A beginner's guide to Ingram

 

Andy Bromley provides an overview of how Ingram can help UK publishers

Those who have worked in publishing for any length of time will be aware of the various trading arms of Ingram Content Group, with the best known services being Lightning Source, IngramSpark and Ingram Publisher Services UK. What you might not know is how all these services work to drive one central task: the distribution of published content in any format. This blog explains how this works, and if it could be summarised in five words it would be these: we are not a printer!

Ingram Publisher Services UK

When it comes to understanding Ingram, it’s best to start with distribution, because printing is just one way of supplying content to customers. IPS UK—a global distribution partner of more than 400 trade and academic publishers, providing expert advice tailored to the specific needs of each—is an example of this. A key benefit of partnering with IPS UK is the ability to blend physical stock with our print-on-demand (POD) capabilities, enabling publishers to capture every sale whilst running a very efficient print supply chain. IPS’ services include: 

  • A recently built physical book warehouse (formerly known as NBN International)
  • UK-based customer services and order processing
  • POD and print-to-order services (via Lightning Source at Milton Keynes)
  • Ebook and audiobook distribution 

Distribution solutions with Lightning Source

Publishers have always faced the challenges of correctly predicting demand for their titles, distributing them affordably and deciding at what point they no longer justify further print runs. Ingram’s POD service solves these problems by making titles easily and swiftly accessible to millions of readers worldwide, thanks to our unsurpassed network of retail relationships. 

Virtual inventory and its benefits

Virtual inventory is the digital equivalent of having physical copies of a book in a warehouse. As with the traditional model, your books are ready when someone wants them. Unlike the traditional model, virtual warehouse space is essentially infinite and not restricted to a single specific location. This removes the up-front cost of big print runs, and eliminates the risks involved with having capital tied up in physical stock. It also enables publishers to take advantage of long-tail demand and gain sales across their entire catalogue of titles. Ingram owns POD production facilities in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, allowing publishers to print copies of their titles in these markets whenever, and in whatever quantity, they require.

New for 2021

On 16 November 2021, Ingram will open Lightning Source Sharjah in Sharjah Publishing City. A joint venture with the Sharjah Book Authority in the United Arab Emirates, this is an example of how Ingram are reaching new markets. Combined with Global Connect, it extends publishers’ reach to booksellers via Lightning Source in markets as varied as Brazil, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, South Korea and Spain. In these relationships we contact publishers with in-market printers who have links with local booksellers. We know that speed in these markets is key, so our ‘in-market’ solutions will continue to evolve. 

How Ingram supplies the global book market  

The diagram below illustrates the variety of paths by which publishers’ titles and their metadata can reach retailers around the world. Routes will vary according to retailers’ location and preferences and the currencies in which they trade. When titles are enabled through Lightning Source, Ingram has the potential to make them available to tens of thousands of retailers and libraries globally. Retailers can order books within or close to their local market, either directly from Ingram, through our Global Connect network or via another wholesaler that trades with Ingram.

Ebook and audiobook distribution

A developing part of Ingram’s services is the digital asset management brand CoreSource. This distributes to more than 450 retail and library channels, and provides metadata expertise and standardization, customizable reporting and digital conversion services. Our growing selection of audio retailers, including Apple Books, Audible, Findaway, Google Play, Hoopla, OverDrive, Libro.fm, Kobo and more, enables you to get your audiobooks in front of millions of listeners worldwide.

In summary 

Our mission is to get your books, in any number of formats, into the hands of readers around the world. So, as I began, while we do print books, we are not in the print business. Instead, we use print to further develop what we do best: distribution.

Andy Bromley is marketing manager at Ingram Content Group. To learn more about Ingram Content Group, visit its website or contact Andy directly.