Do You Need to Publish on Both Amazon and IngramSpark?

Self-publishing has exploded over recent years, giving authors much more control over their work. For most writers, the path to distribution is through Amazon (Kindle Direct Publishing) or IngramSpark. Both of these platforms are popular, but it’s common for writers to be a little confused about which one to use.

In this video, I summarize the key reason most authors opt to distribute on both platforms, rather than using just one.

If you opt to distribute through both channels, be aware of the following:

• You can use the same internal content files (ePub for ebooks and PDF for print) for both IngramSpark and Amazon.
• You can use the same ebook cover on both platforms.
• You CANNOT use the same print covers on both IngramSpark and Amazon. Teeny differences in paper influence the dimensions the cover spine has to be. Have your designer create an Amazon softcover and hardcover, plus an IngramSpark softcover and hardcover.
• When you set up your submission to the platforms, leave “Expanded Distribution” unchecked on Amazon. Expanded distribution refers to orders from organizations like libraries and bookstores, and those organizations almost always order from IngramSpark rather than Amazon. Leaving this option unchecked ensures that there’s no confusion and conflict between platforms about which publishing company should be handling the expanded distribution.
• Approval time to publish is faster on Amazon than on IngramSpark. Give yourself enough lead time for both platforms when considering your launch date.
• IngramSpark is stricter on it’s validation (approval) process than Amazon is. Make sure your formatting and links are correct to avoid correction requests. Amazon will alert you about potential issues when you preview and approve your submission, which can help you identify where IngramSpark also might have a problem. Third-party tools are available to help you check compliance, as well.
• If you plan to do an audiobook, you can distribute on both platforms, but IngramSpark does not do this directly. They partner with Findaway Voices. Ingram offers a lower royalty than Amazon, but distribution is much wider. You can choose to distribute exclusively on Amazon, but similar to print, using a dual platform strategy will ensure you reach the widest audience.

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[Transcript summary]

If you are going to do any kind of self publishing, you will very quickly find out that there are two main publishers or platforms to get your book out and distribute it, and those are Amazon and IngramSpark.

Now you might ask yourself, if there’s two, do I have to use both? And the short answer is probably yes. The reason for that is because of the way that different people and organizations use the platforms.

Amazon is the one that your general consumer is going to use to look at your — look for your book, whereas Ingram Spark is the one that really handles the expanded distribution. That’s where you get your libraries and bookstores and things like that ordering your book. Now, Amazon can do expanded distribution, but the organizations usually prefer Ingram. That is just kind of their standard. They like Ingram. If they know it, they will order from there. They tend not to do it from Amazon.

So, what most authors do is they publish on both to satisfy both the organization and the consumer side. You don’t have to do both. It depends on how you want to distribute and who your intended audience is, right? But it’s a really good idea, if you want the biggest distribution across all organizations, all consumers, right? That’s probably your best bet, is to publish on both. It’s a little bit more work, but it can be worth it. Take care. Everybody. Bye.