Guide H3
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Self-Publishing Platforms: KDP, IngramSpark, and the Alternatives
KDP and IngramSpark compared in practical terms, the KDP Select exclusivity question, print on demand, and the alternative platforms worth knowing about.
Introduction
The platform you choose determines more than where your book is sold.
Distribution, royalties, print quality and exclusivity all follow from this decision.
The self-publishing platform a writer chooses determines where their book is distributed, what royalty rates they receive, what print quality their readers experience, whether exclusivity requirements affect how and where the book can be sold, and how easily they can change course if the initial decision proves wrong. These are not minor decisions, and they are not easy to reverse once the book has been published through a particular platform. For most writers, the choice starts with KDP vs IngramSpark.
The two main platforms
The main platforms are Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and IngramSpark. Each has genuine strengths and genuine limitations. Most professional self-publishing authors use both, in a combination that gives them the broadest distribution while managing the trade-offs of each. Understanding what each platform offers before making the decision is the difference between a strategy and a guess.
What this guide covers
This guide compares KDP and IngramSpark in practical terms, covers the exclusivity question that divides opinion among self-publishing authors, and addresses the alternative platforms that serve specific markets or strategies. It is written to give writers the information they need to make an informed platform decision rather than to advocate for any particular approach.
A note from Nick
My own thinking on self-publishing has shifted as I have come to understand the traditional publishing timeline more clearly. Two to four years from finished manuscript to bookshelf is a long time. The control that self-publishing offers over timing, presentation, and distribution is genuinely attractive. My instinct about control extends further than most writers might take it: even if my book were optioned for film, I would want to retain as much creative influence as possible, though I am realistic about how much leverage a debut author actually has in that situation. The platform decision is a smaller version of the same instinct. I would rather distribute widely and retain control than hand exclusivity to any single retailer, however dominant.
The Two Main Platforms
KDP vs IngramSpark: a clear comparison of what each one does
Most professional self-publishing authors use both.
1
Amazon KDP
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing is the largest self-publishing platform in the world and the natural starting point for most authors approaching self-publishing for the first time. It offers ebook publishing and print-on-demand paperback publishing through Amazon's retail network, with a straightforward setup process, no upfront costs, and royalties paid monthly.
KDP's royalty structure for ebooks is 70% on titles priced between £1.77 and £12.99, and 35% outside that range. For print-on-demand paperbacks, the royalty is approximately 60% of the list price minus the printing cost per unit, which varies by page count and trim size. A 350-page paperback priced at £12.99 might generate a royalty of around £3.00 to £4.00 per copy sold, depending on the printing cost.
KDP's primary limitation is distribution: it publishes to Amazon only. A KDP paperback is available on Amazon's UK, US, and other regional sites, but it does not reach independent bookshops, library networks, or non-Amazon retailers such as Waterstones, Foyles, or Blackwell's without a separate distribution arrangement.
2
IngramSpark
IngramSpark is the self-publishing arm of Ingram Content Group, the largest book distributor in the world. Publishing through IngramSpark gives a book access to Ingram's distribution network, which supplies bookshops, libraries, and online retailers across more than 150 countries. A book published through IngramSpark can, in principle, be ordered by any bookshop that uses Ingram as a supplier, which includes the vast majority of independent bookshops in the UK and US.
IngramSpark charges a setup fee for print titles (currently around $49 per title, waived periodically through promotional codes) and charges per unit for print-on-demand. Its royalty structure is slightly less generous than KDP's for Amazon sales, but the distribution reach is significantly broader. For a writer whose book might attract bookshop or library interest, IngramSpark's distribution network is the more important consideration.
IngramSpark also offers hardback printing, which KDP does not. For a book where a hardback edition is commercially relevant, IngramSpark is the only print-on-demand option among the main platforms.
Feature
KDP
IngramSpark
Setup cost
No charge
Approx. $49 per print title (periodically waived)
Ebook distribution
Amazon only
Wide (Apple Books, Kobo, B&N, libraries, etc.)
Print distribution
Amazon only
Global: bookshops, libraries, online retailers
Hardback printing
Not available
Available
Ebook royalty (standard)
70% (at qualifying price)
40% to 60% depending on channel
Print royalty
60% minus print cost
45% to 55% minus print cost
Minimum order (print)
Print on demand, no minimum
Print on demand, no minimum
Returns policy
Non-returnable by default
Returnable option available for bookshops
Payment schedule
Monthly
Monthly
The Exclusivity Question
KDP Select: the trade-off every self-publishing author faces
More visibility on Amazon, in exchange for selling the ebook nowhere else.
KDP Select is an optional programme within KDP that offers higher royalties, access to Kindle Unlimited, and promotional tools including Kindle Countdown Deals and promotions that offer the ebook at no cost for a limited period. The cost is exclusivity: enrolling a title in KDP Select requires that the ebook version be available exclusively through Amazon for periods of 90 days at a time, renewable indefinitely.
What KDP Select offers
Kindle Unlimited is Amazon's ebook subscription service, in which subscribers pay a monthly fee and can read any enrolled title without additional charge. Authors earn a royalty based on the number of pages read, paid from a shared monthly pool. For genres with strong Kindle Unlimited readership, particularly romance, thriller, and fantasy, KDP Select enrolment can generate significant page-read income that supplements or exceeds standard royalty income.
The promotional tools are also genuinely useful for debut authors with no existing audience. A promotion through KDP Select that offers the ebook at no cost can drive significant downloads, which in turn drives Amazon ranking and visibility. A Kindle Countdown Deal allows a temporary price reduction while maintaining the 70% royalty rate, which is otherwise only available above £1.99.
What KDP Select costs
The cost is exclusivity. An ebook enrolled in KDP Select cannot be sold through Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, or any other retailer. It cannot be distributed to library platforms such as OverDrive or Borrowbox. It cannot be offered through the author's own website via a third-party payment processor. For 90 days at a time, the ebook exists only on Amazon.
For a debut author with no existing audience across multiple platforms, the practical cost of this exclusivity may be low: if there are no readers on Kobo or Apple Books yet, not being on those platforms costs nothing in the short term. The risk is longer-term: building a readership exclusively on Amazon creates dependency on a single retailer, and Amazon's terms can and do change. An author who has spent three years building a Kindle Unlimited readership has little leverage if Amazon reduces the page-read pool or alters its algorithm.
A note from Nick
The 90-day exclusivity window feels manageable in isolation: it is a short commitment with a clear exit. What concerns me more is the cumulative effect of renewing it indefinitely. Exclusivity with any single commercial partner is a negotiating position that weakens over time, not strengthens. I have seen this in business often enough to be wary of it. The short-term benefit of Kindle Unlimited income is real. The long-term cost of being entirely dependent on one retailer for your readership is also real, and harder to quantify until it becomes a problem. My instinct is to start wide and retain the option to experiment with KDP Select later, rather than starting exclusive and trying to rebuild a wider audience from inside an Amazon ecosystem.
Wide vs Exclusive
Choosing a distribution strategy
Neither approach is inherently correct. The right answer varies by genre and audience.
The choice between KDP Select exclusivity and wide distribution is the most debated decision in self-publishing, and the right answer varies by genre, by the author's existing audience, and by the author's priorities. Neither approach is inherently correct.
The case for going wide
Wide distribution, publishing the ebook through multiple platforms simultaneously, gives the author the broadest possible reach and the greatest degree of independence from any single retailer. It allows the book to be discovered by readers on Apple Books, Kobo, and library platforms who do not use Amazon. It diversifies income across multiple channels, reducing the impact of any change in Amazon's terms or algorithms. And it keeps all options open: a wide author can always experiment with KDP Select later. An exclusive author who wants to go wide must wait out their current 90-day enrolment period before doing so.
The practical challenge of going wide is managing multiple platforms. Each platform has its own dashboard, its own pricing controls, its own promotional mechanisms, and its own payment schedule. Many wide authors use a distribution aggregator such as Draft2Digital to distribute to multiple platforms from a single upload, accepting a small reduction in royalties in exchange for the administrative simplicity.
The case for KDP Select
For debut authors in genres with strong Kindle Unlimited readership, KDP Select can dramatically accelerate visibility and income in the early months of publication. Kindle Unlimited readers are voracious and genre-loyal: a romance or thriller that enters the Kindle Unlimited ecosystem and generates strong page reads will surface in Amazon's recommendation algorithms in ways that a non-enrolled title will not.
The 90-day enrolment period is a trial, not a permanent commitment. An author who tries KDP Select for one period and finds that the Kindle Unlimited income does not justify the exclusivity cost can choose not to renew and go wide from the next period. Many authors experiment with both approaches across different titles or at different stages of a book's lifecycle.
Print on Demand
Why print on demand is the right choice for most debut authors
No print run, no stock, no unsold inventory.
What print on demand means
Print on demand means books are printed individually as each order is placed, with no upfront print run and no inventory to manage. The per-unit printing cost is higher than offset printing, which prints books in bulk at a lower cost per copy, but the financial risk is incomparably lower: the author never holds stock, never pays for books that do not sell, and never faces the problem of unsold inventory.
Why it suits a debut author
For a debut author with no established audience and no certainty about sales volume, print on demand is the only sensible approach. The per-unit economics are less attractive than offset printing, but the alternative, paying upfront for a print run of 500 or 1,000 copies and hoping to sell them, is a financial risk that is rarely justified at the debut stage.
KDP print on demand
KDP's print-on-demand service produces paperbacks of reasonable quality that are available on Amazon immediately after publication. The paper is bright white as standard, though cream paper is available for fiction, which produces a more book-like appearance. The cover printing is generally good. The binding is glue rather than sewn, which is standard for trade paperbacks at this price point.
KDP print quality is sufficient for most purposes. It is not the quality of a traditionally printed book from a major publisher, but the difference is not visible to most readers. For a debut novel sold primarily through Amazon, KDP print-on-demand is a practical and cost-effective choice.
IngramSpark print on demand
IngramSpark's print quality is generally considered superior to KDP's, particularly for cover reproduction and paper quality. For a book that may be displayed or sold in physical bookshops, where the physical quality of the copy matters more than in an online retail context, IngramSpark print is the better choice. IngramSpark also offers the returnable option, which allows bookshops to order copies on a sale-or-return basis. Without returnability, most bookshops will not order a self-published title for their shelves.
The Alternatives
Other platforms worth knowing about
Aggregators and direct platforms for wide distribution.
Draft2Digital
Draft2Digital is a distribution aggregator rather than a publisher. It takes a single uploaded ebook file and distributes it to Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, OverDrive (libraries), Scribd, and several other platforms. Draft2Digital retains 10% of the list price as its fee and passes the remainder to the author after each platform takes its own cut. For wide authors who want to manage distribution from a single dashboard rather than maintaining individual accounts on multiple platforms, Draft2Digital is the most widely used solution.
Kobo Writing Life
Kobo Writing Life is Kobo's direct publishing platform, offering direct access to Kobo's readership without going through an aggregator. Kobo has a strong readership in Canada, Australia, and parts of Europe, and its promotional tools, including price promotions coordinated with Kobo's own merchandising team, can be effective for authors who build a Kobo audience directly. Authors who publish direct through Kobo Writing Life receive a higher royalty than those who publish via an aggregator.
Apple Books for Authors
Apple Books for Authors is Apple's direct publishing platform. It requires a Mac or iOS device to use and is slightly more cumbersome to set up than KDP or Draft2Digital. Apple's readership is significant, particularly in the US and UK, and Apple Books readers tend to pay higher prices for ebooks than Amazon readers. For authors in genres where premium pricing is viable, a direct Apple Books presence is worth establishing.
Where to go next
For a breakdown of self-publishing production costs across all stages, see The Cost of Self-Publishing: What You Actually Need to Spend (Guide H2, The Self-Publishing Room).
For guidance on book cover design and how to brief a designer for maximum commercial impact, see Book Cover Design: What Works and What to Brief Your Designer (Guide H4, The Self-Publishing Room).
Your Platform Checklist
Six decisions, in order
Everything above, as a sequence you can work through.
1
Start with KDP for Amazon
Ebook and paperback through Amazon's retail network, with no upfront costs and monthly royalties.
2
Add IngramSpark for bookshops and libraries
Particularly if you want a hardback, better print quality, or a returnable option so bookshops will stock the book.
3
Decide between wide and exclusive
KDP Select brings Kindle Unlimited income and promotional tools, but the ebook can be sold only on Amazon, 90 days at a time.
4
If you go wide, choose how to distribute
Direct accounts with each retailer, or an aggregator such as Draft2Digital from a single upload.
5
Use print on demand
No print run and no stock. At the debut stage, it is the sensible approach.
6
Review the choice as the book finds readers
A 90-day enrolment is a trial. Revisit the decision at the end of each period and as your audience grows.
Before You Close This Guide
Choose a strategy, not just a platform
Know the trade-offs before you publish, and keep your options open.
For most self-publishing authors the answer is not one platform but a combination: KDP for Amazon, IngramSpark for bookshops and libraries, and a clear decision about whether the ebook goes wide or exclusive. Work out where your readers are likely to find the book, how much independence from a single retailer matters to you, and whether physical bookshops are part of the plan. Then choose deliberately, and review the choice as the book finds its readers.
What to do next
Where you are: Ready to publish, guide 9 of 16
Do you need bookshops? Decide that first.
1. Do this now
Decide whether your book needs to reach physical bookshops. That one answer shapes most of your platform choices.
2. Read next
H4: Book Cover Design: What Works and What to Brief Your Designer (Open). Next on your path. Each platform has its own cover requirements.
H2: The Cost of Self-Publishing: What You Actually Need to Spend (Open). Compare what each platform costs you to use.
H5: How to Market Your Book Without a Publisher (Ticket). Where you publish shapes how you can market.
3. Not sure?
Manuscript not formatted for print? F3: How to Format Your Manuscript for Submission
Not sure about self-publishing at all? H1: Self-Publishing vs Traditional: A Practical Comparison
Planning the whole production? F1: Managing the Production Pipeline: From Draft to Published Book
← Previous on this path: H2: The Cost of Self-Publishing: What You Actually Need to Spend
Next on this path: H4: Book Cover Design: What Works and What to Brief Your Designer →