A serious novelist was complaining that publishers have turned into a monopoly, giving less advantage to authors. Not really new. Harper and Random House and Doubleday were always dominant. She’s afraid that Trump’s tariffs will make publishing even more costly, BECAUSE ALL PRINTING IS IN KOREA.
I can vouch for the latter. The publisher who does my courseware gets their hardcopy books printed in Korea.
Well, if you’re worried about tariffs, you should be patronizing AMERICAN printers. There are still plenty of them. Google found a substantial printer in this part of Spokane, with an equipment list capable of books. (I used to work in a printshop so I’m familiar with the sizes of presses and such.) If there’s one right here, the chances are strong that larger cities have larger printing firms who would be even more capable. It’s safe to assume that they would love to have more business if the authors and publishers were willing to GIVE THEM SOME FUCKING BUSINESS TO KEEP THIS DAMNED COUNTRY ALIVE.
THE WHOLE FUCKING PURPOSE OF TARIFFS IS TO ENCOURAGE LOCAL PRODUCTION.
This is not a secret or mystery. Even the US formerly understood tariffs and used them to great advantage. China and Korea and Japan are STILL using tariffs CORRECTLY against us, while we KILL OUR OWN PRODUCERS by opening our borders to competition from the SANE COUNTRIES THAT ARE NOT COMMITTING NATIONAL SUICIDE.
Polistra's Mill 