As an independent author publishing under your own imprint, it is up to you to decide how to get your book into the distribution channels that feed to Amazon and other booksellers. The Book Couple will consult as needed and support whatever route you decide to take. We are not affiliated or partnered with any printer, but we do interface with them to upload your print-ready files (full cover and book interior) on your behalf.
Your book can be printed one of two ways: print on demand (POD) or commercial printing (aka offset printing).
POD prints as few as one copy to fill an order, and commercial printing (which comes with a lower cost per unit) generally prints upwards of 500 books (otherwise, it’s not cost effective for them).
For those clients who do not wish to pay for and warehouse a large quantity of books and arrange for distribution or perform their own order fulfillment through an Amazon seller account, for instance, POD printing is the way to go. The majority of our clients choose among the following three options:
1. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)—KDP (formerly CreateSpace) is affiliated with Amazon. The interface is easy to use. KDP has a large database of help-related topics and their technical support is available by email and phone. There are no upload fees. KDP does not offer hard cover options for distribution. KDP has two choices for distribution: Amazon only or Amazon and Expanded Distribution. (Be aware: once the Expanded Distribution option is selected, you no longer have the choice to print your trade paper version on IngramSpark; see #3.) KDP books will appear on Amazon.com within hours and on the Barnes & Noble website over the next one to three weeks (be aware that inclusion on B&N isn’t guaranteed; however, we haven’t experienced a case where the KDP book wasn’t listed on that site, but we have seen them list KDP books as out of stock). KDP books are not available to order at a brick-and-mortar Barnes & Noble. (Incidentally, e-books uploaded to KDP are distributed for Kindle only.)
2. IngramSpark—IngramSpark is affiliated with Barnes & Noble. The interface is less user-friendly than KDP’s, but it is still relatively simple to navigate once you are familiar with it. Customer service is available by chat, phone, or email; however, phone wait times can be quite long. There are upload fees of $25 each time a cover, interior, or e-pub file is uploaded. It can take up to 30 days for book information (and sales availability) to migrate to Amazon (while KDP is virtually instantaneous), although the initial migration of the book info is usually within 48 hours. IngramSpark offers hard cover options. They have a wider distribution than KDP because they are affiliated with Ingram (a large distribution network, including bookstores, universities, and libraries). IngramSpark books can generally be ordered at a brick-and-mortar Barnes & Noble—but getting shelf space is unlikely unless you have extraordinary circumstances surrounding your book and substantial sales can be pretty much guaranteed. (IngramSpark’s current e-book distribution is to more than 30 retailers, including Kindle, Nook, and iBooks.)
3. KDP and IngramSpark—This is a combined strategy where you get Amazon distribution through KDP but also expanded distribution by Ingram through IngramSpark. With this choice, the trade paperback is uploaded to both accounts. You must opt out of Expanded Distribution on KDP to be able to do this. With regard to Ingram distribution: this lists your book in the database of books; it is still up to individual accounts to order your book, and they can only do that if they know about your title and want to carry it.
The Book Couple production prices include initial upload of the approved cover and interior files to your printer of choice, as well as basic account set-up assistance, if needed. If you choose to print with more than one printer and create an account on more than one platform, additional fees apply at the hourly production rate specified in your estimate.
Aside from notifications of issues with the actual production files uploaded by The Book Couple, additional consultations regarding IngramSpark and KDP methods, prices, book deliveries, service imperfections, and/or printing errors, as well as reuploads of the files due to subsequent author changes, are also charged at the hourly production rate. The online appearance of your book cover and related metadata is the responsibility of the individual online retailer. If there are any display issues, authors will need to contact the retailer
Our intention is to help you create a book you can be proud of. Our book-packaging services aim to do just that. The majority of our clients have chosen one of the three options above with satisfaction.
If you are interested in commercial printing, let us know and we will put you in touch with a printer for an estimate. Some authors also choose to print with their local printer to have books available for book signings (in addition to their KDP/IngramSpark book), so if you know a quality book printer in your area, we can upload your files to them as well. Please note that your book’s specifications (trim size, page count, etc.) will need to be finalized before a printer can give you an estimate.
To learn more about KDP, click here.
To learn more about IngramSpark, click here.
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