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Print on Demand Publisher

Tolkien

Troubadour
I have been looking into Draft2Digital and I really like it for ebooks. However, they said there print in in beta and you are not sure of a spot.

So does anyone know of a self-publishing company that will print to order that is not amazon?
 
Ingram Spark.

They do charge a $25 set-up fee, though you can get discount codes in a few places. They apparently have terrible customer service and a confusing interface. But they do supply to most bookstores and Amazon. In fact, D2D uses Ingram for their print service. They also offer most customization in regards to the discount you give to stores and returns.

Tip: if you go through them, don't allow returns. Doing so basically allows booksstores to return unsold books to you. In this case you do have to pay for printing, but you're not getting any royalties. I've seen plenty of authors who had a bookstore screw up an order and order 100 instead of 1 book. They would get 99 returns and instead of making $2, they were charged $200. I've even read of worse cases where authors suddenly owed Ingram a few $1.000 for nothing in return (the most common option is to let bookstores destroy the books instead of having them actually send the books back, cause in that case you also have to pay for shipping...)

Also, you don't have to do the full 55% retail discount. 40% or 45% is more than enough.
 

Tolkien

Troubadour
Ingram Spark.

They do charge a $25 set-up fee, though you can get discount codes in a few places. They apparently have terrible customer service and a confusing interface. But they do supply to most bookstores and Amazon. In fact, D2D uses Ingram for their print service. They also offer most customization in regards to the discount you give to stores and returns.

Tip: if you go through them, don't allow returns. Doing so basically allows booksstores to return unsold books to you. In this case you do have to pay for printing, but you're not getting any royalties. I've seen plenty of authors who had a bookstore screw up an order and order 100 instead of 1 book. They would get 99 returns and instead of making $2, they were charged $200. I've even read of worse cases where authors suddenly owed Ingram a few $1.000 for nothing in return (the most common option is to let bookstores destroy the books instead of having them actually send the books back, cause in that case you also have to pay for shipping...)

Also, you don't have to do the full 55% retail discount. 40% or 45% is more than enough.

Hmm, doesn't sound to promising. Thanks for the info however.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
Tip: if you go through them, don't allow returns. Doing so basically allows booksstores to return unsold books to you. In this case you do have to pay for printing, but you're not getting any royalties. I've seen plenty of authors who had a bookstore screw up an order and order 100 instead of 1 book. They would get 99 returns and instead of making $2, they were charged $200. I've even read of worse cases where authors suddenly owed Ingram a few $1.000 for nothing in return (the most common option is to let bookstores destroy the books instead of having them actually send the books back, cause in that case you also have to pay for shipping...)

This sounds like a wonderful business.

I dont have much to add. Anything I know, I know from whats been written here, or youtube videos :)

This girl talks about Ingram spark.

 

Ned Marcus

Maester
Ingram Spark is the only one I know of. If there are others, they're really small. And if you want your paperback/hardback in bookshops, then you need to use them. I use Ingram Spark for paperbacks and hardbacks, but for the Amazon store paperbacks, I use KDP. I use one ISBN for all paperback versions.
 
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