Many self-publishers use both: KDP for sales on Amazon, where it pays more per copy, and IngramSpark for everyone else, meaning bookstores, libraries and online shops that buy through Ingram. The comparison many guides still repeat, IngramSpark's $49 setup fee against free KDP, is out of date. IngramSpark made setup free in 2026 and revisions free on January 1, 2026. Now it takes a fee on each sale.
Below: what each platform costs in 2026, a worked royalty example at one price and page count, the ISBN rule that decides whether you can use both, and what returns cost. Every figure comes from KDP's help pages or IngramSpark's 2026 rate card and user guide, linked where it's used.
KDP vs. IngramSpark at a Glance
| Amazon KDP | IngramSpark | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup and revisions | Free | Free (setup since 2023, revisions since January 1, 2026) |
| Ongoing fee | None | Global Distribution Fee, 1.875% of list price per sale |
| Paperback royalty | 60% of list minus printing ($9.99 and up); 50% at $9.98 or less | List price minus your wholesale discount minus printing |
| Wholesale discount | Not your choice | You choose, 40% to 55% in the US |
| Returns | None | No, Yes-Destroy or Yes-Deliver |
| Where it sells | Amazon; Expanded Distribution reaches US and UK distributors at 40% | Ingram's 40,000+ outlets, Amazon too |
| Hardcover | Case laminate only, no dust jacket, 5 trim sizes | Case laminate, cloth, and jacketed hardcovers |
| Free ISBN | Yes, usable only on KDP | Yes in the US, usable only on IngramSpark; or $85 through IngramSpark |
| Paid | About 60 days after month end | About 90 days after month end |
Sources: KDP paperback royalty, Expanded Distribution, hardcover and pre-order help pages; IngramSpark 2026 rate card, free revisions announcement and FAQ.
What Each Platform Costs in 2026
KDP charges nothing to publish. Amazon takes its share through the royalty rate and the printing cost it subtracts from each sale.
IngramSpark is now free to set up for print, ebook or both, and its 2026 user guide says you can upload "as many revisions as you need at no cost" until you approve the proof. The one fee on every sale is the Global Distribution Fee: 1.875% of the list price, which replaced the 1% market access fee of 2026. On a $16.99 book that's about 32 cents a copy. Smaller charges exist for US authors paid by paper check ($25 per check) and a few optional services.
Printing is subtracted from every copy on both platforms:
- KDP, black ink, 110 to 828 pages, regular trim up to 6.12 inches wide: $1.00 plus $0.012 per page. KDP's own example is a 300-page book at $4.60 (KDP printing cost).
- IngramSpark, black ink on 50 lb paper, trims under 6.15 inches wide: $1.33 plus $0.0146 per page under the 2026 rate card, so the same 300 pages cost $5.71.
IngramSpark prints the same book for about a dollar more, and that gap carries into every channel.
The Royalty Math on One Book
Take a 6×9 black-and-white paperback with 300 pages, priced at $16.99. KDP's formula is (royalty rate × list price) − printing cost. IngramSpark pays list price minus the discount you give retailers minus printing, then takes its 1.875% fee.
| Channel | Calculation | You earn per copy |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon.com (KDP) | 0.60×$16.99−$4.60 | $5.59 |
| Expanded Distribution | 0.40×$16.99−$4.60 | $2.20 |
| IngramSpark, 40% | $16.99×0.60−$5.71−$0.32 | $4.17 |
| IngramSpark, 53% | $16.99×0.47−$5.71−$0.32 | $1.96 |
| IngramSpark, 55% | $16.99×0.45−$5.71−$0.32 | $1.62 |
Expanded Distribution is KDP's channel to bookstores and libraries; the IngramSpark rows apply to any retailer, Amazon included, at the discount you set. Three things follow from the table.
On Amazon, KDP wins. If Amazon sells your IngramSpark edition, you earn the IngramSpark figure: $4.17 at best, against $5.59 through KDP. That's why authors who use both publish the paperback on KDP for Amazon even when IngramSpark could reach Amazon too. An older comparison from the Nonfiction Authors Association reached the opposite conclusion in 2026, when it assumed a 30% minimum discount; IngramSpark's own pages now set the US minimum at 40%.
For bookstores, the discount decides it. At 40%, IngramSpark pays almost twice what Expanded Distribution does. But bookstores rarely stock a book at 40%. IngramSpark's user guide says "53% to 55%, with a 'returnable' status, generally allows for the widest availability." At that level IngramSpark pays $1.62 to $1.96, a little below Expanded Distribution's $2.20.
The bookstore channel pays far less than Amazon either way. Bookstores need a margin, and it comes out of your share. A common approach is to price the book so the Amazon royalty is healthy and treat wholesale sales as reach.
To run these numbers for your own book, the IngramSpark calculator works from the full 2026 rate card for any trim, paper, discount and returns setting, and shows the KDP royalty beside it. The KDP royalty calculator covers KDP in every marketplace. For pricing strategy beyond the math, see how to price a book.
Expanded Distribution or IngramSpark?
KDP's Expanded Distribution is the simpler way to reach stores: you tick a box, pay nothing, and earn 40% of list minus printing. It also gives up most of the choices a bookstore cares about:
- You can't set the wholesale discount, and there's no option to make the book returnable, which many stores require before they stock a title.
- KDP's page lists distributors in the US and UK only, and says a book can take up to eight weeks to become orderable.
- Hardcovers aren't eligible.
- Low-content books are excluded: KDP's list names journals, notebooks, planners, coloring books, puzzle and activity books, and public domain titles, among others.
IngramSpark lets you choose the discount and the returns policy, sells hardcovers with dust jackets, and adds Global Connect printers in countries such as Germany, India, Italy and Japan. If bookstores and libraries are a real target, for local events, a regional title or a book clubs will order, IngramSpark is the one built for it. If they're a nice-to-have, Expanded Distribution is enough.
How to Use Both Without an ISBN Conflict
The rule that makes using both work: you need an ISBN you own, and you must not tick Expanded Distribution on KDP.
- Free ISBNs don't travel. KDP says its free ISBNs "can only be used on KDP" (KDP ISBN help). IngramSpark's free US ISBN is owned by IngramSpark, shows "Indy Pub" as the imprint, and can't be used on other platforms. So buy one in your own name: from Bowker, or for $85 through IngramSpark.
- KDP's store channel collides with IngramSpark. Expanded Distribution makes the book available to Ingram, so the same ISBN arriving from IngramSpark causes a conflict. IngramSpark's FAQ puts it plainly: if you publish the print book with KDP, "be sure not to select their Expanded Distribution program."
- Order matters if you've already published. A KDP-assigned ISBN can't move to IngramSpark at all. If you own the ISBN and Expanded Distribution was on, turn it off first, then set the book up at IngramSpark as a title transfer.
- Each format needs its own ISBN: paperback, hardcover and ebook. The title, author and binding must match on both platforms.
The usual setup: buy your ISBNs, publish the paperback on KDP with Expanded Distribution off, publish the same paperback and any hardcover on IngramSpark with the same ISBN, and pick your discount and returns there. Our ISBN barcode generator makes the barcode for the back cover.
Returns: What a Returned Book Costs You
IngramSpark offers three return settings, per its user guide and its returns guide:
- No. Bookstores can't send books back. Many won't stock it, though online retailers can still list it.
- Yes-Destroy. Unsold copies are destroyed and you're charged the wholesale price.
- Yes-Deliver (US and Canada only). Copies are shipped to you; you pay the wholesale price plus $3.00 a book for US delivery.
Here's the cost on the example book at 55%. The wholesale price is $16.99 × 0.45 = $7.65. A single destroyed return costs $7.65, and that sale had earned you $1.62. One return wipes out the earnings of almost five sales, or six and a half with Yes-Deliver. Returns come out of your payments. If they're bigger than your earnings that month, IngramSpark sends you an invoice for the difference. If you switch from returnable to non-returnable, returns stay open for 180 days.
Returnability makes sense when you're actively pitching stores, for events, signings and local shops, and expect sell-through. If you're not, set returns to No and let online retailers carry the book.
Hardcovers
KDP's hardcover is case laminate only: the cover printed directly on the board, no dust jacket, five trim sizes, 75 to 550 pages, and not eligible for Expanded Distribution. IngramSpark adds cloth and jacketed hardcovers.
Printing a 300-page black-and-white hardcover costs nearly the same on both: $5.65 + 300 × $0.012 = $9.25 at KDP (KDP hardcover printing cost), and $9.27 for IngramSpark's case laminate. A dust jacket raises IngramSpark's cost to $12.17. At a $24.99 list price, the KDP hardcover pays $5.74 a copy on Amazon; the IngramSpark case laminate at 55% pays about $1.51 after the fee. Each hardcover needs its own ISBN and its own cover file. The KDP cover calculator sizes both paperback and hardcover covers.
Ebooks
KDP pays 70% of the list price, minus a small delivery charge, for ebooks priced within its 70% band and sold in its 70% territories, and 35% otherwise (KDP ebook royalty). Enrolling in KDP Select adds Kindle Unlimited page reads but requires the ebook to be exclusive to Amazon.
IngramSpark pays 85% of what it receives after the retailer's cut. That's a different base from KDP's 70% of list. Two restrictions matter: IngramSpark won't distribute to Kindle if the ebook was on Kindle in the past 12 months, and an ebook can't be moved from KDP to IngramSpark. A common setup for authors who go wide with ebooks is KDP for Kindle and IngramSpark or another aggregator for Apple, Kobo and the rest. The ebook file formats guide covers what each store accepts.
Which One Is Right for Your Book?
- KDP alone suits a book whose readers buy on Amazon, low-content books, or the least setup. Its store box adds a little bookstore reach, with no second account to run and no discount or returns to decide.
- KDP plus IngramSpark is the setup for bookstore and library orders on normal terms, or a jacketed hardcover. KDP itself offers no pre-orders for print books. Buy your own ISBNs and leave Expanded Distribution off.
- IngramSpark alone rarely makes sense for a self-publisher, because every copy sold on Amazon would earn less than the KDP edition does.
Questions People Ask
Is IngramSpark better than Amazon KDP?
For selling on Amazon, no: the same 300-page $16.99 paperback earns $5.59 through KDP and at most $4.17 through IngramSpark. For reaching bookstores and libraries, IngramSpark is better, because you control the discount and returns. That's why many authors use both.
Does IngramSpark still charge setup or revision fees?
No. Setup has been free since 2023 and revisions since January 1, 2026. The fee that exists now is the Global Distribution Fee, 1.875% of the list price on each sale.
Can I use the same ISBN on KDP and IngramSpark?
Yes, if you own it. Free ISBNs from either platform work only on that platform. With your own ISBN, publish on both and leave KDP's Expanded Distribution unticked.
Who buys books from IngramSpark?
Retailers and libraries that order through Ingram's catalogue: online stores including Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Walmart.com, independent bookstores, and libraries. IngramSpark lists more than 40,000 outlets.
Is IngramSpark reliable?
It's the self-publishing service of Ingram Content Group, the distributor that supplies those retailers and libraries. Its own user guide notes that colour can vary between print runs and printing sites, so order a proof copy and check it before approving the book.
