Set up your print and ebook distribution
Set up IngramSpark for wide print distribution
Optional. If you want bookshops and libraries to be able to order the print book through Ingram, set up the title there with an ISBN you own.
Authors often hire help with this: metadata or distribution.
Why it matters
A bookseller or a librarian orders from a wholesaler catalog, not from a retail website. If your print book is not in that catalog, the honest answer to "can you order it in?" is no, and you will rarely be told. That is the whole case for this step. The case against it is equally real: it is a second account with its own fees, its own metadata, and its own returns and discount settings, and an author who will never sell into a shop is paying attention for nothing.
Your part
- What you do
- Do it. You normally do this yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Author. Author-publisher decides and sets it up; nobody else will do it for you on these routes
- When
- Two to three months before publication, in time for the record to reach wholesalers before preorders (Set up your print and ebook distribution: twelve to three months before publication, once the isbns are settled and the files are close to final)Checked September 15, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Ingram is the wholesaler most bookshops and many library suppliers order through. IngramSpark is Ingram's own self-publishing arm: the platform Ingram sells to authors and small publishers who want a print book in that catalog. It is worth saying plainly that this is a service Ingram sells, not a neutral piece of public infrastructure, and that not everyone needs it.
Who does not need it: an author whose readers buy on Amazon, who has no bookshop or library in mind, and who does not want the admin of a second print account.
Who usually does: an author who wants a bookshop, a school, or a library to be able to order the print book through the supplier they already use, rather than being told to buy it from Amazon. Amazon's own Expanded Distribution reaches part of the same trade from the KDP account you already have, with its own trade-offs, so compare the two pages rather than assuming one is better.
On cost, IngramSpark's pricing page says it costs nothing to sign up for an account and to upload a print book or an ebook, and the company announced free title setup in 2023. What is not free is printing, shipping, ebook conversion, and any optional service you add. Fees here have changed more than once, so check the current price on their page rather than trusting a figure in an article.
On identifiers, IngramSpark's own page says you need one ISBN for each format of the book, and that you can use an ISBN you own or, if you are a United States publisher, take a free one from IngramSpark. Read that alongside Amazon's rule in the other direction: Amazon's help page says a free ISBN from Amazon can only be used on KDP and cannot be used to publish outside it. So a KDP-assigned ISBN cannot come here. If you want the same edition on both platforms, it has to carry an ISBN you own, registered in your own name.
One edition, one route. Setting the same ISBN up for wide distribution on two services at once is the problem the next step is about.
Common mistakes
- Opening the account because other authors have one, without a shop or a library in mind.
- Trying to use a free platform-assigned ISBN from another service here.
- Leaving returnability and discount at the default and wondering later why no shop stocks the book.
- Assuming a fee quoted in an article from a few years ago is still what you will pay.
- Setting the same ISBN up for wide distribution here and on Amazon's Expanded Distribution at the same time.
Identifiers for Set up IngramSpark for wide print distribution
Set a status on any record and it joins this step. All book identifiers.
| My status | Identifier | Why this matters | Yours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ingram The wholesale catalog most bookstores and libraries order from, plus IngramSpark, the self-publishing platform that feeds into it. | This decides whether a bookstore or library can order your book through the channel most of them use, and on what terms, so when a shop says it cannot order your book this is usually where the answer sits. Ingram's data also reaches many retailers and library vendors, so an error in the record can surface in several places. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask whether the title is in Ingram wholesale, at what wholesale discount, and whether it is returnable, since those are the two terms a bookseller checks before ordering; if you publish the book yourself, you set the discount and the return policy in IngramSpark, and both have real money attached. Get the discount and return terms in writing, then check that the title record matches the other major listings. | Nothing to record | |
| ISBN The International Standard Book Number, printed above the barcode. Most formats sold through the book trade get their own. | Every retailer, wholesaler, and library orders and lists your book by this number, and the title, contributors, format, price, and publication date attached to it are what those systems display, so one wrong detail shows up in many places at once. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally receive the numbers from the publisher and check what is attached to each one. If you publish the book yourself, you buy the numbers and assign them, and you are the one who decides whether your imprint or a platform is recorded as the publisher. Keep one list of every ISBN beside the edition and format it identifies so you can check listings against it. | Add your ISBN-13 |
What done looks like
- A written reason for opening the account that names a shop, a school, a library, or a market you actually want.
- An ISBN you own on each format set up here, never a free platform-assigned one from another service.
- The current fee schedule read on IngramSpark's own page on the day you set the title up, with the date noted.
- Returnability and trade discount set deliberately, not left at whatever the form offered.
- A printed proof checked before the title is made available.
- One route only for that ISBN, with the alternative ruled out on purpose.
Ask your publisher
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Sources and last checked
- Official source
- Official source (opens in a new tab)
- Other sources
- Last checked
- September 15, 2026
- How confident we are
- Verified
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 15, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.