Ingram/Spark is comparable to Amazon in many ways, but the biggest difference is that they are a wholesaler for book retailers outside of Amazon. Because it’s offered by Ingram Book Company it does not mean that copies of the book will automatically end up on the bookstore shelf. If you have done your marketing to raise awareness of the book, or if you schedule a signing event, then it might get ordered by a retailer or if specifically requested by a customer.

Other than some additional fields to help optimize the information for the book, two of the big differences between KDP and Ingram/Spark is you will need to specify your Returns policy and the Retailer Discount.

Return Options

For Returns you have three options: Returns-Yes/Deliver, Returns-Yes/Destroy, and Returns-No.

Returns-Yes/Deliver: This option sends books to you if they are ordered and not sold in a certain period of time. If they were ordered for a signing, they may get sent back after the event. The retailer has up to 180 days to send them back before they have to pay for them. Our experience with books coming back they are usually not in salable condition. They get thrown into a box, shipped to Ingram, and then re-boxed and forwarded to you for a fee per book. If a number of books gets returned this can add up quickly.

Returns-Yes/Destroy: When this is specified it is comparable to having the books delivered since you will pay for production even if they are not sold, but the retailer removes the cover and sends that in for credit. The rest ends up getting tossed.

Returns-No: If the book is not returnable, it most likely will not get ordered. In this case the retailer would pay for the book regardless of whether or not it sells even if ordered by a customer.

Retailer Discounts

The “Industry Standard” Discount for books defaults to 55% of the selling price. The standard wholesaler discount is 15% and does not change. The retailer discount is a standard 40% of the selling price. Your return is the rest at 45%. You have an opportunity to change that discount percentage. If you specify 50% then Ingram still gets their 15%, but the retailer will get less than the standard amount at 35%. If it’s a guaranteed sale, they may go ahead and order a copy, but any less than that they most likely will not.

Summary

We generally recommend leaving the Discount at the standard 55% for all markets. For the US Market, set the Returns to Returns-Yes/Destroy, and set all other markets to Returns-No.

For more information or to inquire about your book project with Bravo Book Design use our Contact Form, or email us at BravoBookDesign@gmail.com or call 509-953-8680 9am to 4pm Pacific.