Chicken House Press Joins the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association

Big news from the chicken house: Chicken House Press is now an Associate Member of the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association (CIBA)!

If you’ve been following along for a while, you know that one of my ongoing goals has been securing a Canadian distributor for CHP titles. That goal hasn’t changed—getting into distribution is still very much on my radar. But I learned something in my research that shifted how I’m thinking about the path forward: distribution deals don’t come with a built-in sales rep. And they’re not cheap. Between the upfront costs and the annual fees involved, signing with a distributor could mean a significant chunk of CHP’s budget going toward books sitting in a warehouse that nobody knows about yet.

What that means in practice is that even with a distributor, the work of actually getting CHP titles onto indie bookstore shelves—and into the hands of the booksellers who champion them—still falls on me as a sole proprietor. So rather than pouring funds into distribution before the groundwork is properly laid, I’m going to invest that energy and those resources into strategic marketing instead. Building the CHP name. Creating the demand. And approaching future distribution from a position of strength rather than hope.

That’s exactly where CIBA comes in.

As an Associate Member, I now have access to the CIBA member directory—which means direct contact with independent booksellers across Canada. These are the folks who hand-sell books to readers, who know their communities, and who genuinely care about the titles they stock. They’re my people. And now I have a way to reach them.

My plan is to use this access to start building real relationships with Canadian indie bookstores—introducing them to CHP titles, sharing what makes our authors and stories worth carrying, and making the case for why a little indie press out of a converted chicken coop in Ontario deserves a spot on their shelves.

CIBA also gives me access to networking opportunities with others in the Canadian book industry, the chance to participate in their Lectures & Labs series, and a seat at the table on issues that matter to indie booksellers and publishers alike. That kind of community is something I don’t take lightly.

This is very much a “roots before branches” move—building the relationships and the visibility that will make everything else (including, yes, that future distribution deal) stronger when the time comes.

So: new membership, new contacts, new energy. Let’s get CHP titles out into the world.