Which self-publishing company is best for me? That is a question all self-publishers ask themselves at some point in the self-publishing process. We focus on self-publishing Christian children’s picture books. This is our honest review of working with IngramSpark. We share the good and the bad. Check out our webpage for more helpful self-publishing tips!
** I have recently looked at the IngramSpark webpage, and they have improved their information for creating children’s picture books. It’s more clear than before, and a little bit easier to understand. They still have room for improvement, and I still recommend them for the reasons stated below. Update November 2021.**
IngramSpark was not the easiest company to work with; at least in regards to children’s picture books when I printed my first book with them in 2019. I found out after everything was said and done that IngramSpark was one of the hardest companies to work with for self-publishing books at least at that time. (I guess I took on the giant before taking on the bear or the lion. lol (1 Samuel 17:34-36)) Their information wasn’t very clear for children’s picture books, and when I would talk with them on the phone, I had to know the correct specific questions to ask them, or they either could not answer me, or would not answer me. I even asked if someone could tell me step by step how to set up my book for printing. I would continually get the response, “Everything is laid out on the website.” At the time everything was NOT laid out on the website for full picture books. All the information I found was for all text/ written books with maybe a few pictures in them. Trust me. I scoured their pages at every nook and cranny I could find. I had to ask specific questions, and just kind of hit and miss on my own before I got the full picture of what I needed to do.
Do I recommend them? I actually do. The quality of books I have gotten from them have been very good. From other reviews I learned to keep my orders of books 50 and below. Any higher and you run the risk of poor quality of books. After learning all the steps I needed to do for the first book. I can see it’s not too complicated to go through the process again. There are a lot of steps to keep in mind, but after a once over, I have a general idea of what is to be expected. The first time is the hardest.
Would I have all my books printed with them? Not likely. Would I stay with them for long term? No. The one main reason, I can’t have books printed on demand, and mailed straight to my customers from my webpage. I have to manually put in each person’s address, and they would have to pay me before I could get the book mailed to them. Or I have to order a bunch of books to keep on hand to mail them to the customers who order them. This would be a double shipping cost. It’s awkward and not practical for expanding in personal sales; it’s not an ideal way to sell or promote a book long term. However, to start off with. I do recommend them.
-The George Family Library Publishing Company
