#IngramSpark publishing #tips!

Does my blog silence mean that I have been doing nothing, of late? 

Not quite - though it seems almost that way. It depends on what an author might term as successful progress. I'd love to say that I can only measure success in terms of getting new writing done, or in selling shed-loads of my novels, but that would be utopia. I don't inhabit utopia so there have been plenty of distractions during November and into December. But here is the first post on the POSITIVES!!! (more blog posts to follow) 

Success number 1 

After a heartache process of uploading to Ingramspark, I'm eventually delighted to say that all 8 of my novels are now on the Ingramspark distribution catalogues and are available for printing. I was going to write a hugely long blog about the pitfalls I fell into, but it's now almost Christmas and I've now no time to do that. Suffice to say, if I were to give any advice at all as an indie author, it would be bullet-pointed to the following: (still a longish post)

• Ensure that you understand the Ingramspark file interior file creation requirements. They DO mean what they say when they want a perfect interior file PDF. You DO need to ensure that your interior file is set to your desired page size PLUS the bleed they recommend for whichever cover size you choose e.g. for a 5 x 8 inch novel add what they recommend for bleed. Also check that the  PDF has that correct final page size and that you have ALL of your FONTS successfully embedded. Check the file is a single page layout, portrait, and has mirror margins (if a novel like mine).
• Make sure that any interior images used DO fulfill the NO ICC profiles requirement (learn how to do this in 'Colour Management' if you don't understand what that means, like I didn't initially) 
• Check all of your page formatting if you have had to re-jig your interior file (say from a KDP file or original manuscript.) Make sure that the amount of lines to a page is consistent and correct (physically count them if necessary) because I didn't find it easy to check this on the IngramSpark Downloadable PDF proof. Check page numbers are correct, especially if you use e.g. Latin numerals in the Front matter.
• Ensure that whatever process you used to create your interior manuscript (e. g. MS Word doc) doesn't add any sneaky lines in the headers or footers. 
• MOST OF ALL - make sure that you have taken off any 'extended distribution' you may have enabled on Amazon in plenty of time, if you also publish there. Do NOT assume like I did back at the end of June 2019 that when I 'unticked' that extended distribution' box on my KDP published files that the process would automatically happen. Acting on great advice, and knowing I was likely to want my novels on IngramSpark by the end of November, I 'unticked' all extended distribution boxes at the end of June on my KSP dashboard on Amazon. I was advised that the process could take a couple of months so I didn't check back at the end of July or Sept. It was only when I tried to input my own ISBN numbers into my IS book detail pages, in early Nov., they were showing as 'unavailable' to IS. That's when I realised that Amazon had NOT stopped the extended distribution on most of my 8 novels. You do not want to go through the 3 weeks it took for Amazon to sort what should have been a relatively simple process to 'FREE' up the ISBN numbers. And you don't want to have the confusion of Amazon trying to upload your KDP files to IngramSpark because, in my case, I knew they would not fit the IS requirements!!  (I had commissioned new cover files for the IS page sizes and age counts, at my expense.  I had also formatted the brand new interior files myself, which is a very big time suck!) 
• Give yourself plenty of time to input the book detail pages because they do take a while, especially inputting the most appropriate BISAC codes and Thema Subjects (for library and catalogue listings) 

With hindsight:

Many of my initial problems stemmed from using an ancient MS Word 2003 package to create my manuscript files, which I later tried to convert to Word 2007 before creating PDFs- but that didn't work! I now have an upgrade to MS Office 2019 and hope that will keep me up-to-date for a good few years. I also couldn't make a PDF properly with my old laptop software, so I now have a monthly subscription to Adobe Acrobat Pro DC for PDF making (and hopefully over Christmas I'll learn how to use it for more applications). I consider these two big expenses as investment, along with what I paid for new cover files to be created. 

Therefore, getting my novels up on Ingramspark hasn't been cheap but as a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) the actual publishing process was FREE to me. It would have cost me $49 for each interior and exterior file upload ( X 8 novels for me) and it would have cost $25 for every revised file change (and there were quite a few). I am so very glad to be a member of ALLi and will continue my membership, even if Ingramspark no longer do the deal they currently have in place with ALLi members. ALLi is fabulous for other help and advice and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

I'd like to particularly thank Laurence Patterson (Darkstroke/ Crooked Cat Books) for creating the revised cover designs for my IS publishing. Huge thanks also go to my Ocelot Press colleagues for their unfailing support - you are all stars!

Lastly- although I had problems with Amazon I have to commend them on responding quickly to my emails and to many of the operatives for trying to solve the problems. They were very polite and apologetic during the transfer processes. Similarly the IngramSpark support staff were very patient and polite and eventually helped get the job done ( Maybe I should go and check regularly?) 

Phew- I look forward now to persuading some local bookstores and libraries to stock my novels via the acquisition/ distribution services they use. That is the main reason for me publishing with Ingramspark. 

Definitely time for me to celebrate! 

Slàinte!
(p.s. I can now do the accent and properly spell my 'Cheers' in Scots Gàidhlig since I'm officially learning with Duolingo! Must now go and do my lesson for today.)