KDP vs. IngramSpark: Don’t Print Until You Watch This! (2025)

About this video

Dale orders both a paperback and a hardcover edition of his book Wide Publishing for Authors through Amazon KDP and through IngramSpark and compares cost, quality, shipping speed and distribution. Ordering through KDP is done from the dashboard in the third step of publishing; a proof copy carries a watermark, so an author copy is needed for a clean copy. IngramSpark can use the same interior file but the cover must be formatted to IngramSpark’s specs, and IngramSpark charges update fees for changes, though as an Alliance of Independent Authors member he gets one free update fee waived per month. He reports paying a total of $15.67 for both KDP books and $26.86 for both IngramSpark books, almost twice as much. On shipping, he ordered from KDP on Saturday, January 25th, with the hardcover arriving Monday, February 3rd and the paperback Wednesday, February 5th — 9 days for the hardcover and 11 days for the paperback. He ordered from IngramSpark on Tuesday, January 28th and they arrived Friday, January 31st, in less than three days, using rush printing but standard shipping. On quality he calls the covers fairly even, with marginally better saturation from IngramSpark; KDP uses 55 lb white paper versus IngramSpark’s 50 lb white paper, KDP’s black ink is not as dark, binding and durability are good from both, and KDP copies are slightly larger. He was bothered that KDP shipped the paperback in a padded mailer with another order. On distribution, KDP Print is Amazon-only unless you choose expanded distribution for paperbacks only, paying 40% minus print fees versus 60% minus print fees on Amazon. IngramSpark distributes to over 45,000 libraries, bookstores and more across many regions and lets authors set royalties from about 45% to 65%. He leans toward IngramSpark for speed, quality and distribution, while KDP wins on convenience and affordability, and he plans to keep using both. He also notes IngramSpark is changing its pricing on April 1st of 2025.

Key takeaways

• He reports totals of $15.67 for both KDP books versus $26.86 for both IngramSpark books, almost twice as much.
• IngramSpark copies arrived in less than three days with rush printing, versus 9 days for the KDP hardcover and 11 days for the KDP paperback.
• Cover quality was fairly even with marginally better saturation from IngramSpark; KDP used 55 lb white paper versus IngramSpark’s 50 lb.
• KDP pays 60% minus print fees on Amazon and 40% on expanded distribution for paperbacks only; IngramSpark reaches over 45,000 outlets with royalties of about 45% to 65%.
• Dale leans toward IngramSpark for speed, quality and distribution, but keeps using KDP for convenience and affordability.

Episode details: published February 13, 2025 · 9:59 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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