Wholesale Discounts on IngramSpark:

What You Need To Know

When it comes to publishing your paperback, there are two publishing platforms that the Aaxel Author Group recommends: Kindle Direct Publishing (for Amazon) and IngramSpark, which makes your book available for purchase through many other book retailers around the world.

Upon setting up your title on IngramSpark, you will be prompted to indicate the wholesale discount that you want to offer for your title in each country where your book will be available:

The wholesale discount you set determines how much a wholesaler will actually pay for your book. They sell your book at list price; the difference between the list price and the discounted price is their compensation, or profit.

For example, if your paperback book is priced at $15 and you set a 55% wholesale discount, the wholesale price of the book will be $6.75:

$15 list price – ($15 X 55% discount) = $6.75 wholesale price

The wholesale price (in this case, $6.75) is the amount that distribution partners will pay for the book. A wholesaler will keep a portion of that discount and pass along the rest to the bookstores ordering the book.

The minimum wholesale discount imposed by IngramSpark for the US market is 40%. At the Aaxel Author Group, we recommend one of two discounts: 40% and 55% (the industry-preferred retailer discount).

Which scenario is right for you?

The 40% Discount Option

The 40% discount option is right for you if you answer “yes” to at least one of the following scenarios:

• • You predict that most, if not all, of your sales will be through online purchases
  • You are not planning to aggressively court bookstores

The 55% Discount Option

Yes, it’s a heavy discount, but if you plan on approaching bookstores on a larger scale (meaning, beyond the bookstores in your neighbourhood with whom you can usually directly negotiate a consignment agreement), they will often not even consider stocking your book unless you offer a generous discount like 55%.

So, the 55% discount option is right for you if you answer “yes” to at least one of the following scenarios:

• • Bookstore placement figures prominently in your marketing strategy.
  • Bookstore placement might not be a large component of your early-stage marketing strategy, but it may become more important down the road.
  • You are planning a multi-city book tour.

The bottom line is, shelf space is so precious in bookstores, if you want to incentivize them to stock your book, you need to give a generous discount.

What Was That about Consignment Agreements?

Every author wants to forge a relationship with at least one of their local bookstores. Typically, in these cases, the author negotiates a consignment agreement with the store. This agreement includes an agreed-upon discount (usually between 40% and 50%). The author will also provide the store with the books—the store does not place the order with Ingram, hence no need to ascribe a 55% discount.

Can I Change My Discount?

Yes, you can. Our standard advice is to have a price-embedded barcode on the back cover. It looks professional, and retailers that do stock your book appreciate that the price has already been embedded. Since your discount needs to make sense, mathematically, relative to your retail price, if you do foresee possibly tinkering with the discount, we recommend that you do not opt for a price-embedded barcode. This way, if you need to change the price, dependent on your wholesale discount, you do not have to redo your cover with the new price-embedded barcode.

If you have other questions about wholesale discounts or any other aspect of publishing, contact us! We’re always here to support authors at all stages of the publishing process. We also recommend downloading our Self-Publishing Success Tracker. Just fill out the information below and click Subscribe.