How to publish on IngramSpark: from account to the bookstore catalog

IngramSpark is the print-distribution half of self-publishing: Amazon KDP sells your paperback inside Amazon's store, while IngramSpark is a print-on-demand printer and wholesale distributor whose catalog is how bookstores, libraries and online retailers outside Amazon order from independent publishers. Every claim below comes from pages fetched and read for this guide; where no page states a number, this guide says so instead of borrowing one. The Amazon side of the same launch is how to publish on Amazon KDP; the whole production picture is how to self-publish a book.

What IngramSpark is: a printer and a distribution network

Two jobs run under the name. The printing job is print on demand: no print run sits in a warehouse, and "IngramSpark prints your book as soon as it's ordered, and can't be out of stock", from facilities in the US, UK, Australia and the United Arab Emirates plus partner printers in nine more countries. Their printing page lists paperbacks, hardcovers and jacketed hardcovers; white, creme or groundwood paper; black-and-white through ultra-premium color ink; and a choice of trim sizes.

The distribution job is why most authors arrive. Enable wholesale distribution and, in their distribution page's words, "you are plugged in to one of the publishing industry's largest global book distribution networks", covering "over 45,000 libraries, retailers, and online stores like Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble". Your files and metadata feed that network, and "Buyers at those stores and libraries can then order your book via Ingram's book ordering system." Availability is not instant: "it can take between 2 to 6 weeks for your book to appear on retailer websites and internal ordering systems."

IngramSpark versus Amazon KDP print

• Reach. KDP print's home ground is Amazon's marketplaces. Its optional Expanded Distribution "can help you reach more readers through bookstores, online retailers, libraries, and academic institutions" at a 40% royalty, but "Hardcover books are not eligible for Expanded Distribution", and enrollment "doesn't guarantee it will be accepted by distributors or ordered by a particular bookseller or library". IngramSpark's whole product is that wider channel, hardcovers included.
• The [ISBN](/glossary/isbn). KDP assigns a free print ISBN that "can only be used on KDP". IngramSpark's FAQ is equally direct that "you'll need an ISBN for each format of your book" to distribute. US self-publishers have three routes: bring your own, buy one through your account (listed at $85 on the current FAQ), or "Receive a free ISBN, non-transferable and owned by IngramSpark", which carries IngramSpark's Indy Pub imprint, locks the title to IngramSpark and requires wholesale distribution. Outside the US, you register through your national ISBN agency.
• The wholesale discount. Where KDP's channel terms are fixed, IngramSpark "provides the option of setting a discount within the range of 40% (minimum) to 55% (maximum)", with distribution minimums of 40% in the United States and 35% in the United Kingdom, European Union and Australia. Their guidance: "The trade discount most publishers choose to offer booksellers is 55%", because "Applying a discount less than 55% can possibly limit the sale of your title to booksellers."
• Printing cost. Neither platform's pages state one flat per-unit price; both scale with page count, format and ink. Amazon's formulas and calculator belong to the KDP guide; IngramSpark points to its Print & Ship and Compensation calculators. Reedsy's example: a 280-page black-and-white paperback at a 50% wholesale discount prints at $4.80 and leaves the publisher $1.20.
• Exclusivity: none, either way. "We are not exclusive, so you can also choose to use other book printers, distributors, and fulfillment services if you'd like." The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) treats the pairing as standard practice: "KDP Print gets your book listed on Amazon, the world's largest book retailer, at the best available royalty rate", while IngramSpark reaches "the catalogues used by bookstores, libraries, and academic institutions worldwide". Its rules: "buy your own ISBN numbers, then set up your book on KDP and IngramSpark separately", use the same ISBN on both platforms so Amazon does not split the listing, and "If you plan to use both platforms: do not tick Expanded Distribution on KDP."

How to publish on IngramSpark: account and title setup

Opening the account is free: "It costs you nothing to sign up for an IngramSpark account and to upload your print or ebook." The how-it-works page lists what you need: the ISBN ("One for each format of your book"), your interior and cover files, an email address, and a payment method: a card for author copies, a bank account or PayPal for compensation. Title setup is catalog metadata: title and contributor as they should appear to retailers, the description (its selling craft is how to write a book blurb), trim, and prices per market. Distribution itself is mostly that pricing decision, per their distribution page: "All you have to do is add pricing in the markets in which you'd like your book to be available for sale."

Interior and cover files, as IngramSpark states them

The craft of a print interior is how to create a print-ready PDF of your book; this section is only the platform's own requirements. Two PDFs: one complete interior, one complete cover. The interior in "single-page format (1-up per page)", no crop, registration or printer marks, and "All fonts must be embedded." Margins are "recommended to be a minimum of 0.5 inches (13mm) from final trim size on all sides". Bleed, where artwork runs off the page, is added as "0.125 inches (3mm) on the top, bottom, and outside edges", never the binding edge. Images are recommended at 300ppi, and all spot colors must be converted to CMYK. On the cover: text at least 0.25 inches (6mm) from the trim line, no spine text on paperbacks under 48 pages, and "Barcodes are mandatory on all covers", for which a 1.75 x 1 inch area is reserved. A cover template generator builds the spine from your trim size and page count; the design itself is how to design a book cover.

The money: wholesale discount, compensation, calculators

The economics are two subtractions. First the wholesale discount, which funds the retail side of the chain: the wholesaler pays your list price minus the 40% to 55% you chose. Then the per-unit printing cost, which IngramSpark's pages present only through their calculators, not as static figures. Your compensation is what remains. The ebook side, if you use it, is stated flatly: "You earn 85% of the net revenue received by IngramSpark with each sale, regardless of retailer", with print-to-ebook conversion at $0.60 per page.

For scale, ALLi's worked example on a $15.00 paperback: $4.15 compensation through KDP, $4.00 through IngramSpark at a 40% discount, $1.75 at 55%. Amazon sales earn most through KDP; a bookstore-scale discount thins the IngramSpark margin deliberately, buying shelf eligibility. Keep each calculation where it lives: the calculator on the KDP guide page for Amazon economics, IngramSpark's Compensation Calculator for its side.

Returns: the bookstore's condition

"Typically, brick and mortar stores will not order a book unless it is returnable", because "Historically, publishers give booksellers the right to return unsold copies of books." Returnability is set per title, with three options: No ("IngramSpark will not accept returns from booksellers"); Yes with delivery, where you receive the returned copies (US and Canada sales only); and Yes with destroy, where returns ship back to Ingram and are destroyed. Returns cost money when they happen: you repay the wholesale amount already paid out, plus a "$3.00 per book shipping and handling charge" for US returns, a "$20.00 per book" charge for international ones, while the destroy option applies no shipping and handling fees. One timing trap: after you switch a title from a Yes option to No, booksellers can still return copies for 180 days.

What it costs to publish on IngramSpark

On their current pages: nothing to open the account, nothing to upload a print book or ebook, no per-title setup fee ("There is no cost to create an account or set up a new book"). Reedsy notes this has not always been so: title listings, and file revisions within the first 60 days, have been free only since May 2023. The ISBN is the one unavoidable line for distribution: free for US self-publishers (with the lock-in above), $85 through the account, or your own purchase from your national agency. Author copies and optional services are priced separately. No fetched page states a per-unit printing price outside the calculators, so none is invented here.

Who should publish on IngramSpark

The authors it fits have goals Amazon alone does not serve: bookstore returnability, library availability, wide non-Amazon distribution, hardcover distribution. Libraries get their own line: IngramSpark's discount guide notes they are "not trying to sell your book" and run on set budgets, so the 55% discount is a bookseller consideration more than a library one. Expectations stay honest, because catalog presence is not shelf placement: "most indie books sold in physical bookstores are special orders placed at a customer's request" (ALLi). Reedsy's cautions: a steeper learning curve than KDP, limited customer support, and booksellers who still say no. If the plan is Amazon only, stay with how to publish on Amazon KDP; the route choice at all is publishing paths; for a serial readership instead of bookstores, where to publish a web serial. Compressed: bring your own ISBN, discount 55% where bookstores matter, decide returns with open eyes, and keep KDP beside it for Amazon.