A Review of Self-Publishing Services: IngramSparks vs. KDP vs. B&N Press vs. Espresso Book Machine

*The Wilderlands* by R.E. Bellesmith, releasing Oct. 29, 2024.

I’m very excited about a new novel I have coming out next week!

This book, The Wilderlands, isn’t my first book, but it’s the first book I’m trying to go all-out with from the jump. I’m putting the ebook up at the same time as I’m launching a print version with an audiobook planned to come quickly on the heels of the physical/ebook release date of Oct. 29, 2024.

In order to achieve a physical release, I used three different printing services: IngramSparks, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), and Barnes & Noble Press (B&N Press). All three of these are different than the print-on-demand espresso book machine I used to publish my first book Light Keeper Chronicle: The Unspoken Prophecy.

With all these different methods of publication in mind, I wanted to go over their various merits and foibles.

I’ve been working on this post over the past month during the lead-up to publication. As such, my feelings have fluctuated somewhat on the services (see more below).

Hopefully this gives you insight into the process of self-publishing. and it if doesn’t, I hope it’s at least entertaining to read!

IngramSparks

IngramSparks is the distribution service you’ll probably want to use if you’re looking to be an indie author.

I want to get that out of the way at the top, because the rest of this is going to be fairly critical.

Also worth keeping in mind is that, as I understand it, IngramSparks is much better than it used to be (likely thanks to the competition mentioned below entering the market.)

I submitted my initial finished files for The Wilderlands to IngramSparks on Aug. 30. Those files didn’t get approved until Oct. 21.

Having also gone through the process of using IngramSparks with Light Keeper Chronicle (albeit, well after its original publication) I can attest that it shouldn’t take that long.

This stretch of time is partially due to an error on my part where I put the ebook ISBN where the physical edition ISBN was supposed to be. (For those not in the know, the ISBN is the number you see on the barcode on the back of most books, that’s used to help sellers keep catalogues.) By the time I noticed this error, that physical ISBN had become associated with B&N Press service, which IngramSparks did not like.

I reached out to support and found out that I wasn’t able to use IngramSparks to print my book until the ISBN was associated with the IngramSparks account rather than the B&N Press account. I requested that they do this and — unfortunately — the wait period brought me nearly to publication day.

If I’d been on the ball earlier on, I would have noticed the ISBN mistake and been able to fix that before it became a problem. It’s mostly just a headache for me specifically, but it’s still a headache. The downside is that — even though I’m sure everything will look fine — I likely won’t have physically held the IngramSparks edition of the book before release day.

Now, despite all these issues one little oversight caused me, it is all ostensibly worth it when it’s possible for indie bookstores to independently order copies of my book. Generally, through the other methods, I would have to physically cart copies of my book to the shop or send them to the store at my expense.

An author copy of Light Keeper Chronicle costs me $5.42 (as of writing this blogpost) to order from IngramSparks. I make $3.38 in profit per copy sold. That’s going to look like the lowest of these (and it is) but that is a number that takes into account the ~40% cut of the sales price ($19.99 in this case) that booksellers typically get.

An author copy of The Wilderlands costs me $4.86 and I make about $5.93 per copy sold at a retail price of $17.99.

Kindle Direct Publishing

As much as I don’t wish to tout the “virtues” of Amazon, Kindle Direct Publishing is far and away the most straightforward of these services to work with overall.

I submitted the final(ish) files on Sept. 3. Within a day or two, Amazon let me order a copy. That copy was then shipped to me and I had time to do another read through and a set of minor edits before B&N Publishing even delivered me a proof copy on Sept. 14.

I will say that, while I don’t dislike the end physicals product from KDP, it is probably my least favorite of these services on this list. That is largely because of the glue that was fairly visible on the interior of the inside covers of my proof copies.

Here’s a look at the front of one copy of The Wilderlands.

I will say that as I’m now able to hold finalized copies of the book and in these the glue has not so far been visible. I’m not sure if they’ve changed how they print or if they are more careful with finished books than proofs, but I am hoping it remains a non-issue.

This visible glue is a less prominent issue as well with the Espresso Books I’ve printed, and is effectively a non-issue with B&N Press and IngramSparks.

I also like the paper and ink a little better in B&N and IngramSparks (though, that may be something I could fix by tinkering with different printing options in KDP).

To KDP’s credit, I will say that it prints a little bit thicker so — especially for a quick read like The Wilderlands — it feels a little bit more substantive to hold. Also, I think the physical book does feel a bit studier than Ingram and B&N (while also, somewhat contradictorily, feeling a little bit cheaper).

I did say above that IngramSparks was the best way to get your book into bookstores. That said, KDP does have a wide distribution option. I haven’t tried that myself and don’t know that indie bookstores would be eager to adopt it, but it’s not difficult to imagine a world where that provides enough of a boon that authors opt to go for that.

Printing prices are probably best here. An author copy of Light Keeper Chronicle costs $4.53 and I make $7.47 per copy sold.

An author copy of The Wilderlands costs $4.05 and I make $6.75 per copy sold.

Barnes & Noble Press

I put B&N Press on here last of the big three self-publishing services since I believed it’s the one that is least helpful in terms of wide distribution.

It nearly makes up for it in terms of ease of use. I was surprised to find that, when it came to The Wilderlands, B&N Press ended up giving me arguably the kindest user experience … with one caveat that I’ll get to toward the end of this section.

The service was very quick and clear to tell me what was wrong with any files I uploaded (KDP was quick too, but I personally found it slightly more obtuse when giving feedback). The amount of time it takes to process things is also reasonable; of the three, B&N Press let me order a proof of my book the fastest once I submitted files. (Though KDP got one to my front door sooner.)

Furthermore, B&N Press is the only one of the three publishing services that let me immediately put up a pre-order page for the print book. That isn’t necessarily a huge factor, but it’s nice to have a link I can give to people who want to get a physical copy when I’m talking about the book before its release.

The caveat is that, once you finalize the book, you cannot order author copies of it in advance of publication. You can only pre-order to receive on the date of publication. WHY???

As annoying as it is KDP doesn’t natively do physical pre-orders, it makes a little bit of sense given how down to the wire the service is with letting you get stuff finalized. But with B&N Press, once I confirm that I have uploaded all the correct files, the service will then decide it can no longer send me a physical copy to see what those printed files look like.

At first I thought this was an error so I requested help from B&N Press support and NEVER heard back. As frustrated as I was with IngramSparks, at least they got back to me and told me what the issue was when I requested help. I had to rely on search engines to figure out what was happening with B&N Press.

Also worth noting is the fact that, since I had to request B&N Press give IngramSparks The Wilderlands ISBN, it seems that B&N is no longer printing my book natively and is just ordering it from IngramSparks.

This isn’t a huge issue as — from what I can tell from Light Keeper Chronicle, which (for some reason) can print with both services — the two have practically identical printings, but it’s still frustrating to have sunk so much time into prepping material for both services when I apparently should have just used IngramSparks.

An author copy of Light Keeper Chronicle costs $5.86 and I make $6.22 per copy sold here.

An author copy of The Wilderlands costs $4.84 and I make about $5.05 per copy sold. (At least, that was the estimate before it defaulted back to IngramSparks.)

Espresso Book Machine

At last we get to my original mechanism of self-publishing, courtesy of the bookstore I grew up with, Schuler Books.

I am very fond of this method, but I will be incredibly honest: this is probably not the way you want to go. At least, not if you’re hoping to have your book widely accessible.

It’s for the lack of easy distribution that I am not currently using an espresso book machine to publish The Wilderlands. On top of that, it’s the option that is most costly to me as the author.

That said, if you’re main aspiration is to just have your book available at the store(s) that the machine stocks, then this is pretty much the perfect option!

Also, Schuler Books let me put up physical pre-order even in advance of having fully finalized print files (to be clear, the book was done, just undergoing edits). While the service was largely operated by one person, he was very communicative about what was needed and what was possible. Furthermore, it meant I was always talking to a real human person whenever I needed help with anything.

I also tend to really like the physical product, there is some glue visible at the front and back in some copies, but it’s not as noticeable as in the KDP proof copies.

An author copy of Light Keeper Chronicle cost $15.82 for me when I fist launched it. (I believe it’s the same now, but it’s been a while since I’ve ordered a personal copy). That means I make about $4.17 per copy sold.

Conclusion

What does all of this mean for someone who’s wanting to self-publish? That’s largely up to you.

I made a post a while ago about what I like about using an espresso machine and that is still true. However, I also say in there that espresso book machines are difficult to recommend for people who want to get their indie published book into a lot of hands, and that is certainly still true.

I think that if someone was trying self-publishing for the very first time, KDP is in fact the easiest service to use and likely the easiest to access for buyers.

I think that if you’re serious about making your book widely available to brick-and-mortar stores (should they choose to order it), IngramSparks should be your default.

And, though I have a soft spot for it, I’m not quite sure what situation I’d recommend B&N Press for as it exists largely as a halfway point between the other two services. Sure, it’s wide reaching, but only about as wide reaching as Barnes & Noble itself — which is HUGE, but which is also dwarfed by Amazon and IngramSpark’s respective reaches.

Hopefully that proved helpful for anyone reading this looking to self-publish and insightful for anyone curious about the methods of getting a physical book released on your own.

And, hey, if you want to see for yourself what all this amounts to as a physical product, then consider buying my book!

*****

The Wilderlands is available for physical pre-order from Barnes & Noble here. The Wilderlands is scheduled to release on Oct. 29, 2024.

The Wilderlands ebook is available now for pre-order on Kindle here, on Nook here, on Kobo here, and on Apple here.

My preview book, Light Keeper Chronicle: The Unspoken Prophecy can be ordered off of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Schuler Books, requested at your local bookstore, or found on most major ebook marketplaces.