Indie Authors Monthly Magazine For Authors and Readers discussion

I am currently in Kindle Select but wondering if it is worth it. Has anyone published to Kobo, or IngramSpark and found any success? If so did you do any promotions to help? How easy was it to use their platforms? Considering ebooks for Kobo and perhaps paperback only through Ingram (on top of Amazon).

Any thoughts/advice?

Good questions. I am also anxiously awaiting the answers

I published on all of them and ultimately went back to Kindle Select. Ingram Spark is impossible to use. There is no communication. Their website is difficult to navigate for me. I went with Ingram Spark along with KDp to have hardcovers for my children's books and more availability for mass distribution.

I used Kobo with Draft to Digital, along with all their other platforms. I saw very few sales ultimately taking the books off and moving them into KU.

I kept them on with Ingram Sparks, but the sales are not great. The print prices have dramatically increased lowering my profits to the point it doesn't pay to print at all. Children's books sort of need to be available in print.

I have heard that Ingram is not easy to use. If I went with Kobo I would go direct because then I believe you can access their ads and promotions- I don’t think you can otherwise? I may just try it with my next book and see what happens! If I do I will post something on GR about my experience.

Thx for replying

I've published on all. With my first book, I had no sales on Kobo so I took it off and went to amazon only so I could put in on KU. My second book is with amazon and Ingram (with Ingram, you're on Kobo, B&N, Sony, etc.), but I have very few sales with Ingram. Most sales are from amazon. If you use Ingram, just be aware that it costs each time you upload a book. So if you make a mistake and need to upload a new version, you will pay unless there is a promo going on, or coupon available (of if you're a member of IBPA, in which case you don't pay for Ingram).

Oh, that’s useful to know about Ingram. I knew you had to pay but would have assumed it was just once and new versions wouldn’t cost. Can I ask how long you kept your book on Kobo? Just reading a marketing book that says it can take a while to build up sales there (longer than Amazon)

We loaded one of my son's books and it linked to a best-seller and sold right away. It was self-help and ultimately sold 350000 copies. We put it on Kobo for six months and took it off asap. It went right back to selling well on KDP.
Another of his books under a different name remained at number one in its genre for almost two years. When this was going on, I didn't know how to promote or market and missed a lot of opportunities. Amazon changed its algorithms and the book fell out of the top 10- so I put it on Kobo. When we saw so few sales, I put it back and it never reached those numbers again. (Groan! I should have kept it where it was)
My children's books never sold well on either Kindle or Kobo. They do best as paperbacks.
I keep them on Ingram for the hardcover. I'm trying to communicate with Ingram right now- I fixed an error in the book and now am having trouble turning it on. Also, I never really check my notifications there and saw that several of my paperbacks were losing money with each mass distribution sale. The pricing structure is horrible and hard to understand. I have since removed them and will leave my paperbacks on KDP only.

Jane wrote: "Oh, that’s useful to know about Ingram. I knew you had to pay but would have assumed it was just once and new versions wouldn’t cost. Can I ask how long you kept your book on Kobo? Just reading a m..."

I was on Kobo for about a year with my first book. My second book is still on Kobo (because I went through Ingram) and it hasn't sold a single copy on Kobo. Kobo is super easy to set up and very responsive to questions so I liked them for that reason, but there was no point in having my book there.

Thanks for your responses. It sounds like Kobo is a really difficult market! I was only thinking of going wide because I don’t like the idea of having everything in one place just in case, and Amazon do change their algorithms every so often-mostly to author detriment it seems!

Don't use Ingram to distribute the eBook if you want to use Kobo to advertise. Ingram distributes to Kobo and you can't access Kobo advertising unless the book is loaded direct to Kobo. Unlike Smashwords or D2D, Ingram does not have an opt out option with the exception of Amazon and Apple. Unless you sign an agreement, Ingram won't distribute the eBook to either Amazon or Apple. I use Smashwords to reach Apple books since I don't like the agreement.

Internationally Kobo is big, but because of the Kindle hold on the U.S. market they have never been able to get entry to the U.S. market until they signed a contract with Walmart. Kobo is now the eBook distributor to Walmart. If you type in eBooks on Walmart's website it takes you to the Kobo website.

I use Amazon to get the eBook on Kindle and the paperback on Amazon websites. I don't use the extended distribution option from Amazon. Authors take a big hit on the royalties. Instead, I use Ingram to distribute the paperback, hardback, and eBook to reach the retail market outside of Amazon. Right now I am doing better on Ingram than I am on Amazon.

Thanks for your response

Carole wrote: "I published on all of them and ultimately went back to Kindle Select. Ingram Spark is impossible to use. There is no communication. Their website is difficult to navigate for me. I went with Ingram..."

Is it possible to take eBooks off of other platforms (Kobo, B&N, etc.) and then put it on Kindle Unlimited?

I have had almost 0 results on the other platforms and was wondering if I could possibly move my novel to KDPSelect (even though it was published in October).

Yes. You can deactivate them and then put them on KU- That's what I did. I took them off Draft to Digital and placed them all on Kindle Unlimited. I never had them on electronically on Ingram Sparks.

Jane wrote: "I am currently in Kindle Select but wondering if it is worth it. Has anyone published to Kobo, or IngramSpark and found any success? If so did you do any promotions to help? How easy was it to use ..."

I have used Kobo and made money from there as well as Smashwords.

Hi Jane. I'm coming late to this and haven't read through all the replies, so I might duplicate something somebody already said.

I use IngramSpark. They do charge for setup, but it's only $50 for print + ebook, so it's not horrible. Also, they do have coupons for free setup from time to time. I've been able to get most of my books set up for free.

I don't find the tools that hard to use. They have made some upgrades lately, which have improved some of the process. Overall, once you get used to how their site works, it's fairly easy. I will admit that I was befuddled at a few points, but I figured it out. I'm a professional software developer, so maybe I have a leg up in that department.

The main thing I like about using them is they give you access to a wide variety of markets. Set up your book once, and it goes all over the place. The downside is, their reporting is not the easiest to use and it's delayed by about a month, because they have to collect sales data from everyone who sells your book. Also, the seller takes a cut, and Ingram takes a cut.

Amazon is a special case with Ingram. Because Amazon is by far the largest bookseller, many indies and small publishers want to set up directly on Amazon so they don't lose money (no cut for Ingram) and have daily reporting of sales. Ingram does not distribute to Amazon by default. If you want, you can sign an "Amazon rider" that lets them distribute to Amazon. You can revoke that rider at any time.

I initially signed the Amazon rider, but now I'm in the process of revoking it as part of improving my marketing process. I still like the idea of setting up just once and having the book distributed everywhere, but there are definite upsides to handling Amazon separately.

Oh, I should also add that I have no experience with book production tools on either Amazon or Ingram. We (my wife and I) set up books using Adobe InDesign so we get a professional look and feel. We then upload the generated PDF when setting up the book.

My sense is that the tools provided by Amazon et al aren't sufficient for that. For ebooks it isn't an issue (there isn't much to page layout in reflowable text) but for print books it is.

Try Draft to Digital. I think it's an easier set up.

Several people have said Ingram is hard to set up. What caused you issues?

Stuart wrote: "It was also a problem being from the UK and trying to get things set up for US tax purposes as all of these companies like Ingram are US companies."

Ah, that I can see. I can't say I ever had any real problems with Ingram's site, except it wasn't obvious that you had to make a selection sometimes before other fields were displayed. (I think that "feature" was introduced in a fairly recent update to the site.)

The only other issue I encountered was on my account, I wanted to change my email address, but the change wouldn't "stick." That took a while to get fixed. Otherwise, I've generally found there support people pretty responsive, although they have been a bit slower since the pandemic hit.