A maple-leaf bookmark initiative launching this week will give book buyers an easy way to tell whether a given title is written by a Canadian author.

The bookmark initiative, launched by a group of independent Canadian publisher-distributors, gives booksellers a simple way to let customers know which books are Canadian-authored. The design is simple: a white bookmark with a red maple leaf and the words “Canadian author” above it allows customers to see, at a glance, which books are written by Canadians.

Jim Lorimer first saw the bookmarks at indie bookstore Cedar Canoe Books in Huntsville, Ontario, over the holidays, Nimbus publisher Terrilee Bulger tells Q&Q. Lorimer and Bulger are members of a group of publisher-distributors, and the group was talking about how they might be able to help booksellers identify Canadian books amid the ongoing trade war with the U.S. – similar to how grocery stores have been identifying made-in-Canada products as the buy-Canadian mantra takes hold.

“He noticed just how good it looked and how well the books stood out over the other books – that they were obviously Canadian – so then when we were trying to think of a way for bookstores to be able to do the same thing as grocery stores to flag Canadian products, this was the idea that he brought forward, because it was just so effective at showing what books are actually from here,” Bulger said. 

Cedar Canoe Books has been using the bookmarks to identify Canadian-authored titles for more than two years.

Copywell, a book printer based in the Greater Toronto Area, donated the printing of 260,000 bookmarks, which are available for booksellers to order at no charge on Bookmanager. Harbour Publishing is distributing the bookmarks to stores in British Columbia; Heritage Group to stores in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon Territory, and Northwest Territories; Firefly Books to stores in Ontario; Formac Lorimer Books to stores in Quebec and New Brunswick; and Nimbus Publishing to stores in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Indigo is also on board with the initiative, and had an Indigo-specific bookmark designed by their design team that will be printed for use in their locations, Bulger said.

The bookmarks can be tucked into Canadian-authored books on the shelves, and then re-used after a book is purchased.

Not all Canadian-authored books are equally made-in-Canada products, of course – as Bulger points out, only about five per cent of books purchased in Canada are published by independent Canadian presses. 

The bookmarks will be shipping to the participating warehouses on April 2, and will go out to bookstores soon after. Bulger says uptake has been positive and immediate, and hopes it will help book buyers remember that there are many options for consumers to buy Canadian at the bookstore.

“It’s an opportunity to showcase that we do have a good, strong publishing industry here,” Bulger says. “If you do look for Canadian-first, if you’re one of those people, there’s good alternatives for readers and gift buyers too.”