Page 28 - November-December Together

TOGETHER NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2021

these Lightning Source Publishing through IngramSpark doesn’t mean your book will be
FEATURE is excellent. Publishers of millions of options available. The sales of a book will largely depend
print-on-demand books
represented to stores or promoted in any way. It will just be listed as one
upon the time, effort and enthusiasm put in by the author.
who are maintaining
their backlist on the
For an indie author, using IngramSpark is not as easy to use or as intuitive
Ingram UK/Lightning
Source platform as Amazon. The biggest hurdle is the cost. There is an initial set-up cost,
include IVP, SPCK, Lion plus a charge for each time alterations are made. This can be avoided
by being organised, but a first timer should probably allow extra money
Publishing, Paternoster
(Authentic), DLT, St in the budget for revisions. There is an excellent Facebook group for
IngramSpark authors (@IngramSpark) where the community reaches out
Andrew’s Press and
many other independent to one another for support.
publishers and authors. When it comes to promoting your book to booksellers, they will want to
There can be reduced know where they can source your book. If you have used IngramSpark,
margin or increased you need to tell the bookshop they can get the book directly from Ingram
retail prices on some by having an ipage account, however some bookstores will order via
items, and this needs to another supplier who will source from Ingram.
be kept in mind when Joy Vee’s book The Treasure Man/ISBN 9781912726370/Instant Apostle/
quoting prices PB/£7.99 and available from Marston Book Services and KCLCT. Her
to customers.
new book, ‘Love from Sienna’ is now available to bookshops from
The new facility of Ingram Publisher Services UK is now coming on- Lightning Source.
stream, and this again provides for single books to be sent out with no Ingram Content Group’s perspective - Andy Bromley
carriage charge. We have only had a few items delivered so far, so we When it comes to understanding Ingram, it is better to start with
look forward to seeing how that develops as time goes on.
distribution and for the printing part to be just one way of supplying that
As a retailer, I have found that the multiplicity of similar-sounding trading content to the customer. IPS UK is an example of this, a global distribution
names can be confusing, and the services offered by ipage for the US partner of over 400 trade and academic publishers, providing expert
market and UK market are different. For instance, I can order a book publisher services advice tailored to the specific needs of each of its
through ipage to be delivered direct to a customer in the States, but clients. A key benefit of partnering with IPS UK is the ability to blend
I can’t yet do that in the UK! However, I appreciate that these issues physical stock with our print-on-demand (POD) capabilities, enabling
can arise. The general quality of service means that I would strongly publishers to capture every sale whilst simultaneously being able to run
recommend any UK Christian bookseller who doesn’t yet have an Ingram the print supply chain efficiently.
account to seriously consider this.
An author’s perspective – Joy Vee
My first book, The Treasure Man, was produced last year by a UK
independent book publishing company. All editorial services were
provided, they offered an excellent deal for the service I received, and the
cover design was beautiful.
When it came to releasing my next book, for various reasons, I began to
look into self-publishing – or indie publishing, as it is often known. This
requires much more time and effort from the author. Finding an editor
and cover designer are tasks which fall to the writer, and there are whole
worlds to discover regarding ISBN numbers, formatting and copyright.
In the indie publishing world, there are two main ways to get your
books to customers. One is through the various Amazon services, the
other through the Ingram’s award-winning, self-publishing platform,
IngramSpark. Amazon sells directly to customers, is easy to set up and
free for the author to use. But it is then quite difficult for authors to get IPS UK’s services include:
their books into bricks-and-mortar bookshops. IngramSpark will print • Recently built physical book warehouse (formerly NBN International)
and distribute your book, and it will be visible on the ipage web portal for • UK-based customer services and order processing
trade bookshops. The books are supplied via print-on-demand within a • POD and print-to-order services (via Lightning Source at Milton Keynes)
few days. Bookshops can order single copies at a trade discount, with free • E-book and audiobook distribution
post and packaging. IPS UK is accredited under BIC’s Supply Chain Excellence awards, and the
company has been supporting independent publishers for over forty-five
years. In addition to the services above, IPS offers several more specialist
‘full-service’ distribution services, covering niche publishing, academic
and library services.
Distribution solutions with Lightning Source ®
Publishers have always faced the challenges of correctly predicting the
demand for their titles, distributing them affordably, and deciding at what
point a title no longer justifies further print runs. Ingram POD service
solves these problems by making titles easily and swiftly accessible to
millions of readers worldwide thanks to our unsurpassed network of
retail relationships.
28