SELF-PUBLISHING | Amazon, BookBaby, IngramSpark

Sample Comparison of Services, from
Daily Cos. Ingram is more geared to
bookstores (accepts returns).

I am having to compare self-publishing options and this may be of use to other authors going through the same process. It is not easy to sort out what is the best way to go. Each step costs money. Good service has to be paid for. But there are ways to get better value for money. Here's a 2015 post that compares costs for a $14.99 book. 

Amazon/CreateSpace

Amazon is the way to sell ebooks, and it now owns CreateSpace, which is a good way to sell print on demand (POD) books but they have two problems. First, their discounting practices annoy bookstores and going with them makes it hard to get into bookstores. Ingram Spark is better. Second, they have given up a lot of their editorial and design assistance. They have become just a platform for distribution.

BookBaby: Good for eBooks

I had a good experience dealing with BookBaby and getting estimates of costs for putting out a book. The information came quickly and seemed reasonable, and were delivered professionally.

A review of BookBaby from the ebook publishing perspective in 2014 reported that the new management under President Steven Spatz is making positive changes but the reviewer recommends Smashwords and Draft2Digital over BookBaby as primary distributor, mainly because of the charges that BookBaby imposed for changes to the text that is filed.

The Independent Publishing Magazine in 2014 said that BookBaby is competitive on ebooks but not on printing books. I came to that impression myself by comparing quotes. One reason BookBaby can get away with noncompetitive printing charges is that it masks the charges by giving “royalty” estimates.

As of 2017 there were a lot of complaints about BookBaby. However, the overall recommendation by the Independent Authors Association is favorable.

TrustPilot has some more recent reviews and BookBaby is responding to the negative ones. Someone seems to be taking charge. The overall rating is 8.8 out of 10. That’s pretty good.

In sum, BookBaby seems to excel at book design and preparation, and distributing ebooks. On the printing side, the 2014 negative review on noncompetitive pricing seems still to be applicable.

Ingram Spark

Ingram Spark is great for POD books. They are getting more involved in assisting with the details of editing and design, providing guides and a list of certified providers, but they are not as good as BookBaby. They are significantly better than BookBaby and Amazon/CreateSpace as distributors.

All of these assessments are subject to change. I am in this marketplace and am working with these providers.

Hiring Someone to Help

Rather than try to figure out which distributor is best, one approach is to just hire a designer to help you through the process. Then you are stuck with the question where to find a good book designer. Not as easy as it sounds. There are people out there who claim to be book designers who are not qualified. Best to talk to someone who has been through the process and use someone who is recommended. Caveat emptor. Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.

Summary

For someone knowledgable about publishing but nervous about making a mistake (the more you know, the more nervous you should be), the solution is either to use Ingram Spark for their guides and certified providers or to rely on BookBaby. Once the book is ready, BookBaby is an expensive route to go for POD, but is fine for ebooks. For someone new to the game, the best idea is to hire someone who has been through the drill. Goose Tracks has a strategy for releasing a book in steps, and structures his publishing program that he uses the services of all three of the main outlets for print-on-demand publishing.