Publishing through CreateSpace is hands down the fastest way to get your book on Amazon. But it’s not the only POD (Print on Demand) solution for indie authors, and it’s not going to help you get into indie bookstores, local retailers, and libraries.
The way to get your books into THOSE locations is by publishing your book on IngramSpark. (Caveat – you still do have to do the legwork to get your book into those places, but if they are interested in including your book, they’ll want to order through IngramSpark).
Why do bookstores want to order through IngramSpark? Two main reasons – the first is the retailer discount and the ability to return books if they can’t sell them The 2nd is that many of them don’t want to support an Amazon company because Amazon is making life very difficult for small bookstores.
It’s not an exclusive relationship. You CAN publish on both CreateSpace AND IngramSpark. Your interior file will work in both places, however, IngramSpark does have a different cover format. You can create your cover template here (which I suggest you send directly to a professional cover designer and let them handle it.)
Before you watch this tutorial, you’ll want to create your IngramSpark account. You won’t be able to upload a title until you’ve set up the entire account – tax and banking info included.
Double check that you have NOT selected expanded distribution when you published through CreateSpace. IngramSpark will think you’re already in the system if you did, because technically, CreateSpace “distributes” to IngramSpark. If this is the case, you’ve got a few extra steps to go through, and a process that will take you up to about a month to resolve, but you can do it! Follow my instructions on transferring a title from CreateSpace to IngramSpark. (They call it a transfer, but you’re not really transferring because you can leave it at CreateSpace as well.)
Once you’ve got your account set-up, you’re ready to get started.
Note – if you make it to the ISBN screen and it tells you the ISBN is already in use, that means you have not completed the transfer yet to release the ISBN from CreateSpace to IngramSpark.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this process!
Publishing Your Book on IngramSpark
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