Print-on-Demand for Self-Publishers: Is CreateSpace the Only Viable Option Now Available?

Lightning Source Inc, LSI, was the first print-on-demand printer that allowed self-published authors access to book distribution and Amazon. Before the advent of ebooks (Kindle and Nook) it was the way to go for authors who wanted to self-publish.

One of the founding fathers of today's self-publishing industry, Aaron Shepard, wrote two books that were essential reading if you planned to make a go self-publishing as a business, Aiming at Amazon and POD for Profit. Morris Rosenthal, another of the self-publishing industries early leaders in using POD to self-publish wrote another essential book explaining the business model of using POD, Print-on-Demand Book Publishing.

CreateSpace, CS, appeared on the scene and after some bumps upon starting, soon became a viable alternative to LSI. I have written about choosing between the two companies on numerous times on this blog. The decision to use CS for all of my books since my first efforts centered around the ease of simply creating an account with CS, ease of just about anything with CS versus LSI, and my last blog post on the subject took one final look at the two companies.

For many, myself included, the quandary over which company to choose was ease of use versus the ability set the discount offered to retailers. For me ease of use won out every time, meaning I published with CS instead of LSI.

That may all be a moot point now. Ingram, who owns LSI, has started a new division called IngramSpark and is now insisting authors who wish to self-publish must deal with IngramSpark, who will control the discounts set and is, from what I understand, not overly user-friendly in setting up a new title.

The biggest supporter of LSI for self-publishing, Aaron Shepard, now directs new authors to CreateSpace, due in large part to the behavior of IngramSpark.

This combined with changes in Amazon's stocking of some LSI titles, which led to the now defunct Plan B approach,  largely limits the choice of a viable POD service for authors who desire to self-publish to just CreateSpace.

In the grand scheme of things, perhaps authors should still be thankful there is access to Amazon and other retailers using a POD business model via CreateSpace.

IngramSpark Update - Is the New Company User Friendly?

With a wedding coming this fall, the youngest on a traveling gymnastics team, still paying for child number two's college and hoping to have some money set aside one day to retire, I am always looking for ways to make more money in my "second job" as a self-published author. Anything I can do to increase sales and do so with as little actual monetary investment (other than my time) is a topic I am constantly researching.

Broadening my distribution in hopes of increasing sales is one of avenues of investigation. When I first heard of Ingram's decision to launch IngramSpark, I took note. I even shared my initial ideas on the subject on this blog.

What were my hopes? Simple, actually. They included:

• easy to use
• no cash outlay, or at least minimal
• an greater access to the reading public

Upon IngramSpark's launch, I was well, dismayed. To put it simply, I don't really have time to master the learning curve to use Ingram's new division. Lightning Source, which I do use for POD and distribution for one book, was complicated enough to make me publish the other 30+ non-fiction books I have authored on CreateSpace.

Rather than summarize my frustrations with trying to gain some insight into the IngramSpark site, I will encourage you to read a masterful review by none other than Aaron Shepard, one of the foremost advocates in the self-publishing field in using LSI and Ingram as key components of a business model.

Why take the time to investigate IngramSpark? 

If you are looking for print-on-demand services, ebook and paper distribution on a global scale and don't mind dealing with the complicated procedures, by all means, investigate further.

I all have to say in judgement is I have come to value my time a little more. I am still very willing to invest time, effort and frustration in learning something that will help my tiny business achieve my goals for it. But my limited business time has become valuable enough to me financially that there are limits.

I use CreateSpace for my POD and distribution, both in North America and Europe, via Amazon. I use Amazon KDP for my Kindle books and BN's Pubit to sell ebooks for the Nook. Recently I even expanded my ebook distribution to Kobo.

I don't have to learn any new skills to make my books available using these companies as my distributors and purchase points for readers. Not so for IngramSpark. 

CreateSpace and KDP, and KDP's competitors, are simply too easy to use. If I had one goal for IngramSpark it would be to match that ease of use for small publishers and self-publishing authors. That would ignite serious competition for Amazon's companies and the others, which would benefit authors, small publishers and the consumer public as well.  I simply see no evidence using IngramSpark would make my life easier as a an author and publisher by using its services.

If the company will work to become as userfriendly as CreateSpace, KDP, Pubit and Kobo, I will certainly revisit the idea of using IngramSpark. Until then, I have other ways to invest my time.

Ingram Book Distributor Starts IngramSpark - New Distributor for Lightning Source and CoreSource

Ingram, the book distributor who owns Lightning Source, the primary print-on-demand competitor of the Amazon owned CreateSpace, has announced a new company, IngramSpark, will be up and running by July 1st.

IngramSpark will act as the gateway for publishers, small and self-publishers with a big enough list, to use Lightning Source for print-on-demand distribution and CoreSource for ebook distribution.

For authors who already use either Lightning Source or CoreSource, IngramSpark might not be of interest. But for those who are considering whether to use Lightning Source or CreateSpace, this could be a major factor in the final choice of which company to use.

Why use IngramSpark instead of dealing directly with LSI? The stories of how complex using LSI can be exist for a reason. Aaron Shepard himself, one of the primary advocates of using LSI for POD as a major part of any self-publishing author's business plan, suggests first time authors investigate, if not actually use CreateSpace for their print-on-demand service and distribution to Amazon.

Questions authors will want to check into include the discounts an author will be able to set using IngramSpark. The primary advantage of using LSI instead of CreateSpace was the ability to use the short discount business model. Discounts as low as 20% could be set using LSI while CS requires a 40% discount.

Competition is good. If IngramSpark can serve as a source of competition for CreateSpace, self-publishing authors and small publishing companies who rely on print-on-demand will be well served, by the two giants of POD in the industry no less.