Questions about Publishing on KDP and Ingram Spark

Hi Julie,

I was wondering if a particular OS/word processing system is better than the others for writers (Apple Pages vs MS Word, etc.). If you've done a video for that, please direct me to it, as I would like to watch it.

Thank so much

Thank you much for the insights. It’s a little nerve wracking to have your book on Amazon only, and from all the videos I’ve been watching, Ingram Spark is not making a good impression. My book will be published in November hopefully.

I definitely agree with selling wide and not simply relying on Amazon. It gives people/the consumer a choice and provides book distributors with the opportunity to give Amazon some nice competition. I've not made my book available through Ingram Spark, though. They always seem like a hassle and every time I hear anything new it doesn't change my opinion. Thank you both for the great food for thought!

Great topic today, Julie!

I’ve learned so much ! Thank you! What kind of return bills should I plan for ? I would hope it would never happen but I want to be prepared.

An American author recently mentioned that some supermarkets and coffee chains will hold mini events for an author to sell books in-store. Unfortunately, we don't have that in the UK but would you recommend trying it to your American authors?
I guess it might work best for fiction but the cafe version might work for non-fiction if the event was advertised to interested local groups?

One aspect I think is always important to mention and clarify is that the options available for hardcovers are quite different between IngramSpark and Amazon. I specifically went with Ingramspark to have the dust cover jacket and laminate cover, which Amazon does not offer. To me, the quality and presentation of my hardcover through IngramSpark has made the extra hassle at times worthwhile. 😊

HELLO SO REVIEWS ARE THE PAGES OF MY BOOK? Thank You so much.

I want to publish a children's book and I have an illustrator that will prepare and format the book for KDP. Can I use the same formatting for IngramSpark? Love your videos. Up to the point and so much info!

I'm debating between KDP and IngramSpark, and have also considered a handful of author assistance firms. Unfortunately, I've never been convinced that paid assistance in worth the price, because I know that the vast majority of KDP books never sell more than 100 in their lifetime, and the profits usually just don't support any extra expenses. More importantly, my book is very small-- like a gift pamphlet or short story (not "low-content")-- so the profits per book WILL be small. But it's very hard to find information about small books (<100 pages) for gift/niche categories. Could you comment on strategies for such manuscripts? I'd be willing to pay for publishing or launch assistance if it was projected to make the difference in the number of estimated book sales. But based on my calculations, I should just use KDP and be happy with any profit this small book brings in, and then move my attention to bigger projects. Happy to move the conversation to email/phone, but I thought someone else could benefit from comments about small, gift books.

Can you publish via ingram only and still get an amazon bestseller if the sales are via amazon? Do tour ingram printed books count as amazon sales if that's where readers buy them?

So I am setting up an IngramSpark account because I have a kdp book already in circulation as of last month. Can I just give Ingram that ISBN and let them distribute it or do I need to create a separate ISBN?

I put my own ISBN on KDP first and didn't finish or upload, then signed up for Ingram. I realized that Ingram said print and distribute with them is all or nothing. And I think the book will be on Amazon with Ingram anyway. I couldn't find a way to take it off KDP now. And I'm worried about what will happen when it releases. Advice please.

I have my paperback/ebook books on preorder with Ingramspark, my kindle version on preorder with KDP, and am waiting until release day to publish my paperback on KDP since there is no preorder. Now on Amazon, the kindle (sourced by KDP) and the paperback (sourced from Ingramspark) are listed separately. So if a person looks for other editions, either on kindle or the paperback listing, there are none. This seems bad. Plus I can't promote the preorder without providing links to two different pages. Any suggestions?