When publishing your book, there are a lot of platforms to choose from but the question is which platform is the best? In this article, I will be comparing Ingramspark, Lulu, and KDP Print so that you will have an idea of how each platform work.
Today's article has three points and you're going to want to stick around for the third point. Because it's a secret as to exactly the one platform you should be using. The best one of the ones we're going to discuss today.
Let's get into it. Today we're going to discuss comparing Ingramspark, Lulu, and KDP Print. I know what all of you are thinking, there are so many choices out there to choose from when we're getting started with our books.
We can choose which platform is going to work best for us. But how do you know until you've started trying the different platforms? You've heard some people say you should not use Amazon because of some of the practices that Amazon has done.
Maybe with employees or things like that. Or maybe you've heard other people say, you should use Amazon because of the size of the market that they control. The number of customers that are going through Amazon daily.
Amazon is going to be the right choice but what about if you wanted to do multiple platforms, isn't that overkill? Well, these are a couple of the things and the frustration of being involved with self-publishing that sometimes can be a little bit tricky.
And we're going to discuss that in today's article. You can grab a copy of my absolutely free Self-Publishing Checklist. To make sure you're not on the wrong track when it comes to self-publishing.
Many of the secrets in there are going to help you avoid the frustration that I had when I was first getting started. So the thing is that several years back, I think it was even like 15 years ago. It was our very first trip to Italy and when we were in Italy we were specifically in Rome.
On the last trip, we were traveling around different areas of Italy but Rome is such an amazing city. Spending the time in just Rome alone is plenty enough. Because you can do all the things there.
But there's a little bit of a problem which is the temperatures there can get 30 degrees celsius or even higher. It was boiling, I think it even went up to 35 degrees Celcius not as hot as Turkey at 45 degrees Celcius which we experienced one time.
But it was around 35 degrees and there are no clouds in the sky, just the sun. We were visiting the coliseum where it is just a pure raw oven there. And the temperatures just kept going higher and higher.
Because what happens is that the ground takes in that heat. It radiates it back at you so you got the sun from above and the stones from below. It just completely boils you and with the family, people were starting to get very thirsty and hot.
So what exactly would be the solution? well, the best solution, when you're in Italy, is to get the ice cream because it's fantastic. But the question is which one?
When we showed up, we saw that there were thousands of choices. That's one of the advantages but maybe a disadvantage. Just too many things to choose from and that was something we were having a little bit of difficulty with.
How would we know which one is the best? We ask the people behind the counter and many of them their English is not particularly all that great. But they were able to say well maybe this one or maybe that one certain tourist-like.
But often it would just depend upon your tastes. But there's a need to sort of be able to figure it out because once you've bought the ice cream. We generally are going to buy another ice cream at the same shop at the same time.
KDP Print Is Free
So that decision has already been made. And we have had regrets in the past but the answer is just doing experiments. So for me, one of the things I would do is when I was in Italy or Greece.
Some of the other cities countries we've been in over the years. We would try the different ice creams, we're trying to figure out which ones we like best. I would always say what ice cream have I never tried before and give it a try.
After a while, I had a very good idea which ice creams I was going to buy like given the available thousands, I would read through the list. But then I would make the choice but sometimes that decision can be very difficult to decide.
It is no different when it comes to self-publishing. So comparing Ingramspark, Lulu, and KDP Print. The first thing is KDP Print is the only free one, you don't have to pay for your ISBNs and you also don't have to pay for the review of your book or a print copy.
Those are the three big costs that other platforms are going to charge you for it. The other thing is they're a lot less picky than many of the other platforms like Ingram Spark, for example, they put restrictions on which books can get through.
Check out this related article: Why Some Readers Don't Care About Price
For example, your no content or low content books are simply not going to be able to get through the wall that they've created for them. So Amazon KDP Print even though it's funny because KDP is Kindle Direct Publishing. But KDP Print is their paperback version after they moved away from Createspace.
Several years back, that's the one that they aren't going to charge anything. They're not that picky at this moment regarding some of the books that are being put on the market. The other thing is Lulu, on the other hand, charges you for a review copy of your book.
But they cover the ISBN costs, they use their ISBN whereas Ingramspark, they don't require you to get a review copy of your book. But they do charge you to review your book so they will look at your book and charge you about $25 for that. And in addition, you're going to need an ISBN for your book.
That can also BE a bit pricey for you depending upon what your needs are. If you want to do both the eBook and the other, they're going to charge you for each of those. But I believe you can do $50 for both to cut the coverage of the review process.
Then if you don't come with your ISBN, you're going to have to pay for it. Unless as I mentioned before if you're in Canada, Norway, or maybe another country where you can get free ISBNs. There may be a rolling out there also with Ingram Spark lately to allow people within the United States to get free ISBNs if they meet certain conditions.
I'm not in the United States, I'm in Norway where we get them free from the library, 100 ISBNs at a time which is an amazing deal. But I'm sorry you have to be living in Norway to take advantage of this deal. The third and the secret answer of the day is that all three of these should be used.
This is the way to maximize profit and I'll explain why KDP Print and Ingram Spark both have different distribution channels. They have some overlap but in general, there are some different distribution channels.
People like to buy from certain channels compared to other channels. You're going to want to consider doing both of those. I make more money from Ingram Spark per book than I do with KDP Print so I recommend going to Ingram Spark.
Hardcover Books In Lulu
The other thing to remember is that Lulu they do hardcover books. Now KDP Print, they're starting to get into hardcover books on their beta versions. But at this point, most authors are simply not doing a hardcover version of their book.
So you will win if you have it on there, it establishes credibility. Why would you create a book that was garbage and then put a hardcover version of it on there? Also because it costs money to put in the hardcover version and certain readers only like the hardcover version.
Lulu is the absolute cheapest, fastest and best way to do it. They will supply the ISBN, they will do it. The downside of Lulu is that they do charge for a proof copy for which you're going to have mail to you.
I usually mail them to libraries and such since I know my books are going to be already just fine. But I still have to do the proof copy. In addition, once you've got it out through Lulu, then it's for sale forever.
You don't have to go back and review it, it just keeps on pumping out and bringing in money every month for your books. It is fantastic because while you're sleeping, your books are selling. Then they have the hardcover book version that certain readers love to read, they can't get enough of them.
Your book has it your competitors don't. It makes it a very easy choice. There's a barrier to doing that sale because it takes time and money to get the book through and their covers that's what I was going to say on the Lulu front.
Their covers are really hard to get properly done. But once you're familiar with Photoshop, you'll have it under control in no time. So that's also a skill set. I definitely would recommend learning which is learning how to do the covers, the paperback covers for KDP Print, Ingram Spark, and Lulu.
Learning to do them yourself from the templates that they supply at the different sites. You cannot reuse the same cover for the different sites. That is something also you're going to want to consider when making your choice.
As you can see, there's an awful lot of choices just like the ice cream choices. The key is to experiment and see what's working for you. But even better use other people's experiments where they can tell you which ice cream is the best.
Or in this case, which platform is the best. I say all three but in selfpublishingmadeeasynow.com, we push the easy route which is to start with KDP Print as your first one. Then move from there, after we start to see those sales coming in.
So, comparing Ingramspark, Lulu, and KDP Print? Which platforms are you publishing your books on? I want to know because it will help me better understand.
Maybe you're trying something I'm not even trying. Let me know below in the comments. Check up out my other articles and videos for more answers to your self-publishing questions.