My thanks to Gloria Adams for these tips on how to navigate your way through the jungles that are Amazon's Create Space and Ingram's Spark. It's wonderful to be able to publish your own book, but it does require some time and effort. Good luck!
Twelve Things About Self-Publishing with Ingram Spark
Your book is ready to publish and you’re trying to decide if you should use Create Space or Ingram Spark. All the advice I’ve read (and my own experience) says to use both. Your cost through Create Space is going to be less for ordering print copies, as well as the fact that there is no set-up fee with CS like there is with Ingram. CS is also much easier to work with. But if you get your book listed in the Ingram catalog and hopefully, Baker & Taylor (now Follett), credibility with bookstores and libraries will probably be worth the extra cost.
Here are twelve things I learned about Ingram Spark:
The name Ingram and Baker & Taylor hold a lot of weight with bookstores and libraries. It may be worth the extra hassle to give Ingram a try. Good luck!
Gloria G. Adams,
www.gloriagadams.com.
Author (with Lana Wayne Koehler), Ah-Choo! –
Sterling Children’s Books
My Underpants Are Made from Plants (with Vera J. Hurst) –
Schoolwide, Inc.
Contributor(pseudonym) and publishing group member,
Seven Deadly Sins: Simply Delectable Stories,
Third Thursday Publishing, www.thirdthursdaypublishing.com
Twelve Things About Self-Publishing with Ingram Spark
Your book is ready to publish and you’re trying to decide if you should use Create Space or Ingram Spark. All the advice I’ve read (and my own experience) says to use both. Your cost through Create Space is going to be less for ordering print copies, as well as the fact that there is no set-up fee with CS like there is with Ingram. CS is also much easier to work with. But if you get your book listed in the Ingram catalog and hopefully, Baker & Taylor (now Follett), credibility with bookstores and libraries will probably be worth the extra cost.
Here are twelve things I learned about Ingram Spark:
- The tools you need and the know-how to use them are Adobe Acrobat DC and Photoshop or a good clone of Photoshop.
- It costs $49 for set-up with Ingram, but you can recoup that if you order 50 copies for your first order. This can also include set-up for an ebook if you do it at the same time.
- The $12 distribution fee is waived the first year.
- There is a $1.65 handling fee added onto the cost of every book.
- Keep your book under 200 pages, as costs per page are added after that.
- For all information on formatting, pricing,etc., make use of the questions answered under "Help" on the toolbar after you create an account.
- You have to use their template for the cover or they won't generate a barcode on the back. And the file you used for CS probably won’t fit the template for Ingram Spark.
- Fonts MUST be embedded in Acrobat or the file will be rejected.
- You can upload a new file after you have approved one, then found mistakes, but it will cost an additional $25.00.
- Ingram will distribute to Baker and Taylor (now Follett) but they may or may not pick up your book.
- If you don't print with Create Space first or at all, but only use Ingram, Amazon often postpones the upload of your book and says it's out of stock. To avoid that possibility, you need to use both CS and Ingram.
- Email support is pretty good, but if you have tech questions, another good source is a Yahoo group called POD Publishers.
The name Ingram and Baker & Taylor hold a lot of weight with bookstores and libraries. It may be worth the extra hassle to give Ingram a try. Good luck!
Gloria G. Adams,
www.gloriagadams.com.
Author (with Lana Wayne Koehler), Ah-Choo! –
Sterling Children’s Books
My Underpants Are Made from Plants (with Vera J. Hurst) –
Schoolwide, Inc.
Contributor(pseudonym) and publishing group member,
Seven Deadly Sins: Simply Delectable Stories,
Third Thursday Publishing, www.thirdthursdaypublishing.com
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