When authors are ready to publish, they usually ask which platform to choose: Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or IngramSpark. For most of the books we publish, the answer is both. Each is good at something the other isn’t, and using them together costs you nothing extra to set up.

Amazon KDP: the biggest store

KDP publishes your ebook to the Kindle store and prints paperbacks and hardcovers on demand for Amazon.

• Cost to publish: free.
• Ebook royalties: 70% of the list price, minus a small delivery fee, for books priced $2.99 to $9.99; 35% otherwise.
• Paperback royalties on Amazon: 60% of the list price (for books priced $9.99 or more) minus printing. A 200-page black-and-white 6×9 paperback costs $3.40 to print, so a $14.99 book earns about $5.59 a sale.
• Expanded Distribution: KDP can offer your paperback to other retailers, but the royalty drops to 40% minus printing, and many bookstores won’t order from Amazon.
• Kindle Unlimited: enrolling in KDP Select puts your ebook in the subscription library, but requires the ebook to be exclusive to Amazon.

IngramSpark: bookstores and libraries

IngramSpark is the self-publishing arm of Ingram, the wholesaler that most U.S. bookstores and libraries already buy from.

• Cost to publish: title setup is free, and since February 2026, revisions are free too.
• Distribution fee: books in Ingram’s global network pay a 1.875% market access fee on sales.
• Reach: more than 45,000 retailers, libraries, schools and universities.
• Control: you set the wholesale discount and can make your book returnable, which matters to bookstores deciding whether to stock it.
• Hardcovers: case-laminate and dust-jacket options that bookstores and libraries expect.

Side by side

How we set up most books

1. Buy your own ISBNs so you’re the publisher of record on every platform. (More in Do you need your own ISBN?)
2. Publish the paperback on KDP for the best royalty on Amazon, and leave KDP’s Expanded Distribution off.
3. Publish the same paperback, plus a hardcover if you want one, on IngramSpark using the same ISBN, so bookstores and libraries can order it through Ingram.
4. Publish the ebook on KDP, and decide whether Kindle Unlimited is worth exclusivity. If not, we also distribute it to Apple Books, Kobo and library apps.

Using the same ISBN on both platforms is allowed and common, as long as the ISBN is yours rather than a free KDP number.

When one platform is enough

If your book is a niche ebook, a journal or a low-content book, KDP alone may be plenty. If you’re mainly selling at events, churches or local shops, or want your county library to carry it, IngramSpark matters more. Either way, the files we prepare work on both.

Let us handle the setup

Both platforms have fussy file specifications, cover templates and metadata fields that affect how readers find your book. Our Publish-Ready package covers setup on both KDP and IngramSpark in your name, so you keep all your rights and royalties. See publishing packages or book a free call.