Shawn P. B. Robinson

When I first started down the self-publishing road, I remember reading a very frustrating blog post. It told me some information I needed without helping me understand anything about what they were saying. Confused? Here’s more or less what they said: “Most Self-Publishers agree that it’s best to use both Createspace and Ingram.”

That’s great, isn’t it?

I just really didn’t know what either of those was at the time so that statement just left me with no idea what to do! This is one of the reasons why my blog posts tend to be a little on the detailed side of things. I want to properly explain this stuff rather than gloss over it.

Just recently I blogged about the benefits and drawbacks of the whole, “KDP Print vs. Createspace” options for Print on Demand (POD), but now I want to explore Ingram.

Let me say this right away: Ingram is the way to go!

Ingram is a huge distributor of books. They boast access to 39,000 retailers and libraries. That isn’t an empty boast, either.

They have two POD divisions. There’s IngramSpark (that’s what most of us will use) and they have Ingram Lightning Source. Lightning requires you have at least 30 titles before they will take you on. They have some slightly higher printing costs (per book) but allow for quantity discounts (IngramSpark does not).

We’ll focus in on IngramSpark. Throughout this blog, I’ll just call it “Ingram,” if you don’t mind. If you do mind, this is a monologue till you get to the comments so just endure till then.

When it comes to Ingram, all the big bookstores (online and brick and mortar) use them as well as libraries and more. Ingram is huge. Ingram is massive. Ingram is also invisible.

Well… not invisible, but I would venture a guess that few first-time authors will have heard of Ingram. Let me give you an example to let you know how big Ingram is. Take a look at a bookshelf full of different books at your library or in your house or at a store. Chances are upwards of 70% (or more) of those books were printed by Ingram. Ingram is huge.

Ingram is a printer. That means that you can do POD through their IngramSpark division. Their print costs are a little higher than Createspace/KDP, but some people feel their quality is better.

I haven’t noticed a difference in Print Quality, but Ingram’s paper is thinner so their books are thinner overall. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, just an observation.

One more thing on printing/shipping: Ingram’s shipping can also be a little cheaper than Createspace so in the end, you might that if you order a large shipment of books, it might be cheaper per book to print them through Ingram.

Since Ingram is both a printer and a distributor, you can print your books just fine, but they will also distribute your books all around the world. For me, I put my books up on two places: Amazon and Ingram. Amazon distributes to Amazon and… not much else. Ingram, however, gets your book out to pretty much everywhere else in the world.

When a Vanity Publisher, for instance, tells you that they will set you up with 40,000 different stores and more, don’t be shocked (or impressed). They are probably just setting up your book with Ingram. It’s quick and easy for them to do. It’s also quick and easy for you to do.

Here’s a downside to Ingram:

Ingram tends to charge you for setting up a book and updating books/editions.

Here’s the solution to the downside:

Online coupon codes.

Now, these coupon codes have become increasing difficult to find and as of this update (April 2022), coupon codes have pretty much disappeared.

However, joining an author alliance of one form or another can often provide you with coupons for Ingram (to waive setup fees and sometimes even revisions). The membership fees can be expensive, but the money you save through the waiving of setup fees will often more than cover your membership fee.

Ingram will also occasionally runs specials and discounts on setups and even on printing (so make sure you’re on their mailing list). Recently, they offered a 5% discount on all print orders above 25 copies. That’s not a huge savings, but it does help. I did see an old deal once where you could save upwards of around 50% on print runs if you ordered enough books! That’s pretty great!

Another downside to Ingram is that you need an ISBN. This can be a big cost for a lot of Self-Publishers. Ingram will sell individual ISBNs to American authors for $80/each and this could save you a bit of money, but that’s still pricey.

ISBNs can often be a big challenge. The cost of them varies wildly from country to country (even free in certain countries like Canada). If you cannot afford the ISBNs, you might need to find another way to get your book out there. If you can come up with the money for the ISBN, it is certainly worth it for the sake of distribution.
I would check out my blog series on ISBNs to explore how you can save a bit of cash on quantity discounts for ISBNs as well as to understand what they are all about. There is also a list there of where you can get an ISBN for your specific country.

Ingram also tends to have great customer service (Createspace and KDP do as well). I have found them to be quick to respond, courteous and friendly (although I’ve heard horror stories of how difficult they can be in certain circumstances).

Now, Ingram tends not to be as quick as Createspace or KDP Print for getting your book up and running with the initial setup. They tend to be a few days (rather than 24 hours with Createspace and KDP) to get an initial setup of a book.  Once it is set up, it also takes a while for the book to go up for sale through all the different online sites. Ingram is making your book available to tons of different companies.  This isn’t surprising as your book first has to be set up with Ingram, then all those companies that Ingram distributes to have to make your book available to their customers. Because of this, you might find that once you set up your book with Ingram, it’ll take a week, or maybe two, before it shows up on Books-A-Million, Foyles’ or other sites.

So don’t try to set up your book the day before it goes live. Give yourself enough time for the title to get out to the far reaches of the Earth.

Updating your already set up books, however, can be extremely fast! You can upload a new interior file, for instance, and possibly get an email within minutes from Ingram telling you that your book is ready for proofing. They can be VERY fast, at times, to get your book updated.

Another advantage to Ingram is that they allow you to set up a future “for sale” date for your printed book so you can easily do pre-orders. Createspace and KDP Print do not allow this with their system (you can only do pre-orders with KDP ebooks). There appears to be a complicated way of setting up a pre-order with Amazon Advantage, but I find working with Ingram on this to be VERY simple.  Not only does your book become available for pre-order throughout the world, but Ingram also distributes to Amazon so you can actually have pre-orders on Amazon’s site (fulfilled through Ingram with Prime shipping available).

I’ll be blogging on setting up a pre-order with Ingram soon. Keep your eye out.

So, there you have it! Ingram and the Self-Publisher!

My own recommendation is that every Self-Publisher should be taking advantage of Ingram. The big set-back is the cost of needing an ISBN with Ingram, but if you can swing the cost, it’s worth it!

Shawn