Print and ebook platform and distributor IngramSpark is offering free set-up for print titles and ebooks to celebrate the firm’s gold sponsorship of Indie Author Fringe.
The deal is open until April 30 and represents a decent saving as IngramSpark usually charges $49 to set up a print book and $25 for an ebook or $49 for a simultaneous set-up in both formats.
If you want to take advantage of the offer, you’ll need to enter INDIEFRINGE17 when setting up your title on the IngramSpark website.
During the free period, you can set up a new title or an existing title in a new format, so if you’ve already got an ebook and have been thinking of adding a print edition this could be a good time to do so.
IngramSpark has a very wide distribution network covering over 39,000 retailers and libraries and over 70 online retailers.
For print editions, the company offers a choice of paperbacks or hardbacks, which is a great option to have and you can set up your book in any or all of hardback, paperback and ebook formats.
I’ve always been impressed with IngramSpark’s prices for drop-shipping books, which means getting a run of books printed and shipped to you. You could sell these books direct through a website or to local bookstores or you could hand them out to friends or send them out as review copies.
The hardback option is not cheap but it’s certainly affordable, particularly when you consider how it would set you apart from most self-published authors. For example, a 9 x 6 ins 200-page hardback printed on 56lb creme paper would see a unit cost of $8.42 if you ordered 100 copies. Tax and shipping would take the total cost to $998.
The unit price would drop to $7.43 for a run of 300 and $6.44 for 500 copies. If you priced your hardback at around $20 then those sort of unit prices would enable you to offer indie bookstores a reasonable discount and still leave you some profit but it is, of course, a big and risky outlay in terms of cash ($3,773 total for 500 books), time and storage space.
Paperback print-and-ship costs are very reasonable. An 8 x 5 ins paperback with 200 pages printed on 50lb creme paper with a gloss color cover would cost a unit price of $3.86 for an order of just 50 copies and a total including tax and shipping of $237. An order of 200 copies would reduce the unit price to $3.65 while for 500 copies the cost would be just $2.79.
You can get more information on the IngramSpark website.