Originally published February 18, 2019; most recently updated November 22, 2021.
To keep things simple for first-time authors, I often suggest they stick with Amazon’s ecosystem, using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for both ebooks and print books. However, there is another major player in the print-on-demand (POD) space: IngramSpark (IS), which is the POD service from Ingram, a major book distributor.
In this overview article, we’ll look at why you might choose one POD service over the other—and the strategy for using both. I’m also doing an in-depth series that takes each section into greater detail. I will update this article with links as they get added. If you have specific questions, let me know and I will do my best to incorporate answers for you.
Since I work primarily with nonfiction books, in this article I’ll use the example of a standard 6×9, 150-page, black-and-white book. (We’re not going to cover color books or ebooks here.)
Print Options
For paperback books, KDP and IngramSpark offer similar options. They both have multiple standard and nonstandard trim sizes and offer glossy and matte covers. I find the difference in paperback quality between KDP and IS to be negligible (YMMV), though I have a slight preference for KDP due to their thicker paper (55# vs 50# on IS).
Until 2021 IngramSpark was the only option for POD hardbacks (between these two services); now KDP is offering some limited hardback functionality. IS offers many trim sizes and clothbound with a dustcover or casebound (where the cover image is printed on the hard cover) and some variations. KDP offers five trim sizes and casebound only (no dust jackets).
For most details, here’s a meaty 1700-word post on print options.
User-Friendliness
Both platforms require basically the same elements to set up a book (interior file, cover file, metadata); however, KDP makes the process far, far easier.
KDP’s interface is straightforward. It’s free to upload files, and if you find a mistake later and need to upload fresh files, no problem—just do it. Post-publication, their reporting dashboard is clean and simple.
IS’s interface and processes are unintuitive and their instructions are poor. IS charges setup fees of about $25 per file ($49 for both interior and cover). Once you’ve approved your book, if you need to upload new files for any reason, you must pay fees again. Reporting dashboard? Serious headache.
I rarely have issues that require me to contact KDP’s customer service. I’ve talked to IS more times than I can count and I’ve been frustrated with them more often than not. Currently (November 2021), IS can only be contacted by email; they have disabled their live chat function and are not taking phone calls. Seriously.
Proof Copies
Before approving your book for sale, chances are you’ll want to see a physical copy of it.
KDP gives you the option of ordering up to five proof copies. They come with a big “PROOF” label on the cover, so they are not copies you could sell. But what you want before approving your book for sale is a chance to see if there are any mistakes, so to me that is not an issue.
IngramSpark does not give you an option for proof copies. They have a two-step approval process, in which you first approve for printing, then approve for distribution. To get a tangible copy, you have to approve your book for printing. Then you can order an author copy for review before you approve your book for distribution. However, since you’ve approved your book to print, if you need to make any changes after seeing a print copy, you have to upload a new file and pay another fee. Hmmm.
Author Copies
Both platforms allow authors to buy their own books at cost plus shipping. Printing costs are in a similar range, but KDP is consistently less expensive than IngramSpark.
For example, a single 6×9, 150-page book is $2.65 to print on KDP and $3.32 on IS. When you add shipping (and an order fee for IS) for ten copies, the all-in unit cost is around $3.45* on KDP and $4.51 on IS. Over time, a dollar more per book adds up. (*When you order author copies on KDP, the books are sent to your Amazon cart, where shipping costs are shown. This is a change from when I originally wrote this article, and I couldn’t get an updated shipping cost for this fictional scenario.)
Hardback is more expensive than paperback by about 2.5x. The same book that was $2.65 on KDP in paperback is $7.30 in hardback. On IS, the $3.32 paperback becomes $9.47 as a hardback.
Distribution
People tend to blur the different parties involved in self-publishing. Distinguish them thus:
- You, the author, are the publisher.
- The POD service you choose (KDP or IS) is the printer.
- Amazon, other online stores, bookstores, and so on are distribution channels.
When you use KDP, you can choose to sell your book on Amazon and through KDP’s “expanded distribution” to reach non-Amazon channels, such as other online booksellers, bookstores, libraries, and academic institutions.
Using KDP for print-on-demand appears to give you an edge in the Amazon search engine algorithm over books published elsewhere (like on IngramSpark). All other things being equal, greater visibility leads to greater sales.
IngramSpark is the equivalent of KDP, but IngramSpark does not have an owned sales platform equivalent to Amazon. What IngramSpark has is the near-equivalent of KDP’s expanded distribution, which is Ingram, the sibling-company book distributor. (In fact, KDP’s expanded distribution goes through Ingram.)
When you use IngramSpark, you can make your book available to online stores (such as Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com) and to Ingram (the book distributor), which makes your book available to bookstores, libraries, and so on.
One of the big benefits of using IngramSpark is that bookstores and other brick-and-mortar retailers are already used to buying books from Ingram (the distribution channel) as a part of their regular purchasing process.
Additionally, to get into bookstores, your book almost always needs to be returnable. When bookstores have books that don’t sell, they send them back to the publisher for a refund. IngramSpark makes books returnable; KDP does not. (Note: You the publisher bear the expense of returns. If bookstores aren’t your focus, you can make your books not returnable.)
Royalties
When you sell a book, three components determine how much money you make:
- the price,
- the cut the sales channel takes,
- and the printing cost.
Let’s consider our 150-page b/w book again, priced at $10.
When you publish on KDP and sell through Amazon, Amazon gets 40% of the price (you’ll see this referred to as their “discount”), so the calculation is:
- List price = $10
- minus Sales channel (40%) = $4
- minus Printing cost = $2.65
- equals your revenue = $3.35
If you go through KDP’s expanded distribution, the sales channel gets 60%, so your revenue is $1.35.
When your book is sold through IngramSpark’s distribution, the calculation is the same as that for KDP, but on IS you have a choice of what discount to give the distribution channel.
The minimum discount you can offer is 30%; the maximum is 55%. To effectively sell to bookstores, you need to offer a 50–55% discount; if you plan to sell primarily online and to use your book for marketing, you can set the discount at 30% so you retain as much profit as possible.
Setting a 30% discount for the sales channel gives you $3.68 in revenue. Setting a 55% discount for the sales channel gives you $1.18 in revenue.
Notice that even with IngramSpark’s higher print costs, you can make more money on book sales with IS than you can with KDP if you go with the lowest possible discount.
The Strategy for Using KDP and IngramSpark
Based on your needs, there can be good reasons to stick with one platform or the other. KDP is easy, flexible, and has lower-cost author copies. IngramSpark is not user-friendly and nickel-and-dimes you on fees, but it offers more hardback options, potentially higher royalties, and better (potentially cheaper) distribution into non-Amazon retailers.
Many indie authors, however, use both POD platforms. The strategy:
- Purchase your own ISBNs. You can use the same ISBN across platforms as long as the book is identical–that is, the same trim size, the same cover type, and so on. (Be sure to understand how ISBNs work before using this strategy.)
- Use KDP for Amazon sales only. Set your book up on KDP first, and do NOT enable KDP’s “expanded distribution.” (If you set up IS first, the IS data feed will go to Amazon, which is what you don’t want.) Rationale: Using KDP gets your book some benefit in the Amazon search engine. Bonus: By setting up KDP first, you have the chance to order proof copies and correct any issues before you upload to IS, thus reducing the need to incur revision fees on IS.
- Use IngramSpark for all other sales channels. Set your book up on IS second. Rationale: If you sell primarily online, having your book on IS lets you set a lower discount than Amazon takes. If your strategy entails bookstores, your book can be more appealing due to returnability and retailers’ existing familiarity with Ingram’s distribution processes.
Overall the dual-platform strategy can be a strong approach to maximize sales and profit.
Resources
KDP’s Printing Cost and Royalty Calculator.
IngramSpark’s Publisher Comp Calculator and Print and Ship Calculator (for author copies and drop shipments).
KDP and IngramSpark Printing Options for more details comparing the two platforms.
Still have questions? Please read the comments. Then if that doesn’t do it, email me at karin@clearsightbooks.com and if it’s something new, I’ll try to answer your question and add our exchange to the comments. (Comments are closed because I got tired of the spam!)
Great explanation for print books. Quick question regarding IS ebooks: Beyond IS’s set up fee (and excluding all the nickel and diming for replacing files, etc.), do they also take a cut of the royalties? In other words, your article has convinced me to go direct with Amazon, but should I go direct with iBooks, Kobo, and B&N and just use IS for the non-major sites? Thanks!
Hi, Anna. I have not used IS myself for ebooks, only KDP for Kindle to date. Here is the link to the IngramSpark page where they talk about compensation (and can I just say it took FOREVER to find): https://help.ingramspark.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021392111-eBook-Compensation. It appears they pay a 40% royalty–compared to 70% on Kindle if you are within the suggested price range. The other platform I would suggest exploring is Draft2Digital. They appear to pay 90%. If you want to go “wide” as an indie author, the most common suggestion I see is KDP Print for Amazon, IS for other print outlets, and D2D for ebooks. I have not tried this ebook strategy myself, and I don’t know if there is a benefit to do Kindle directly via KDP and everything else D2D, so be sure to do your research to figure out what is right for you! Another resource I would recommend is the Alliance of Independent Authors; they have a good blog site with loads of info. Good luck! –Karin
This is so helpful, thank you! I’m publishing in hardcover, so it seems my only option is to go with IS. Do you know if it makes sense to order a chunk (not massive, but some) of author copies from IS and ship to an Amazon distribution center, like any other product?
Hi, Jessica. Yes for hardcover, IngramSpark is the best option I’ve found. As long as you enable distribution on IngramSpark, their data feed will go to Amazon and your book will appear there. So I don’t think you need to go the Amazon distribution center route. At one point I considered doing a traditional print run and I did actually look into Amazon distribution (the way you mean). I seem to recall a minimum number of products you had to ship Amazon, plus an annual fee, plus a per-sale fee. For me, there were too many costs involved and it felt like too much of a hassle for the small project I was working on. –Karin
Thank you for sharing these tips. I am so confused about what platform to use. I want my books to be sold on amazon, since my books have a small audience and I will be doing the marketing for the audience I know that will buy it. But, I want to be able to sell them in specific book stores (not the big ones) and supermarkets of one state. Do you think I can do this kind of trick thing going with IS? It is a religious book, and there are only two book store that I want to offer my book.
Hi, Cassia. Whether you use KDP or IS or both, your book will show up on Amazon; both platforms send the book data to Amazon. If you want to focus on bookstores, IS is probably your best bet in terms of making the books available to them; many bookstores already order through Ingram so using a channel they are already familiar with makes it easier for them. You do need to make sure the discount is set to standard (you set it to 55% in IS; Ingram gets ~15% and the bookstore gets ~40%) and make the books returnable. The other option is to see if bookstores will take your books on consignment; they usually expect a 40% discount. Consignment is usually more feasible when you are working in a limited geographic region; otherwise you end up with postage and travel expenses that can eat up any profit. I don’t typically work with religious books so I’m not sure about this, but you also might do some searching on whether there is a particular distribution channel religious bookstores use.
Thank you for this great info!
Would it make a difference having an ebook and paperback? I think online will be more conducive to my situation in general, but do want to have that library/store option as well.
Thanks!
Hey, Chris, thanks for the comment. The paperback and ebook decisions really can be separate. For paperback, you have the decision of KDP or IS or both. For ebook, I typically just do Kindle with my clients (for a variety of reasons related to their business strategy), but there are many other options. I would NOT use IngramSpark for ebooks (poor royalties); I would use KDP/Kindle; and I would explore Draft2Digital if you are trying to go wide. Good luck and congrats on your book! –Karin
I’ve used IngramSpark for hardcover and Amazon for paperback. It works pretty well. You do need to be careful to get your metadata perfectly aligned though – else it’s difficult to get your books linked on Amazon.
Hi, Kameel. That is a great point. In my experience the title, subtitle, and author name seem to be the most critical. For example, I have seen Amazon have trouble matching books (or matching books to authors on Author Central) when the name field had a middle initial one place and no initial another. I make it a practice to map out all my critical metadata in a document ahead of time so I can copy/paste the exact same text into each system. Thanks for the comment! –Karin
Am I allowed to price Amazon and IS differently for the same book? For example, list at 12.99 on Amazon and 15.99 on IS with a 50%-55% discount. Distribution and wholesale are a goal of mine (which is why I’m planning to print on both).
I ask because my book is full color, so unfortunately if I go too low to satisfy Amazon customers, I make pennies on the dollar to sell to bookstores.
Hi, Tracy. I feel your pain on the color pricing and the bookstore discount. It is a tough balance because the POD color prices are so high that to give the 50-55% discount and make any money, you can price yourself out of the marketplace!
To your question about two different prices for the same book (same trim size, same cover, etc.) on different platforms, even if you technically could set it up that way, I would not recommend it. What will happen is your customers will see the book on Amazon for one price (e.g., 12.99) and on bn.com and other online sites (and in bookstores potentially) for another price (e.g., 15.99). It will likely cause confusion about whether they are two different versions and could cause annoyance if someone purchases at the higher price and then finds the lower. I’d suggest that you’d be better off setting both platforms at 15.99 in order to make the bookstore discount work. Without having seen your book, I’d speculate that most customers wouldn’t hesitate too much over the higher price.
Depending on what your book is and how/why you think customers will purchase it (e.g., as a cheap kids’ book vs. a “gift” book), another option might be to do one edition on KDP at a lower price (e.g., smaller trim size) and a somewhat fancier edition (e.g., bigger, premium color, hardback) version on IngramSpark at the higher price with the higher discount. That potentially gives you the opportunity to appeal to more customers–but it also entails extra work on your side if you have to reformat for a different trim size or cover style.
I hope that helps. Good luck–and congrats on your book!! –Karin
Hey, Tracy. See also the exchange with Lee C about color. Maybe that will spark additional ideas for you. –Karin
Hmm … my experience contradicts your article here and I’m confused.
Initially, I setup a POD paperback version of my book on KDP. We’re talking a 6″x9″ perfect bound, color printed, matte cover paperback of 244 pages. The KDP per copy print cost is $17.93 and thus their dictated minimum retail price is $29.88, so in setting the retail cost at $32.00 my take home royalty of $2.12. I did not avail myself of their expanded distribution, because that increases the dictated minimum retail price excessively.
To have expanded distribution I have subsequently setup the same book on IngramSpark. On IngramSpark my per copy print cost is $9.00 plus a $1.99 handling fee. There is of course the one time setup fee of $49.00, which would also apply to any revisions, but such is quickly made up. So, allowing the full 55% discount rate for the distribution channels, my take home royalty is $2.70 after decreasing the retail price from $32.00 to $26.00. IngramSpark also allows the selection of a higher quality paper, Standard Color 70 as opposed to 60#, which I chose.
I will note that setting up a print book on IngramSpark can be a more difficult learning curve, and getting answers out of them is like pulling teeth. Also, having just received my print proof I don’t have any experience with their sales reporting and payments as yet.
What am I missing? It seems to me that both myself ($0.58 more take home royalty) and the end buyer (a $6.00 retail savings) would benefit from my using only IngramSpark.
Hi, Lee. Thanks for the message. As noted up front, this article is referring to black and white books, since most of the nonfiction books I work with don’t require color. You are right that color changes the equation. My first question would be whether you really need color. B/W reduces your print cost to 3.78; you could lower your retail price even further and still make a higher royalty.
But assuming you do need color, I agree that your best option in this case is to go with IngramSpark only due to the huge price differential–as long as the IS standard color is good enough for your purposes. If you go to the premium color, the IS print price (17.95) is almost identical to KDP (17.93). You can request samples of the different color quality from IS customer service (I will note the samples took 6 weeks to arrive when I requested them). I have done only one color book with premium color, so the prices were much more comparable across platforms. (And TBH I preferred the KDP color, but it was for artwork.) For anyone who might still be unclear, I would note that when you publish on the IS platform, your book does appear on Amazon, so you are still hitting all the retails outlets (i.e., you are not required to use KDP in order for your book to show up on Amazon).
Re the fees on IS, they are incredibly irritating. I might suggest you look into membership of this organization: https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/. And you are correct the IS user experience leaves a lot to be desired (I have yet to write that article because the topic makes my blood boil). You can probably anticipate the same clunkiness with the reporting, though they did just do a system “upgrade.”
In a nutshell, 1) do you really need color, and 2) is the standard IS color good enough? If the answers are yes and yes, I don’t think you are missing anything in your thought process about using IS only. Good luck! –Karin
Adding an email exchange here as it may help others with similar questions…
Email 1:
I have just read your very useful overview of the print on Demand book market where you compare KDP and IngramSpark.
I am still a little confused about their costings and wonder if you could answer a question? When using the IngramSpark print and shipping calculator it appears that using them for my print on demand book it significantly more expensive than using KDP due to the shipping costs. I presume that they will often ship just one book if a customer orders a copy from an online retailer. In which case the shipping costs are huge – I looked at printing in and shipping to the UK. Whereas when I cost out a book on KDP the net revenue back to the publishers looks a lot higher. But that seems to be because they don’t add in the cost of shipping (or at least it’s not shown when using their print cost calculator). Is shipping charged on top of this? Or is it paid by the customer? Or is the shipping cost already included as part of the print costs?
I am confused!!! Any help you could give me would be very much appreciated!!
Response 1:
Two different issues:
1. The print and shipping calculators you are using are for author copies.
* IS includes the shipping there so you have a full price. You will see the shipping changes based on how many books you order–more books will bring down the per book shipping price. (And, yes, I find IS overly expensive for shipping.)
* KDP does not include shipping in the calculator. When you order author copies from KDP, they go to your Amazon cart where tax and shipping appear. You cannot use Prime shipping on author copies; you get charged normal rates. For example, I have a book that is about $5 for the book and $3.50 for shipping if I order only one copy. If I order 5 copies, it is $6. So it adjusts as you order more (to a point). I usually assume $1 per book in my mental calculations.
* KDP and IS will vary on which is more competitively priced for author copies–IS seems higher in b/w; KDP seems higher for some color. It really depends on your book.
2. For retail copies purchased by consumers online, these shipping amounts are irrelevant.
* If I buy your book on Amazon–regardless of whether it comes from KDP or IS–I pay the full retail price, e.g., $20, and the shipping is probably free because I have a Prime account. If you don’t have Prime, shipping is whatever normal Amazon shipping is–probably close to that that $3.50 I mentioned originally.
* If I buy your book anywhere else online–regardless of whether it comes from KDP or IS–the same thing applies. So, for example, bn.com has free shipping over $35, so that rule would apply. I pay shipping if I order one $20 book, but shipping is free if I buy two.
* To know what you make for retail sales, you need to look at the royalty calculators.
On international shipping, both services have print facilities around the world. With KDP, you are probably making your book available on all the Amazon shops–there are maybe 7-8 (UK, Germany, etc.). If consumers order through those–whatever is closest to them–they should pay more appropriate shipping. Likewise on IS–if you set up your book to be sold in all the available marketplaces (UK, Australia, etc.), presumably consumers can buy from a website of a retailer in their location.
I hope that helps!
Email 2:
That is so useful!! Thank you so much. I was absolutely driving myself mad trying to understand why IS was so much more than KDP. Now it makes sense.
May I ask just a couple more questions? If I use IS for selling my book on all online stores, other than Amazon, I believe it is advisable to set the trade discount at 55%. In this case, what amount goes to IS as opposed to the the online store? If IS doesn’t take a proportion of the 55% where do they make money? Purely through the $49 title set up fee?
Also I presume that, if I wanted to make the book available in physical bookstores, they are likely to order more than one copy. Would they be charged the shipping cost for their copies as they obviously can’t charge the customer a delivery charge? And, as I understand it, any copies that they do order and can’t sell will be returned at a cost to myself?
I apologise for the bombardment of questions but I’m finding it a bit tricky to navigate my way through this.
Response 2:
Re 55%, typically Ingram–the distributor (a sister company of IngramSpark)–takes 15%, so the bookstore gets a 40% discount. (The split can vary somewhat depending on individual arrangements.) I assume IS makes money from setup fees and probably from the print and shipping cost–they’ve got to have some small markup in there.
When bookstores order, I am not entirely sure how shipping is handled. I suspect there is some arrangement specific to bookstores, not what authors pay. Bookstores are buying from Ingram the distributor, so chances are they have many different book orders coming from that distributor at the same time. Our local indie store gets ~40% of their books via Ingram so I imagine they get daily shipments.
If you make your books returnable and the books are returned, first you get charged the royalty that you originally received. Then you could be charged for the bookstore to ship it back if you set up your returns that way. There is another option that lets the bookstore just destroy the book instead of ship it; you still get charged the return, just not the shipping.
Question from a recent email: “Hello I currently Publish through kdp book and ebook. How do I do both without breaking Amazon rules?”
Response: If you want to publish on multiple ebook platforms, I think there are two main things:
1. Do NOT enroll in KDP Select. That requires 90 days exclusivity (and it renews automatically, so make sure to turn it off if you do enroll to start).
2. Make your prices consistent on all platforms. At one point KDP had a rule that you could not price your book lower on any other platforms than you priced it on KDP/Amazon. I think this may still be the case, though I haven’t read the terms of service lately, so check those thoroughly.
Good luck!
Hi!
IS is telling me to sign if I want amazon distribution as well. If I have signed that, but would like to go through KDP anyway (without the expanded distribution and so forth), is that possible?
If I upload my book first on KDP without making it exclusive there (I have my own ISBN), and then after go to my IS account and upload it will it become an issue if I signed in amazon distribution already?
I’m afraid if I now have signed myself to only use IS exclusively. Is that a thing?
Hi, Karen. If I understand correctly, when you say “sign” you mean the forms IS prompts you to agree to up front before publishing. It’s been a while since I’ve been through them myself, and I know they were recently updated. According to the article, it looks like Amazon is a separate, optional agreement.
I don’t know that IS exclusivity is a thing (except if you choose to use only IS), but what happens is the data feeds to Amazon can get confused. My understanding/observation is that if you publish your book on KDP first (without expanded distribution), then even if you publish on IS as well, on Amazon the KDP data feed will take precedence over the IS data feed. However, if you are worried, you could probably go back to the agreements and uncheck Amazon. And if you have trouble accessing the forms, I would expect the IS customer support folks could help you sign new forms.
Good luck! –Karin
Hi,
I’ve completed my non-fiction and am working to get the book to POD and ebook formats. I’m stuck on uploading and formatting the text to the 6×9″ format. Will KDP and IS format the text for a fee? If the text is formatted to a file do I pwn this file that allows me to take it and upload that file to IS? Or must I format with each platform? Likewise, re the cover template, does each platform have its own that template that would require me to format it on a separate template? Thank you.
Hi, William. Congrats on finishing your book!
KDP and IS do not offer formatting services to my knowledge (KDP used to but stopped). You can find plenty of book formatting services online though (you can start with The Book Designer or someplace like Reedsy), or you can do it yourself in Word or a tool like InDesign. The interior file needs to be uploaded as a PDF. If you format the book as 6×9 trim size, you can use the same interior file on both platforms.
The cover can be almost the same, but you will probably have to adjust the spine–IS usually requires a slightly larger spine. Both KDP and IS offer cover templates that can help–at minimum be sure to use their measurements even if you don’t use the actual template. Again, the cover gets uploaded as a PDF.
I hope this helps! –Karin