Choosing the Best Print-on-Demand Option for Your Book
/When it comes time to publish your paperback or hardcover, you’ll have plenty of print-on-demand options to choose from, so how do you decide? I like to work primarily with IngramSpark, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and/or Barnes & Noble Press for print-on-demand, and I’ll go over each option below. However, there are others you may want to research such as LuLu, Bookbaby and Blurb, to name a few.
With print-on-demand, you can upload your book's interior and cover files, add the metadata, choose the categories and price, and, once the files are approved, turn on distribution and have your book for sale via online retailers such as Amazon.com and BarensandNoble.com in a matter of days, sometimes even hours.
Print-on-demand distributors pay you royalties on the net sales made via online retailers, which can be directly deposited to your bank account each month, though, most pay on a sixty-day lag, so understand that you will usually wait a couple of months for your first royalty check.
You can buy wholesale copies from your print-on-demand printer at a discounted rate to sell at your live events or on your website, and pocket the difference as profit. Thus, your print-on-demand platform becomes both your printer and the distributor of your paperback.
Choosing the Best Print-on-Demand Option for Your Book
Now that you understand how print-on-demand works, how do you choose which option is best for your self-published book?
I get asked this question a lot, and the answer always depends on your goals.
For example, if you simply want your book listed for sale on Amazon, and you want to be able to buy wholesale copies at a very low cost, then KDP (which is owned by Amazon) is a great print-on-demand option.
That said, KDP is also the choice with the least number of distribution options, unless you have an ISBN issued by Amazon and you select their expanded distribution option. However, I always recommend authors own their ISBNs, so expanded distribution via KDP would not be an option in that case.
So let’s say you went the KDP route but now you also want your book available for online sale via Barnes & Noble. Just as Amazon has KDP for print-on-demand, Barnes & Noble offers Barnes & Noble Press for self-publishing. Since you’ll own your ISBN instead of using a free Amazon-owned ISBN, you simply upload your interior files via Barnes & Noble Press and––voila!––it’s available there as well.
NOTE: If you decide to upload your paperback files to Barnes & Noble Press in addition to KDP, you’ll need two separate cover files because they have slightly different formatting requirements. Be sure to let your cover designer know so they can prepare a print-ready PDF for each platform.
Authors who want their paperback to be available through the over 40,000 retailers in addition to Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com should go with IngramSpark. Owned by Ingram Content Group, the world’s largest book distributor, IngramSpark offers more distribution options than KDP and Barnes & Noble, including a desirable book returnability program. Most brick-and-mortar bookstores, especially large chain bookstores, are less likely to carry a book that's not returnable to the distributor if it doesn’t sell, so if your goal is to get them to carry your book, you need to keep this in mind when choosing your distributor.
In addition to having a buy-back plan in place, offering retailers a 55% wholesale discount is also helpful for the indie author who plans to pursue libraries or universities, so, again, IngramSpark would be the best bet.
Now, that's not to say you can't sell your KDP published book through independent bookstores where you would supply the inventory yourself. I'm specifically talking about the larger stores such as Books-a-Million and Barnes & Noble's brick-and-mortar locations that prefer to order directly from the distributor. Some of the smaller bookstores will agree to carry your book, and they’ll purchase inventory directly from the author or carry the book on consignment.
One thing to note: just because your book is available to over 40,000 retailers through IngramSpark doesn’t mean those retailers will automatically carry the book. It’s still up to the author to do the legwork in most cases; however, those retailers have a relationship with Ingram where they will buy the books directly so they can return them as needed. Of course, once you turn on distribution for your paperback with IngramSpark, they will also distribute your book to many online retailers––Amazon, B&N.com, Books-A-Million, Indigo, etc.
There are pros and cons to each option, so only you can decide which is best for your self-published book. Just know that with KDP and Barnes & Noble Press, your cost per wholesale copy is usually slightly lower than with IngramSpark.
If you’d like a hardcover in addition to your paperback, I suggest that you go with IngramSpark since up until recently KDP only offered paperbacks for print, and their hardcover option is still in beta. Plus, KDP only offers case laminate for hardcovers, which means it will not have a dust jacket as it will through IngramSpark. While I have a few authors who desire hardcovers as well, most only publish their print books in paperback to keep their costs low and profit margin high.
NOTE: It’s free to list and make changes to your book on KDP and Barnes & Noble Press, while IngramSpark has a $49 fee to publish, plus a $25 fee per file each time you submit a revision. However, a search for “promo code IngramSpark” will sometimes reveal an active promo code to have either the submission fee or revision fee waived––sometimes both. If you plan to publish future books for yourself or perhaps offer this service to clients, you may consider joining the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) because members receive five free promo codes each month to use via IngramSpark, along with many other membership discounts and perks for indie authors and publishers.
My Strategy
What I do for most of my authors (depending on their goals) is first upload the paperback to IngramSpark and turn on distribution one to two weeks before the actual launch so that it has time to show up via online retailers. It typically shows up on Amazon rather quickly, while B&N.com can sometimes take longer to add the title and metadata when it’s distributed through IngramSpark instead of uploading directly to B&N Press.
Once I see the paperback is listed on Amazon, I upload the paperback files to KDP as well and turn on distribution. This way, KDP will override IngramSpark for Amazon sales, so you will get paid directly through KDP for Amazon royalties instead of Ingram, which I find is usually slightly higher since through IngramSpark we are offering retailers such as Amazon a wholesale discount of 55%. This simply cuts out the middleman and it gives you the best of both worlds because you get the expanded distribution and book returnability through Ingram, while still benefiting from what KDP has to offer.
Additionally, you’ll now have two print-on-demand printers to choose from in which to purchase your author copies. I usually recommend ordering a copy from each and deciding which quality you like best for your book as they each tend to print slightly differently. I often find that while KDP has the lower price point for author copies, their quality is not as great as Ingram. However, I have some authors who prefer KDP over Ingram for author copies, so that’s why I recommend ordering a copy from each.
I often get asked if each version of the paperback needs its own ISBN when uploading the files across multiple platforms such as IngramSpark, KDP and B&N Press. The answer is NO. You only need one ISBN for the paperback, and one interior paperback PDF that you will upload to each platform. However, if you plan to publish a hardcover in addition to the paperback, then the hardcover would need its own ISBN as it’s a separate version of your book. Same with the audiobook and eBook.
Success Tip: When you upload the paperback to IngramSpark and add the book’s details, they will ask for your publishing date and “on sale” date. If you set those dates to match the future date of your actual launch, the paperback will show up as a pre-order via online retailers such as Amazon and B&N once you turn on distribution. However, it’s important to note that if you are also uploading your paperback to KDP as well, you must wait until the book shows up on Amazon (after you turn on distribution via Ingram) before you submit via KDP, or it will not show up as a paperback pre-order.
This is a nice feature since you won’t be announcing the book until its actual launch date, so if someone were to find it online, you’d want it to say “available for pre-order” instead of “available.” However, I don’t recommend this as a selling strategy for pre-sales, meaning I don’t recommend telling people the paperback is up for pre-order via online retailers since you’ll want to wait to drive all traffic to Amazon on the date of your actual launch. I instead recommend hosting a pre-sale for author-signed copies from your own inventory of books that you’ll order from the printer, sign, and ship to your customer yourself. You’ll also earn more profits this way. If you want to learn more about hosting a pre-sale, check out my blog post: Hosting a Pre-Sale for Author-Signed Copies.
If you decide to self-publish your printed book through a print-on-demand printer, just make sure your book is as professional as possible, meaning a high-quality cover and matching interior formatting with custom design. If you decide to outsource some of these steps, we offer print-on-demand packages and a la carte design services at Transcendent Publishing for all your indie publishing needs. We also upload the files and take care of the heavy lifting on your behalf.
