Kobo join the print-on-demand game — but should you play?

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Many Kobo Writing Life authors recently received an invitation to take part in a beta print-on-demand program at Kobo. Not all Kobo authors received this invitation, myself included, because the program is a subcontract to the POD manufacturer Lightning Source International (LSI): if you already have print books distributed by Ingram, the print distributor and parent company of LSI/Ingram Spark, and if your print books’ ISBNs are in Kobo’s system, then there is no point in them contacting you. For this new POD service, Kobo is charging authors USD $25.00 Read More …

LSI ending their distribution relationship with Amazon

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The POD manufacturer Lightning Source International (LSI), owned by Ingram Content Group, announced on Friday (yes, a typical release-bad-news-on-Friday-and-hope-nobody-pays-attention move) that LSI will no longer be distributing directly to Amazon, B&N, Baker & Taylor, Espresso Book Machine, and NACSCORP, and to other wholesale distributors in the U.S. Instead, all titles will now be distributed only via Ingram Book Group, who in turn will resell to all retailers and other wholesale distributors. What this means is that Ingram, who previously did not earn a fee on LSI sales to the aforementioned Read More …

Is Canada the next battleground between Amazon and Lightning Source?

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In The Global Indie Author I write at length about the predatory practices Amazon/CreateSpace have exercised in the area of print on demand. Watching what’s going on with the Amazon Canada catalogue, I am of the opinion that CreateSpace are positioning themselves to supply the Canadian market directly. Why do I believe this? To answer that we need to look at bit at the history between CreateSpace and its main rival, Lightning Source International, a subsidiary of the giant U.S. wholesale distributor Ingram. Amazon had long been selling titles for Read More …

Kindle expand into Canada – is CreateSpace next?

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Previously, Kindle customers in Canada were serviced by the U.S. site but now Amazon have opened a dedicated Kindle store on the Amazon.ca site. Indie authors whose books are available worldwide will automatically see their ebooks listed on the Canadian site at a price converted from your U.S. dollar price; if you want to set a separate Canadian dollar price, you need to visit your dashboard and update your book’s info. Those authors with a Canadian bank account can now elect to be paid for Canadian sales in Canadian dollars, Read More …

Using Word’s Save as PDF option for CreateSpace and Lightning Source

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In The Global Indie Author I counsel against using Word’s Save as PDF option for creating PDFs for submission to CreateSpace or Lightning Source International because the files do not meet the specifications outlined by the manufacturers; instead, you must use Adobe Acrobat Pro. Yet some indie authors are reporting using Word to create PDFs and their files have been accepted. So what is the definitive position of these companies’ submission requirements? Users of Word 2007 or higher have the option to save as PDF; however, the utility only allows Read More …