If you want to reach more readers and make more money, the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) recommends that you publish your POD print books on both KDP Print (Amazon’s print-on-demand service) and IngramSpark (Ingram’s print-on-demand service developed specifically for indie authors), simultaneously.

Both Amazon and IngramSpark are valued partner members of ALLi, and both have been significant enablers of digital print publishing for authors. In a world where print-on-demand makes so much sense for so many reasons, it’s not surprising that these two services are at the heart of most indie authors’ print sales operations.

Print-on-demand services do just what that term suggests: each book is printed only when ordered. This just-in-time distribution system saves the author from:

• keeping expensive inventory
• storing stock against future orders
• fulfilling orders as they come in

When a reader orders a copy of your book from the sales outlets serviced by either of them (for KDP Print, Amazon’s stores worldwide, and for IngramSpark bricks-and-mortar bookstores and libraries), they fund the production, bill the customer, take their cut for production and distribution, then pay you the rest.

Both platforms fulfil print orders in pretty much the same way, so why is ALLi recommending you use both? Isn’t that a needless duplication of effort?

Actually, no, because each offers unique benefits – and you want the best of both worlds.

The Benefits of KDP Print

Publishing your book via KDPP will ensure that your book is listed on Amazon’s storefront in all the territories it serves with print, and for a larger royalty per book than offered by for other POD services. It’s important to be aware that the list of these territories is not the same as the list of territories in which IS sells e-books, and that the royalty structure is very different.

As a print-on-demand supplier, KDPP does not require you to pay up-front for stock. It simply subtracts the print cost and its cut of the profit from the list price and passes the balance on to you as your royalty.

• “KDP Print is free at point of use for all indie authors. You pay only when you sell, so you can save your budget for making your book the best it can be in before you publish it (professional editing, design, etc).
• As KDPP only makes money out of your print books when someone buys your books, they have a vested interest in helping you make more sales.
• Your books will be automatically included on Amazon’s storefront in all the territories it serves with print (not as long as the list of territories served by its ebooks, but it’s growing slowly).”

The Benefits of IngramSpark

IngramSpark is part of Ingram Content Group, which has a distribution network that reaches beyond the internet into physical bookstores, academic institutions and libraries. These outlets are unlikely to order stock from Amazon because most bookstores see Amazon as competition and the trade discounts Amazon offers to them are not commercially viable. They prefer to place their business with the same distributors and wholesalers from whom they order trade-published books.

Like KDP Print, IngramSpark provides a print-on-demand service, but unlike KDP it does not supply directly to the end-user, ie the reader. Instead, it sends its catalogue to the book distributors and wholesalers from whom retailers, libraries and academic institutions order books. If you publish your book with IS, a bookseller or library’s purchasing department can now order it. Most such buyers prefer to order their books direct from wholesalers or distributors with a single invoice and delivery for their daily order, than to incur further administration for less reward by dealing directly with publishers or authors. While different territories have different preferred distributors eg Gardners is more widely used than Ingram in the UK, books in the Ingram catalog are available to buyers worldwide.

It doesn’t mean they WILL order it, only that they can. It falls to the indie author – just as it does to the trade publisher – to generate the bookseller/library’s desire to stock your book.

The whole article can be read at our partner’s website at : https://selfpublishingadvice.org/can-i-use-ingramspark-and-kdp/

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