Distribution: Ingram The Power House

When it comes to getting books into physical stores, libraries, and non-Amazon online retailers, Ingram has a much broader, more widely accepted distribution channel than Amazon.

Here is exactly how the two compare and why your author’s book is showing up in all those different places:

1. Ingram is the Global Standard for “Wide” Distribution

Ingram is the largest wholesale book distributor in the world. Their network feeds catalog data to over 40,000 retailers, libraries, schools, and university bookstores globally.

• When a book is published through IngramSpark, its metadata is automatically blasted out to the online storefronts of Walmart, Target, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and thousands of independent bookstores.
• This is why the book automatically populates on those websites—the retailers are simply pulling the feed directly from Ingram’s master catalog.

2. Amazon KDP Rules the Amazon Ecosystem

Amazon KDP is completely unbeatable for selling books on Amazon. However, outside of the Amazon ecosystem, its direct reach is limited.

• Amazon does offer an “Expanded Distribution” option for paperbacks, which aims to push the book to retailers outside Amazon.
• The catch: Amazon’s Expanded Distribution actually just uses Ingram behind the scenes to reach those other stores. Furthermore, because the book is listed with Amazon as the distributor, many independent bookstores and competing retailers (like Barnes & Noble) will refuse to order it on principle.

3. The Bookstore Factor (Returns and Discounts)

The biggest difference in distribution power comes down to how physical brick-and-mortar stores and libraries operate. They expect two things: a standard trade wholesale discount (usually 40% to 55%) and the ability to return unsold books.

• IngramSpark allows you to set standard wholesale discounts and mark books as returnable. Because of this, traditional bookstores and libraries are willing to order books distributed through Ingram.
• Amazon KDP does not allow books to be returnable, which makes physical bookstores highly reluctant to stock them on their shelves.

The Hybrid Approach

Because of these differing strengths, the most common industry best practice for authors who want maximum reach is to use both platforms simultaneously:

• Use Amazon KDP to publish and fulfill all orders placed directly on Amazon.com.
• Use IngramSpark (with the exact same ISBN) to distribute the paperback to bookstores, libraries, and every other retailer worldwide.

So, whether the book was published directly through IngramSpark or through Amazon’s Expanded Distribution (which utilizes Ingram’s network), the author is seeing the exact result of that distribution channel doing its job—pushing the book out to the widest possible network of global retailers.