UPDATE: CreateSpace and KDP are merging, see notes below.
CreateSpace and IngramSpark are two Print-On-Demand printers often used by self-publishing authors. They both print, and distribute, your book to online retailers, such as Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com. Authors often struggle with the choice on which one to use for their book. The answer for you might be both.
CreateSpace is owned by Amazon and IngramSpark by Ingram Book Group, which is one of the largest book wholesale distributors. Both are good choices for your book on their own, but using them both could be your best solution. (watch: CreateSpace or Ingram Spark, What is the Right Choice for Your Book?)
CreateSpace’s per book printing cost is a little lower than IngramSpark, so your cost per book is less. But the main reason to consider using both is your book’s stock status on Amazon. Many authors have reported that their book often shows up as Temporarily Out of Stock on Amazon when they use IngramSpark. While this is not always the case, it can happen. Authors that use CreateSpace have less of an issue with this. In fact, I have never had one of the authors that I work with that uses CreateSpace ever report an issue with their book’s stock status on Amazon to me.
Okay, but then why also use IngramSpark?
IngramSpark offers a better wholesale discount option for their distribution than CreateSpace. With CreateSpace, you can choose their Standard Distribution which lists your book at Amazon only for a 40% wholesale discount, or their Expanded Distribution, which gets it in other online retailers in addition to Amazon for 60%. At IngramSpark, you can get that same distribution for a 30% wholesale discount. So, while IngramSpark’s wholesale discount is better, you might experience stock issues on Amazon, which can really hurt your sales. (see: Understanding Wholesale Discounts When Self-Publishing a Book)
My suggestion is to use IngramSpark to distribute your book to everywhere except Amazon and use CreateSpace to distribute to Amazon only.
How that works is you would set up an account at both and upload your book to both. I typically let the listing go live on Amazon through CreateSpace first, then release the title for distribution through IngramSpark. Amazon will see that they already have the title through CreateSpace and will not pick it up through Ingram. If your title is already on Amazon through IngramSpark, you can also submit through CreateSpace and the CreateSpace version will replace the one from IngramSpark.
Here is a step by step:
- Create an account at IngramSpark.
- Create an account at CreateSpace.
- Upload your files to both IngramSpark and CreateSpace. (you will need to set up your cover to each of their specifications, as they are different)
- Use the SAME ISBN at both. (this is important!)
- Select CreateSpace’s Standard Distribution option. Do NOT select the Expanded Distribution option. (this is important!)
- Get a proof copy through CreateSpace. I recommend a printed proof copy, but it is not required.
- Once you receive and approve your proof, approve the proof on CreateSpace.
- Wait for your book to go live on Amazon. This typically takes 1-3 days.
- Approve your book for distribution at IngramSpark. You can also order a printed proof through IngramSpark, but it is not critical.
If your title is already on Amazon through IngramSpark, you can still do this using the steps below:
- Create an account at CreateSpace.
- Upload your files to CreateSpace. (you will need your cover set up to meet CreateSpace’s specifications)
- Use the SAME ISBN that you used for your book on IngramSpark. (this is important!).
- Select CreateSpace’s Standard Distribution option. Do NOT select the Expanded Distribution option. (this is important!)
- Get a proof copy through CreateSpace. I recommend a printed proof copy, but it is not required.
- Once you receive and approve your proof, approve the proof on CreateSpace.
- Amazon will replace your listing on Amazon with the CreateSpace version. You will not see a difference in your listing.
Hint: Add something to the copyright page that is different from the file you submit to IngramSpark and CreateSpace and make the book’s description slightly different on each. That way you can tell where a printed book came from and verify that CreateSpace is handling the Amazon listing.
Orders placed through Amazon will be handled through CreateSpace. Any orders placed through other online retailers will be handled by IngramSpark. You will get payments for the book orders from each of them.
There are a few times when this approach will not work.
- Your book is a hardcover book. Since CreateSpace does not print hardcovers, you will need to use IngramSpark only.
- You do not own your own ISBN. IngramSpark requires that you own your ISBN, you cannot use one assigned by CreateSpace. If your ISBN is assigned by CreateSpace, you can only use them as your distributor.
- Color books. While you can use this approach for color books, be aware that the printed quality will not be the same through IngramSpark and CreateSpace as their process for printing colored books is different. This can mean that someone ordering a book through BarnesandNoble.com will not get a different quality book as someone ordering through CreateSpace. Because of this, I do not suggest using both IngramSpark and CreateSpace when the book is printed in color.
Hmmm… I may be more or less thinking out loud with this comment, but I’ll throw it out there. If you’re also using an LCCN for the libraries – those numbers are tied to a specific “flavor” of book by the ISBN – and it seems like a lot of that is tied to permanence (acid-free paper, etc.) I guess as long as both versions of the paperback are built to the same standards you would be okay – or maybe (since libraries tend to want hardcovers) – you could do your hardcover with Ingram, then two paperback’s of like quality one with CS the other with Ingram.
I uploaded my paperback to both IngramSpark and KDP and I am experiencing the opposite of what you noted. Amazon is picking up my book through Ingram when customers purchase my book on Amazon.com. Why is this?
I would need to see your account setups to see why this is happening. May I ask how you know that this is happening?
Thanks for the post. I am just moving to distribution with my book. It is currently on KDP. I noticed that IngramSpark’s fees makes buying from them unattractive. I would pay $21 for my $15 book. It also does not appear to offer Author Copies, at cost books.
I have not had the same experience. I agree with everything you said but one issue arose. To me, it seems the only reason to use Ingram is if you choose the 55% discount, so that brick and mortar will buy it. My problem was that Amazon started buying from Ingram instead of Createspace! Which meant the profit on the majority of books I was selling, which was through Amazon, cut it in half. Let’s say I made $4 on a CS sale and $2 on an Ingram sale. Within two weeks of going live on Ingram, all my CS sales died and my Ingram skyrocket. At $2. So I know for sure Amazon was buying through Ingram. Since this is the case, the only reason I can see to use Ingram is if you somehow have higher sales in brick and mortar than you do on Amazon for print. I’d love opinions here! Am I missing something? FYI, I was using two different ISBNs as I’d already gone with CS earlier and checked Expanded Distribution. I can’t imagine that matters to the above discussion though.
This was really helpful. I feel like there was some clause where Amazon KDP didn’t let me use both….but maybe that’s just the varied legalese. Maybe it is different in KDP? What I seem to have discovered is that Amazon’s expanded distribution for print has a dark little corner: there’s a no refund policy that automatically nixes you from getting in a lot of store – and apparently not any signings or appearances at them. Nasty. This would solve that. thanx!!!
Fabulous! I was wondering whether this was an “either or” situation. So glad it doesn’t have to be. 🙂
A lot of great info. I’ve been planning to use Createspace for my printed books, but may have to look into using Ingram as well. Thanks for sharing!
Great article! It helped me republish one of my old books through both printers.
Just one note:
I approved my proof on CS first, then after it turned up on Amazon, I approved it on IS. I then saw my book appear on Amazon Australia, but it was the IS version. I don’t know if this is because I didn’t wait for it to go live on Amazon.com.au before approving it on IS or what, but this probably works out better, since IS has printers in Australia (CS doesn’t), so Aussie buyers should be able to get it from Amazon quicker and cheaper this way. Just a thought.
Thank you so much for this post! I have a question. I’ve been having my book on Createspace for 9 months now and I had picked the expanded distribution, but I am wanting to use the distribution with IngramSpark now. Is there anyway I can stop the expand distribution with Createspace in order to use IngramSpark?
Kimberly,
This morning I was utterly confounded with the uncertainty of how to proceed with publishing/distributing with CS and/or Ingram. After reading your post it has all become clear. Thank you for the concise explanation of why and how to obtain the optimum solution. I especially like your 9 step recommendations.
Steve
This is very timely for me. I’m just starting to investigate self-publishing a novel. Thanks for your insight.
Great! For colored books, which is better. IngramSpark or Createspace.
Hi Kimberly,
I’m publishing a cookbook with many color images. Based on your advice above it would make sense NOT to go with both Createspace and IngramSpark (advice for books printed in color). If that is the case which one would you recommend for cookbooks?
I’ve been using CreateSpace for years and can add that the customer support is excellent if you have any questions.
This post provides a thorough breakdown of the pros and cons of both service and how to leverage both to your advantage. Really informative if you are self-publishing! Thanks, Kimberly.
So a quick question. Do you know anything about BookBaby and how it compares to these two?
FlipMe! That’s such an in-depth post! Thanks so much for the detail. I’ll share and export to PDF! 🙂
This is a great description. I love the options. I hadn’t thought of using both. I’m considering self publishing my next book, so this is very timely for me. Thanks.
Wow. This is such a fantastic post. The kind of thing authors are only going to figure out through much trial and error if they don’t read this. I’ll schedule this on Facebook in the coming weeks. Thanks!
I don’t know too much about self-publishing, but I am helping my mom to self-publish her picture books. Unfortunately, we use ISBNs assigned by CreateSpace, so I won’t be able to use IngramSpark. This is great information, though! And something to keep in mind. Thanks!
Great information and logically presented. I wish my book would show “out of stock.”
Excellent post. Very helpful.
Anna from elements of emaginette
I’ve seen this recommended before, but haven’t seen the why and how explained so well. Thank you!