Is This KDP Alternative Hiding Something?

About this video

Dale gives a balanced critique of IngramSpark — launched in 2013 as the self-publishing sister company of Lightning Source under Ingram Content Group — asking whether it is viable and whether it is hiding something, in the wake of the AudibleGate/ACX refund scandal. IngramSpark distributes ebooks and print books (no audiobooks) to 40,000 bookstores, libraries and online retailers. He raises six concerns: (1) Lack of transparency — reports do not show where a sale came from, which Ingram cites as a privacy matter, making marketing decisions and the royalty structure hard to track. (2) Lack of distribution control — for ebooks you can only deselect Amazon; print distribution is all-or-nothing. (3) Returns policy — Ingram encourages enabling returns for brick-and-mortar stores with no caps; he recounts UK author Marissa Noel being initially billed twice for 182 returned copies, a $5,000 bill later corrected, and argues authors should be able to limit returns per order. (4) Wholesale discounts — a 35% minimum, with 55% encouraged for bookstore placement, yet stores may see only a five to ten percent discount, leaving unclear where the rest goes. (5) Poor customer service with late, canned or absent responses. (6) An outdated interface — a 2020 update caused widespread complaints, reports must be emailed rather than viewed in a real-time dashboard, uploads cost forty-nine dollars per book and twenty-five dollars per update, and upload errors get unhelpful support replies. His verdict: IngramSpark remains the best distributor with the widest reach and is worth it for many authors, but it is not for those who want direct distribution control and full transparency.

Key takeaways

• IngramSpark sales reports do not identify where a sale occurred, so you cannot reliably target marketing to the channels actually selling your book.
• Distribution control is minimal: ebooks let you deselect only Amazon, and print distribution is all-or-nothing across retailers.
• Enabling returns for print books carries uncapped financial risk for authors — Dale argues for per-order return limits after recounting a double-billing case involving 182 returns.
• Understand the wholesale discount math before publishing: a 35% minimum and 55% encouraged discount do not necessarily pass through in full to the bookstore ordering your book.
• Budget for IngramSpark’s fees and friction — forty-nine dollars to upload a book and twenty-five dollars per update, email-only reports, and slow customer support — against its unmatched distribution reach.

Episode details: published May 3, 2022 · 10:50 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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