Thread by @joeyldotcom

A story of Chinese government censorship. ⚠️

My photography book WE CAME FROM FIRE: Kurdistan’s Armed Struggle Against ISIS is delayed once again. Here’s what the F is going on:

After many stressful attempts and delays when creating perfect color match proofs (the physical prints used to match when running the press), crates of my book arrived from China on to US soil for us too look at.

Why do book publishers print in China? You can save like 40-50% of costs. Considering the state of the publishing industry and that there is virtually no profit to be made on photo books like this, sometimes it’s the only way a small print run can be created.

The books didn’t look as good as they could be. I rejected this first crate of books due to quality issues, & the printer acknowledged their mess up. They agreed to redo everything. A month later, we had new test proofs looking great, & we were set to reprint. Until…

The book was flagged for Chinese government review. (Yes- flagged after they had already printed it. 🤷‍♂️)


Chinese printers won’t risk printing things like criticism of their gov, maps of Taiwan, etc. “Privately owned” businesses like our printer are strictly state regulated.

After a week long review process, in which I assume my book was passed up to a higher authority for deeper review, we were informed that the censors denied the printer permission to create the book. My publisher & I were stunned. They had already wasted so much of our time.

I’ve heard that sometimes you can haggle and change content of the book to meet the regulations. But I’m not going to do that. I’d rather just sell the book and make no money, tbh.

Why would a photo book about the Kurdish struggle against ISIS trigger the Chinese government? It could be anything: the 1000s of Uyghur jihadists in Syria, China strengthening ties with Turkey, or perhaps something more arbitrary.

We should also consider the new trade war between US & China, or souring relations with my home nation of Canada.

My publisher & I immediately started looking into alternatives, & already have better options. But it will still take some time to reprint. A few months at best.

Since the beginning of the delays, we have offered full refunds to any customer. No questions asked. Just let us know: [e-mail]

I’m hoping we print in Canada. It will be much faster and easier, but more expensive. I feel the weight of every one who pre-ordered wondering where their book is, and I want to deliver a perfect book as soon as possible.

Kurds are not strangers to censorship. Under pressure from the Turkish government and their troll farms, Facebook & Instagram remove my images all the time. Kurds are also not strangers to resisting. So with this Kurdish inspiration, I’m not going to stop until this book is out.

Thanks to all for the patience.

For those now asking where they can pre-order...

We Came From Fire dot com ya'll 🔥.

WeCameFromFire.com