetry in Transit program, which showcases the work of Canadian poets on buses and trains in British Columbia. Sadly, Translink has made the decision to cancel free ad space for the program on its buses.
A working group of poets, library workers, and educators has formed to advocate for continuation of the program. The Committee to Save Poetry in Transit has launched a petition on Change.org. At this writing, the petition had already attracted over 1,000 signatures. Learn more about the issue, and sign the petition here.
TAXES
Substack Platform Changes Tax Collection Policy
Many authors have integrated a paid Substack newsletter into their revenue stream. Canadian writers with a paid presence on Substack should inform themselves about a change coming to that platform’s sales tax collection process beginning December 1, 2026.
Prior to December 1, individual Substack users were required to remit sales tax on paid subscription plans using the Stripe Tax administration integrated into the system. After that date, Substack will take over the calculation, collection, and remission of sales tax on behalf of writers.
For Canadian writers on the platform, that means an additional tax amount will show to subscribers when they receive their monthly or annual subscription invoices. The applied tax rate will depend on the type of services (written content, podcasts, video, chat, etc.) offered on individual newsletters, but writers are given the option to weight their services to better calculate the rate.
Canadian and U.S. writers are not being given the option of absorbing the tax hit themselves into the advertised subscription price. This change is causing some concern that subscribers will vote with their wallets at renewal time should they see an unexpected rate hike because of added tax. Substackers may wish to send a special note to subscribers about this upcoming change.
Substack’s full explanation of the change is on their website.
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