Book Publishing with Ingram Spark

Ingramspark is a powerful partner for indie authors because of their quality print on demand offering and their wide reach getting your book into bookstores all over the world. But what do you really know about ingramspark? Did you know they have tools, resources and support to help you as an author? If you're wondering what you're missing out on with IngramSpark, then this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the book broad. I'm a three time, soon to be four time author and I'm also the founder of a fabulous self publishing services company called Book Launchers. At Book Launchers, we help authors write, edit, design, publish and promote their nonfiction book. And part of that publish and distribution process involves not just Amazon, but IngramSpark. And we love IngramSpark because it gives self publishing authors much of the reach that used to only be available to traditionally published authors. It gets you into the catalog that Barnes and Noble and Airport bookstores even order from. But what do you actually know about IngramSpark? Maybe not a lot. So I asked an IngramSpark insider to join us and share some information with you. I'm so excited to introduce you to the digital marketing manager at IngramSpark. Take it away Janice.

Hi, my name is Janice and I'm the digital marketing manager for IngramSpark. IngramSpark is a global leader in self publishing and print on demand services. We print paperback, hardback and we publish eBooks. IngramSpark also offers global distribution with over 40,000 retailers and a plethora of free resources including publisher education to help you on your self publishing journey. Once you write and format your book, we do the rest. Ingramspark makes it possible for you to share your story with the world.

So one of the things that we really like about IngramSpark is their global reach. But I bet you didn't know just how global they are. I asked Janice to share a little bit about their distribution and printing facilities. Around the world.

We offer one of the largest global distribution networks for our publishers. We offer over 40,000 retailers that includes distributors, wholesalers, retail outlets, bookstores, libraries and schools worldwide. Placing your print book gets you access to retailers like Barnes and Noble, Amazon and more. We also offer ebook services which offers an astonishing 85, 15 split for our authors. With access to online retailers like Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and more. We have access to subscription services like Scribd and and library ebook services like Overdrive along with international retailers like La Breca of Germany, Gartner's of the UK and Storyteller. Of Sweden. We work with print facilities all over the globe through our Global Connect program which allows your books to be printed and shipped by our printer partners in Germany, India, Italy, Poland, Russia, China, Spain, Brazil and South Korea. We also offer hundreds of hours and publisher education which include hundreds of blog topics and how to and educational videos, resource guides, and our very own ingramspark Academy.

We've had authors sell a lot of books in India in particular through these programs, but we've seen sales all over the globe thanks to their reach. It's a pretty exciting time to be an indie author. One of my wishes though is that Ingram was more transparent about where the sales were coming from as far as the different channels for your books can be sold in. And while I don't think there's a time coming in the near future where they're going to tell us that X number of books sold at this bookstore versus another Janiece did share Something exciting about reporting that I want to share.

With you is our new forthcoming reporting suite. This reporting suite features much more in depth, user friendly and dynamic reporting at the click of a button. As our current IngramSpark clients know, up until now our reporting within the account has been a manual ad hoc experience experience. With this new reporting suite, the experience will be much more gamified, robust in information, way easier to navigate with much more with instant information being received. Some of you may have already noticed that new reporting feature in your IngramSpark account due to our new soft rollout, but all of you should see the new reporting very soon with these new reporting tools.

My books are all in lightning source, not IngramSpark, still an Ingram company, but when I started publishing they didn't yet have IngramSpark as an option, but they've updated the reporting inside of the Lightning Source dashboard too. This is what it looked like before and now their reporting has a dashboard that looks a lot more like Amazon's KDP dashboard where you can see a little bit more information about your sales, where they're coming from geographically with a heat map and you can break tool break break tools and you can break the information out in different ways now. And the cool part for most of us is the data is way more visual so you can kind of see it in a dashboard rather than just a line by line report. One of the neat features, especially if you have multiple books, but overall you can actually click in there in the IngramSpark dashboard and see how your book is performing in the Ingram catalog against other other books in that space. So I can't take you on a full tour because I don't have the IngramSpark account. But the data is way more visual and it allows you to separate it out in different ways by different books, by digital, by print. And this dashboard really makes it easy to use. So it's pretty cool. And hopefully you'll see it in your Ingram account now, if you haven't seen it before. So Janice sees a lot of books, and she runs a lot of programs through IngramSpark's social channels to help authors get more exposure. So I had to ask her what what she thinks a book, specifically a nonfiction book, stand out and sell well. Well, here's what she had to say about that.

Well, when it comes to nonfiction writing, it's very important to be an expert in your field in the eyes of the reader. So that goes beyond the book. As a nonfiction writer, you want to make sure you're prevalent in name in social media outlets and directly related to your topic of expertise. Look for opportunities to engage in conferences, panels, podcasts, social media channels, radio interviews, local broadcasts, anything that can put you in the spotlight as an expert in your field. When people know you as an expert, it makes it much easier to sell your books.

So no pressure, my friend. You just need to be everywhere. What I loved, though, is that she said you need to be an expert. The eyes of the reader. This isn't about the fact that you are an expert or that you've lived your story. It's about what the reader thinks. So in all your marketing efforts, think about that reader and know that you need to do a little more so they know you exist and see you as an expert. If you need a little inspiration to keep going, let me share a quick nugget about Shel Phelps. She published her book Big Bliss Blueprint in the May of 2020, and her goal was to speak and grow her training business. And she's been using her book to do that ever since. And last month she tagged me in a LinkedIn post sharing that she just landed her first international speaking gig. So Shell. All right, so how do you do that? Well, you think about your reader. Think about where they're hanging out. Where are they already looking for solutions to the problem you solve, and how can you get connected with them there? One step at a time, not all at once. Remind yourself of that. And I can't wait until you're celebrating a big win like Shell. Okay, so Janice and I are working together on a handful of collaborations. We even did a live on Instagram recently. So you'll probably hear more from Ingram. Do you have a question for the folks at ingramspark? Well, you can post it in the comments below. And if you're excited for more GLA collab, Collab.

Collaboration.

How do you say that word? Collabs? Collabs. Collaborations. That's a big word. Nobody says collaborations. And if you're excited for more collaboration videos like this one with IngramSpark or other brands we love, then smash that thumbs up button on your way down to comment. And then of course you can head over to connect with IngramSpark. Janese is going to tell you how to do that right now.

Anyone interested in self publishing with print on demand services should visit our website@www.ingramspark.com. they can also connect with us on social at IngramSparkBooks on Instagram and TikTok and NgramSpark on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Hey, you're pretty cool. You want to hang out a little longer? YouTube thinks you'll love this video right here. And this one right here is all about the five things to know about building your author brand, which is what is going to help you become an expert in the eyes of your reader. Both are pretty darn great. And really, I just want to hang out a little longer, so click on over. I'll see you there. I put the emphasis on the wrong syllable.