Learning Hub course
Publishing with IngramSpark
Decide the platform's role, price for wholesale distribution, and prepare a title properly
- Intermediate
- 64 min total
- 3 lessons
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IngramSpark is not a better or worse version of KDP. It is a different job: a wholesale distribution channel that makes a book orderable by bookstores and libraries, priced through a discount you set, with a returns liability you choose to accept or not. That structure rewards publishers who work out the numbers first and punishes ones who copy a discount from a forum. These three lessons decide the platform's role for one specific book, price that book for the wholesale channel with its return exposure attached, and prepare it to IngramSpark's own specifications.
What you finish with
One book with a distribution plan, a wholesale price and a title prepared to specification
You finish with a written distribution decision for one edition covering the roles of KDP and IngramSpark and the ISBN that makes your plan possible; a wholesale pricing decision showing print cost, list price, discount, publisher compensation per copy and the per-return exposure your returnability choice creates; and a prepared title plan with files built to IngramSpark's current specification, settings reviewed, proof decisions made, and a distribute, revise or hold decision written down with its reason.
Lessons
- Lesson 1 of 3Decide How IngramSpark Fits Your Publishing PlanWork out what job IngramSpark would actually do for one specific book, whether KDP should keep doing another, and which ISBN choice makes your plan possible at all.You finish with: One written distribution decision for a specific book and edition covering: the format or formats you intend to publish, your distribution goal, the role KDP plays if any, the role IngramSpark plays if any, your ISBN plan, your KDP Expanded Distribution decision, your bookstore and library availability goal, your direct-Amazon goal, and a final choice between KDP only, IngramSpark only, both with separated roles, or postponing IngramSpark — with the reason recorded.18 minIntermediate
- Lesson 2 of 3Price an IngramSpark Book for Wholesale DistributionTake one book from its print specification through list price and wholesale discount to publisher compensation — then attach the return exposure your returnability choice actually creates.You finish with: One completed wholesale pricing decision for a specific book containing: the print specification and its current print cost, a list price per market, a chosen wholesale discount, publisher compensation per copy, that compensation as a share of list price, the returnability option chosen, the per-returned-copy charge that option creates, how many sales one return cancels, and the pricing decision written down with its reason.22 minIntermediate
- Lesson 3 of 3Prepare an IngramSpark Title for DistributionWork through the order that actually prevents rework — edition, ISBN, specification, files to IngramSpark's spec, cover template, metadata, pricing, discount, returnability, proof — and end with a distribute, revise or hold decision.You finish with: One publication-ready title plan covering: the ISBN decision, trim, binding and interior choices, an interior file built to IngramSpark's current specification, a cover file built from a template generated for that exact book, metadata reviewed, market pricing reviewed, wholesale discount chosen, returnability chosen, publisher compensation confirmed on the final specification, the digital proof reviewed, a physical-proof decision, an explicit note of what a post-approval revision would cost you, and a final distribute, revise or hold decision with its reason.24 minIntermediate