How To Self Publish Your Book With IngramSpark

Hello friends! Today I am going to talk to you about setting up your book with IngramSpark. Now IngramSpark can distribute to Amazon, Google, Barnes and Noble, the other online retailers I can either sell my books on directly or through Smashwords. What IngramSpark has that I haven’t been able to get anywhere else is the retail and brick & mortar distribution. So here are my tips on using this platform:

The interface is a little basic, but it doesn’t need to be flashy.

The step-by-step process is easy to follow and what is REALLY nice is that if you are putting out a book in both print and ebook formats you can select that so you don’t have to fill everything out twice.

When you get to the end of the set-up you need to select distribution to their network otherwise it is just on their platform. So if you want to just purchase them and sell them yourself don’t distribute to their network. But if you want Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million or Hudson News to stock them, you need to select their distribution.

You do have to pay for your title set-up. So there is an upfront cost as opposed to KDP or Smashwords which are free to upload.

I love that I can order books for myself as the author or publisher at cost. I still have to pay shipping, but within the order center I can order 20 copies of the book. They even have an option to say if the order is for an event. I have not ordered any for an event yet but I would infer that they try to keep that in mind so you can have what you need on time.

I know KDP is offering the ability to do author copies now, but I found that Ingram Spark has a much easier method for doing that.

Chances are one of your files will need to be redone. In each case where I have had a client’s file ready to upload, the interior artwork needed to be compressed in a different manner so I had to go back to the designer and ask for that new document. Not a big deal, but as with any technology, plan for technical issues.

The team with Ingram Spark says that it can take up to 6 weeks to see your book on retailer websites. In my experience the books I have put through Ingram Spark have appeared on Amazon within 48 hours and B&N and Kobo within 72 hours. Another took a couple of weeks.
But their customer service is great, they have been very easy to contact and get information from.

One con: No presale numbers until the books ship to the retailer. Which if you set a 2-week presale is nearly the same time, but also not very much of a presale. If you have months of a presale, which is recommended so that the brick and mortar stores have time to vet and make their orders, you will be in the dark for a bit.