IngramSpark, good or bad? Cautionary tale? Thoughts?

The Chatters
, ,
1

So, I made this as a separate thread (instead of putting it in my fox chat thread) as a caution for others, possibly.

I tried to set up an account with IngramSpark, a place for authors to self-publish their book and create very nice paperbacks. I entered my information and they informed me of the 3-5 business days of processing. Given the time zones as well, I thought this would take quite some time and then promptly forgot about it :stuck_out_tongue:

So, when I remembered IngramSpark, I thought, hey, it’s been long enough hasn’t it? I logged in and…still processing? Also I had a message that said they contacted me. I check my messages and they said they needed more confirmation or something, so to contact them back.

I contact them.

They tell me that for verification, they need a copy of my passport and they want me to send that through the Email.

Huh…

I don’t think so :sweat_smile:

I went digging around to see if other people thought this was odd and sure enough, many people have found IngramSpark to be rather odd. Some were asked for passport info like me. Those who were not asked for passport info, some weren’t able to set up an account no matter what they did. But I’ve heard lots of good things about IngramSpark. Good quality at least. What’s going on here?

Is it actually bad?

Despite the issues I’ve had with Draft2Digital (another distributor for self-publishing), their customer support has been good so far. Helpful, as much as they can be. Patient… They never asked for my passport either. They never asked for personal information through email.

Anyway, idk if IngramSpark is good or bad, but I am definitely not sending my personal information through email to some random company employee (or not, because these days we never know if someone is a bot). Also, if that’s what they need from me, forget it. I’m not dealing with that :sweat_smile:

Has anyone here used IngramSpark? Do you know anyone who has? Do you think this is odd company behavior? Are you thinking of self-publishing one day? If not, what was the last indie-book you read?

Let me know :wink:

(ending with a bunch of related questions like Amanda from Swell Entertainment)

6 Likes
2

I never used websites like this, but I did once try to order a self-published paperback on Amazon and it asked for my passport details because I would basically have to import it. So they needed my passport to do the customs stuff. Of course, I didn’t order it :sweat_smile: But maybe that’s what’s happening here? They need it for import/export/customs duties? Idk. Is it an American company?

3 Likes
3

Quite a few of my clients use Ingram. I never have, because it’s not something I need right now (offering digital distribution only). I haven’t heard of anything bad but I know in the past people were advised to steer clear.

Already self-pubbed with 10+ books (I have now officially lost count, yay) and I’m not sure what my last indie read was :stuck_out_tongue:

3 Likes
4

I’ve never used them before, and now I never will. Sounds shady! Thanks for posting this. ( ˆ◡ˆ)۶ ٩(˘◡˘ )

2 Likes
5

By strange coincidence this was posted today:

Granted, the article was written by the president of a rival company, but it might be worth checking out. I’ve never heard of it before. ¯\_(ﭢ)_/¯

https://www.authorimprints.com/

2 Likes
6

They said they needed it to verify my account, so idk if they need it for anything else :sweat_smile: And yes, American company

3 Likes
7

Huh, who knows. They might have some weird policies about non-American users? Could also be a tariff thing. But either way, I think it should be outlined in their terms of service somewhere.

3 Likes
8

Is there a print in demand service closer to home?

2 Likes
9

Nope, unfortunately

Japan is not self-publishing-author friendly

1 Like
10
2 Likes
11

I’ve heard mixed things about IngramSpark, some folks swear by the print quality and distribution, but the customer service and account setup stuff can be a headache.

3 Likes
12

I use Ingram, I switched away from Amazon to it. They definitely didn’t ask me for ID when I made an account, but they’ve also never done anything particularly sketchy to my account or books.

The print quality of the books is good, and there’s a lot of customization options for sizing, cover types, paper, ect. Being vaguely challenged at digital design, I found that the process of sizing and setting everything made me want to put a fist through my laptop… but most of that came from user error. If you use Ingram make sure to check the proof before letting your book go to print, when I resized Gallows Humour the first proof had the text block bleeding right off the pages.

The customer service is not great. Again, I’m stupid, so that accounts for some of my frustrations, and Ingram gave a reasonable amount of guidance. But when I was fighting for my life trying to decode the mysteries of the cover template and finally caved and emailed customer support for some clarification, the customer support literally just parroted the same instructions I told them I was having trouble with and sent a link to the same FAQ page I’d been staring at the entire time. (Eventually someone here on WW helped me, much gratitude to them. And when I resized earlier this year I finally figured out the stupid template). The other mildly inconvenient thing is that it takes a full day for them to process every single change.

One aspect I do feel is kinda scam-y of Ingram is that they charge you $60 USD for revisions after a certain number of days have passed. There is no reason for it.

3 Likes
13

That’s what I’ve heard, so that’s why I initially thought I’d try with them, but then they asked for a copy of my passport and to send it through email.

:open_mouth:

Maybe that’s a way for them to make sure people aren’t abusing the system, but that’s a lot of money :sweat_smile: Do they think self-pub authors are overflowing with cash or something?

1 Like
14

It’s so weird that they did that :s

abusing the system how though? What negative consequences will they suffer if I fix a typo every 61 days? Some authors probably make enough sales that there could be an issue with a backstock of old copies if revisions are made, but I doubt that applies to the majority.

idk at least the distribution options are nice.

1 Like
15

No idea XD Trying to think of a good reason to do that, but I can’t think of any :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like