KDP vs IngramSpark: Where Should You Publish Your Book?

When you're ready to publish a print book, two names dominate the conversation: Amazon KDP and IngramSpark. Authors often ask which one is better, but that is the wrong question. The better question is what each one is for, because most successful indie authors end up using both.

Here's how they compare, and how to combine them without stepping on your own toes.

What KDP Is Good At

Kindle Direct Publishing is Amazon's own self-publishing platform. It's free to use, quick to set up, and it puts your book in front of the largest book-buying audience in the world.

Because Amazon prints and sells the book itself, your paperbacks and Kindle ebooks appear directly on Amazon with fast delivery for customers. For most authors, the majority of sales happen on Amazon, so KDP is almost always part of the plan.

KDP also offers ebooks, paperbacks, and hardcovers, and there's no upfront cost to publish.

What IngramSpark Is Good At

IngramSpark is built on Ingram, the largest book distributor in the world. Its strength is reach beyond Amazon: physical bookstores, libraries, and online retailers around the globe can order your book through the same catalogue that traditional publishers use.

If you want your paperback or hardcover to be orderable by an independent bookshop or stocked by a library, IngramSpark is how that becomes possible. It also offers more print options than KDP in some areas, including a returnable setting that bookstores often require before they will stock a title.

The Smart Approach: Use Both

The setup most experienced indie authors settle on looks like this:

• Use KDP for your Amazon paperback, hardcover, and Kindle ebook.
• Use IngramSpark for wide print distribution to everywhere that isn't Amazon: bookstores, libraries, and other online retailers.

The one thing to watch is overlap. KDP has an expanded distribution option that pushes your paperback into the same channels IngramSpark serves. If you use both KDP expanded distribution and IngramSpark for the same book, they can compete to supply the same retailers, which causes listing confusion. The common fix is to turn off KDP expanded distribution and let IngramSpark handle everything outside Amazon.

Cost and Royalties

KDP is free to publish and pays a royalty based on list price minus printing cost. IngramSpark has historically charged a title setup fee, though it's frequently discounted or waived through promotions and author organisations, and its wholesale model means bookstores buy at a discount you set.

The exact numbers change, so check both platforms for current figures. The principle is stable: KDP is the simplest and cheapest way onto Amazon, and IngramSpark is the route to everywhere else.

You Only Format Once

Here's a detail that saves a lot of stress: you don't need a different interior file for each platform. Both KDP and IngramSpark accept a print-ready interior PDF at standard trim sizes, and both accept EPUB for ebooks.

That means you can format your book one time and upload the same files to both. Koberger produces an interior print PDF sized correctly for common trim sizes, along with a validated EPUB (one that passes the file checks the stores themselves run), so you can prepare your files once and publish them wherever you like. If you're new to print setup, our guide to formatting a paperback for KDP walks through the basics, and KDP trim sizes explained covers sizing.

A Simple Starting Plan

1. Format your interior once and export a print PDF and an EPUB.
2. Publish your paperback, hardcover, and ebook on KDP.
3. Turn off KDP expanded distribution.
4. Publish the same print book on IngramSpark for wide distribution.
5. Keep your listing details, cover, and interior consistent across both.

Bottom Line

KDP and IngramSpark aren't rivals so much as two halves of a complete distribution plan. KDP gets you onto Amazon quickly and cheaply. IngramSpark gets you into the wider world of bookstores and libraries. Use KDP for Amazon, use IngramSpark for everywhere else, and format your book once so publishing to both is the easy part.