New Ingram Spark Publishing Program Revealed

Ingram Spark is a new digital publishing solution aimed at small and boutique publishers. This new service is aimed primarily at publishers who expressed dissatisfaction with Ingram Lightning Source. Spark, has a very simple user interface that can be used to convert your word document or PDF file into a proper eBook and then distribute them to Kobo, Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble. Not only can your book be offered digitally, but you can opt into physical distribution to bookstores, and when the book is ordered from the catalog, Ingram will print and ship it for you, at no cost. The entire backbone of Ingram Spark comes from Ingram Lightning Source. This is a very well developed platform that many large publishers use to distribute content digitally or to physical bookstores. The main complaint that we have heard over the years is that it was inaccessible to small and medium sized publishing companies due to the bulky and advanced interface. There are a few key features to Ingram Spark that are worth mentioning. They have a conversion service that will take your PDF, Word or other document and convert it to a proper eBook. Most of the time, eBooks and tangible books require an ISBN number and customers will be diverted to Bowker to complete the transaction. You can track your sales on a unified portal that tracks all of the important metrics. Every 24 hours the data is repopulated, so most of your data will remain current. Speaking of sales, you can establish different prices, depending on the markets you want to target. Right now on the beta version we saw, it only supports USA, Canada, European Union, and Australia. You can establish a publication date on when you want the book to be live, which aids publishers in adding their entire catalog in advance. When it comes to getting paid you can attach your bank account to the portal and set a threshold limit on when the direct deposit will be made. The most compelling feature on Spark, is the ability to bundle your digital and physical version at the same time. There is plenty of advanced options to setup the tangible copy of the book, before its ever shipped. You can setup the interior type to be Black and White, standard color or premium color. There are even options to establish the binding type such as; Case Laminate, Cloth Bound, Perfect Bound, and Saddle Stitch. Finally, you can even tweak the Paper Type and Laminate type. Ingram is one of the largest distribution companies in the world and handle millions of book titles being shipped to bookstores all over the world. They are responsible for actually shipping the Kobo brand of e-Readers all over the world and many others. The far reach they provide actually make doing business with them in the best interest of any small, medium or large publishing house. So obviously, Ingram Spark is not free, if you want to have your eBook and Print on Demand edition available it will cost $49.00 fee per title. If you want to distribute the electronic version only, it will cost $25.00. No matter how many titles you have on Spark, there is an annual $12.00 fee to be continuously listed in their catalogs. Ingram Spark is tentatively set to launch this July, but final release date may change as the system undergoes refinement. Once this has a full launch, I would seriously recommend this to most small and boutique publishers who are looking for further distribution than what Kindle Direct Publishing and Create Space can offer. New Ingram Spark Publishing Program Revealed is a post from: E-Reader News

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