KDP HARDCOVER BOOK REVIEW! Is Kindle Direct Publishing Better Than IngramSpark?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
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KDP HARDCOVER BOOK REVIEW! Is Kindle Direct Publishing Better Than IngramSpark? // I cannot tell you all how excited I was when Kindle Direct Publishing released their hardcover option for indie authors! This is a huge game changer for self-published author who may not want to avoid working with IngramSpark. But is KDP any better than IngramSpark? In this video we’re going to find out! I’ll be covering everything, from the options you have for your hardcover book, to uploading and creating your hardcover wrap file! We’ll be comparing the quality of the hardcover, as well as the price and turnaround time!
Want to learn more about IngramSpark? Check out my other videos where I go into more detail as to why I recommend new authors avoid IngramSpark: • Should You Publish Wit...
KDP’s hardcover template generator: kdp.amazon.com/en_US/cover-ca...
IN THIS VIDEO:
0:00 - Intro
2:29 - Kindle Direct Publishing Hardcover Options
7:04 - KDP Tutorial & Uploading Process
8:57 - Hardcover Wrap Template & Design
14:29 - Uploading Hardcover Files to KDP
15:59 - KDP Hardcover Quality Review
19:34 - KDP vs. IngramSpark (Hardcover Review)
25:31 - What Does This Mean for Self-Published Authors?
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Mandi Lynn published her first novel when she was seventeen. The author of multiple books, Mandi spends her days continuing to write and creating TH-cam videos to help other writers achieve their dreams of seeing their books published. Mandi is the owner of Stone Ridge Books, a company that works to help authors bring their books to life through cover design and digital book marketing. She is also the creator of The Book Launch Planner, a planner designed to help authors publish and market their books. When she’s not creating, you can find Mandi exploring her backyard or getting lost in the woods.
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links. By purchasing a linked product or service, Mandi Lynn will receive a small commission at no additional fee to you.
• KDP HARDCOVER BOOK REV...
Self-publishing a book this year? Learn how to format your book yourself with my online course: bit.ly/formattingcourse
If I sign up for this class will I be able to watch it more than once, I'm 72 and a slow learner...LOL
I just scrolled down the class description and got my answer...!!! LOL
I find dust jackets annoying and hard to manage. I’m actually excited to someday use the laminate only hardcover😃 Thanks for this tutorial Mandi!! Very helpful!!
Same
yes I agree I remember as a kid reading books I always Went for the hard cover books and one day I decide to get a book with a dust jacket and it was annoying Trying to read a book with a dust jacket Trying to come off every time I try to read the book so I would decide to just take the dust jacket off anyway and without the dust jacket on the book it just looks plain and so I rather just stick to the hard cover books with the cover art printed directly on them
Wooooo! SO happy KDP finally added hardcovers! (Now, I just desperately need them to add preorder options haha!)
I would cry if they did pre-orders, I'd be so happy!
What are pre-orders in regards to a print on demand company? I am new to this so how would that even work?
Again, you have given viewers so much help! Thank you!
This is such an EXCELLENT review. Thanks for being so thorough. Nice for newbies.
Long and intense but welcomed information. Great Job!
Thank you for this video Mandi! Super helpful and great!
So glad!
Thanks Mandi. I'm a ghostwriter, and I haven't been offering my clients hardbound books. You've given me a lot of useful information.
Excellent analysis of the new hardcover process on Amazon/KDP! This is very helpful! I'm excited that they've added this option. Some children's books don't have jackets, and those jackets could get destroyed anyway, so this does seem like a good option for children's books. I do like the idea of the cloth cover on a hardback with the gold print and the jacket, but maybe something like that will be available in the future, but, for now, you're getting a really good deal.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the hardcover. I always love these types of videos to see what else other people are doing.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Yay! KDP are adapting. I quite like some hard covers without dust jackets. I have a few and they work well. Your hard cover looks so nice 😊
Let's hope they listen sort pre-orders!
Thanks for the thorough review!
My pleasure! Hope it helps!
This is so good, Mandi. Thank you. I created my first hardcover book while watching. 🙌🏾
Awesome! Hope you love your hardcover!
@@MandiLynnWrites I'm waiting on its arrival. 🙏🏾
I think KDP will probably add dust jackets in the future if there's enough demand. I can see why they would leave it off while testing a new product, but they want happy customers to keep making money and dust jackets are pretty much expected with hardcovers. Thanks for doing this video, Mandi! Really helpful walkthrough/review!
That's what I'm hoping! It makes more sense to test it out this way too! I figure it can only get better from here.
I think dust jackets are beautiful but I usually take them off because they drive me nuts when I read. I actually think I like the case laminate better and was REALLY hoping you released this hardcover version of MMATS! Btw, I just got my book and book box and am taking them on our camping trip in a couple weeks! I can't wait!!
OMG yes, take it camping! It will be the perfect reading experiance!
@@MandiLynnWrites I was actually thinking about including the book and some of the book box surprises in my camping video. Would you mind? I won’t share all the surprises, of course, just my favorites!
@@CultivatingHome I would love that! Go for it!
Wow - what a wealth of knowledge!!
Thank you!
The video was really cool. Thank you.
Glad you liked it!
Just uploaded my first hardcover on KDP tonight. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for this video.
How fun! Hope you love your hardcover!
Mandi! Thank you for this video! Could a ask for your opinion on one object?
Very informative video. Thank you. I'm about to start on my first hardcover Print-On-Demand book and this was quite helpful. As a professional author and speaker, you really should remove the phrase "like I said" from your vocabulary. The proper phrase is "as I said." Thanks for making this change.
Great video! Definitely wish kdp would offer dust jackets. Ps if you're really into the headband, the ingramspark case laminate hardcovers would have it too. I believe it's part of the case lamination binding to account for printing directly on the casewrap😊
Oh! I didn't know that! I'll need to play around with that then!
@@MandiLynnWrites For sure! The ones I got done with them all had it and you get a dust jacket this way :) But they did raise their print pricing recently which is not fun.
thanks, very imformative!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I'm definitely going to publish my case laminate with kdp, I'll also publish a dust jacket format through Lulu, they are very expensive tho to distribute to Amazon. But you don't have an upload fee and I just want the dust jacket option for my novel. Makes it look authentic :)
Love thks video! So exciting they have hardcovers now! What did you mean though when you said you 'make' your ISBNs at My Identifiers?
I purchased them through myidentifiers.com and when I publish a new book, I have to register the ISBN to that book
The reason they have right to left books is for different languages. Arabic, Hebrew, Kurdish, Urdu are written and read right to left.
Thanks for the review of the KDP hardcover! I'm excited but nervous, too. For the larger book size offered, it could also be to accommodate Large Print formatting for the visually impaired. I'm not into the dust jackets, really. I always take them off while reading and, frankly, they annoy me when on the shelf too. However, hardcovers should seem "fancier" in my opinion - LOL - so the dust jacket meets that standard. I don't know. Guess I'm 50-50 on them. Good to know that the template for cover design is a little tricky to find. The cover coloring does seem a bit less vivid, you're right. Oof, the damaged spine is really noticeable! The little cloth bit on the binding is a nice touch & a bit more professional looking. I really appreciate the in depth review/comparison between the services & product. As far as IngramSpark's customer service, you are so right! They are terrible to work with. But having the pre-order option is why I've used IngramSpark in the past for print books. I hope KDP catches up to allowing pre-orders for print books soon, but I'm not holding my breath.
Yeah I don't think KDP will do print pre-orders anytime soon, but I have hope that eventually they might!
Personally, I don't like dust jackets. I find that they get in the way.
Thanks for all the helpful advice. But I am wondering how the spine of the book is to be created in an attractive way.
My KDP hardcover review copy also arrived damaged in several places with the outside packaging intact. Hopefully they improve in the future, but I can’t trust this product at the moment. There were other issues as well. I’m looking at other options. Good luck!
definitely prefer having a dust jacket, and to be honest I don't always take it off when reading. Depends on the dust jacket--i.e. how loose and floppy it is. Some dust jackets are unwieldy so I take them off when reading. Some fit snugly and don't slide around, so I don't bother to take them off.
Hi Mandi, Thank you for this review! By the way would you recommend an editor?
My favorite editors have been the ones I've found on Upwork
@@MandiLynnWrites Great! Thank you!
Thank you!
Mine is on It’s way!! 😍 My book has always been in hardcover through Barnes and Noble. But I’m So glad I can offer this from KDP!
BTW, I too despise Ingram Spark. They are so frustrating! 🙄
Oh fun! Let me know what you think of your KDP hardcover!
Update: It was delivered today (btw all my hardcovers are case laminate) and I will agree about the difference in color that you mentioned in your video. The KDP version is slightly faded or washed out in comparison to the BN Press and Ingram Hardcover versions of my book.
Also, the pages didn’t quite lay flat with KDP. It’s not terrible but a good start I guess. That said, Ingram and Barnes & Noble are better quality.
Yeah I like the dust jacket and then the details on the cover too. They probably don’t add it because it’s more money so they figure just put the cover on the actual hard over book and be done with it. But I agree with you.
Sensational review! As a cookbook author, my KDP wishlists is for spiral bound books. I wish I knew how people sell spiral bound books.
I think Lulu offers spiral bound books? Not sure, but it might be worth looking into!
You probably already have this info since you posted 10 months ago, but yes, Lulu does print spiral-bound books.
@@SweetieBJB Thank you!
At around 25 mins you speak on how IngramSpark requires so much money to get a proof copy, that is an automatic no go for your casual creator like myself. I maybe made (between proof and author copies) about 5 copies of my first book as I corrected things and it was super affordable with KDP.
love case laminated, hate dust jackets
KDP now has hardcover books! But there's no dust jacket...so I'm curious, do you like the hardcover books without a dust jacket?
I do like one without the dust jacket because it gets torn too easily. But if I can print the dust jacket separately, that’d be cool.
I personally enjoy books without dust jacket more, because for some reason I hate reading books with dust jacket (including when I take it off). But paperbacks will always be my favourites anyway😂 (I buy hardcovers mostly for the looks)
I ussually get rid of dust jackets. Love the thought of the design on the actual book
Dust jackets are preferable. However, I wouldn't ever really buy a hardcover unless it was a special edition or one of my absolute fav books
I like either one of them, but lean more to dust jackets.
thank you very much for sharing your experineces! one question: I love the matte finsih but i saw someone unboxing a mostly black kdp copy and the colour was not... stable (there were fingerprints on or in it). Have you encountered such a problem? so do you know if the matte finish is as durable as the glossy?
Dustjsackets... when I was a kid, just those really old and boring books had some. Where I live, they are not as common and man I hated them because the cover beneath was most of the time just ugly or plain white so you couldn't see what book it even was. But when i started buying american/uk hardcovers that happend to have dustjackets, I was blown away 'cause even beneath, thes were pretty with gold an silver and so many details :o
I find it sad that it's hard for indi authors to make their books that fancy (without selling their soul or a kidney)
I'm still searching for an option to make a collector's box
I don't have any issues with the matte having the fingerprint issue :)
Hey! I am a young writer and have some questions for you concerning software, sizes, etc. Is there any way I can contact you?
Thank you for the review, BTW. I am thinking on publishing my future novel as hard cover.
Hi, I think the page turn direction has to do with the language! Arabic for instance will chose the oppsite of english!
I'm ambivalent about lack of dust jacket. The 550 page limitation is a big contrast to Ingram's 1200 page limit, though. As I occasional publish academic-type books, that's a potential issue.
I do enjoy books without dust jackets (just another item I can lose... damage)! (^_^) But also, I really enjoy your videos/reviews/tutorials - thank you.
Oh, the hardcover looks nice.
Hard cover yes. Dust jacket yes. Case laminate no.
Hard back books with case laminate covers are school books. Just seems weird for a novel to have the same.
Incidentally I use my dust jackets at bookmarks and never remove them unless I'm taking the book somewhere in my bag. Anyway, KDP takes a good step forward.
So true, I didn't even make the connection it makes it look like a textbook almost.
Well that sucks. I have two in review and now I'm questioning weather I put left to right or right to left. I can't review it myself or cancel and start over just to make sure. If I screwed up both covers will be upside down.
I've not published anything yet, currently working on some things, does the paperback author copy also have that 'not for resale' thing on the front? I was planning on running some ads and using the author copy in the ad, but won't be able to if that strip is on the cover. Thanks for the video, I have subscribed.
The paperbacks and hardcovers will have the "not for resale" across the front until you publish the book.
@@MandiLynnWrites Ok, thanks for replying
Interesting video. Thank you. KDP quality is always a disappointment. They way they pack almost always results in a damaged corner, tear. Etc. The KDP experience disappoints more often than not.
I prefer the book to have a cloth cover. Is that an option with any of the printers?
Not at this time, but IngramSpark has a digital cloth cover, which is just printed to look like cloth.
Why would anyone use Ingram? Is it because one could have a bookstore purchase the book from Ingram to sell them in their stores?
Also, if I decided to self-publish thru Ingram, would I be able to order books for me to sell them on my own?
I can do that with KDP
Thanks for your answers
Btw, I forgot to ask. Is the matte finish a finger print magnet? Because the paperback matte covers are!
I don't have any issues with fingerprints
suppose someone bought my books does that grey tiny label not to resale still gonna bother them or that label is only for author's copy?
that label is only for author copies BEFORE you publish. After you publish the book won't have that.
@@MandiLynnWrites thank you so much for the help
If you publish the hardcover on IngramSpark and the paperback/ebook on KDP, will the 3 formats link together on Amazon?
They should link up., If they don't, you'll need to contact Amazon author central
Can you clarify if I round down to 300 pages with a book of 304 pages wont a few pages be missing? I'm confused by this
KDP made an update since I posted this video. They no longer round numbers, so just put in the exact page count for your book.
How do you design your cover? What program?
Photoshop, Illustrator, and Procreate depending on the cover style.
So with KDP do all of the hardcovers automatically have the not for resale label? Because that’s so ugly
1. Why is KDP offering Hardcovers something I did not know about?
2. Why would they go for not offering dust jackets? I can only hope this is a feature they will offer sooner rather than later.
Definitely prefer dustjackets.
Is it possible to publish magazines in KDP ?
Not that I know of, at least not in the traditional magazine format. Lulu does magazines though.
Now I'm glad that I chose to go with KDP instead of Ingram spark. I think charging indei authors a fee just to upload their book cover and manuscript is completely rediculous. It kind of sounds to me like Ingram Spark is ripping authors off. But of course that's pretty much just my personal opinion. I was going to try Ingram spark out, but after watching this video, I'm not even going to bother. I'll just stick with KDP.
I'm making a photobook 11/8.5 and it doesn't look like KDP has that great....most of my photos are horizontal
I have a photo essay book that I've made and had printed through Ingram, because of their distribution network but ALSO because they offered an 11Lx8.5W landscape hardback. I went ahead and made a smaller softcover version of my book for KDP which was 9Lx6W. I received the books at the same time and the print quality noticeably different between the two. Ingram's colors were dull and muted while KDP was vibrant and true to the source.
Almost immediately after spending Ingram's exorbitant prices for the rushed delivery and file uploads, I receive and email from them saying that they plan to remove upload fees on May 1st, allow revisions (up to 60 days of original upload), and on July 1st they'll be offering ultra super wonderful color printing (or some such offal that wasn't available to me the time I had my copy printed).
Although my KDP version is ready to go, I'm desperately wanting my hardcover and softcover versions to come out at the same time. I've looked to see if KDP has any plans on expanding the scale of their hardcover beta but haven't been able to find any information on that. In the meantime, I've uploaded to Barnes and Noble press to get a proof from them but am also looking at other options.
My question is, have you heard anything about KDP expanding their hardcover options to include things like kids books or picture books?
As someone who works in shipping 100% reboxing things at the shipping warehouse (ups, dhl, fed ex) is a thing. If the box is beyond damaged theres no way to continue shipping it. Not trying to stand up for ingram just putting that out there
I think you were maybe referring to the KDP hardcover that was damaged? They're the ones where one of my followers got a book that was damaged, but the box was perfect. But you're saying they'll sometimes give it a new box? Lol just curious, I had no clue this was a thing.
You might want to revise the thumbnail for this video, if possible. I thought this one would be solely about what your title says, so I was surprised about the amount of time you spent talking about IngramSpark. Cheers!
I reviewed the KDP hardcover quality by comparing it to a top competitor, IngramSpark
Not the point but can I just say how nice it is to see someone whose desk isn't perfectly clean. My desk is NEVER organized or pretty especially before I start filming
I had damage to a book before from ingram as well
The worst part is, this is the "clean" version of my desk. When I'm not filming and I'm too busy to clean it off, you can't even see the surface oft he desk lol
Rumor has it we're getting the dust jackets.
Oh! That would be amazing!!!
I understand that it is customary for hardback fiction to have dust jackets, but I hate them. I never throw them away, but it annoys me that I have to store them, and sometimes the design underneath is different, uglier or worst of all - plain cloth!!! Grrr. I like hardcovers, but I prefer them just case laminate as most picture books are done.
I prefer no dust jacket. I keep my home library naked 🤭 And I only buy hardcover books with very few exceptions.
Do not know why they call it turn direction, it should be reading direction.
Having one of your own books published without a dust jacket amongst all the others that have dust jackets is kind of like inviting that certain family member to a wedding who always dresses inappropriately. 😂
I hate, hate, *hate* dust jackets. Naked hardbacks all the way!
Haha really? I had no clue people hated dust jackets so much, but I'm hearing about it so much now!
Yeah I’ve heard a lot of bad things with Ingramspark from other authortubers or writers. Yet they come with jackets. Haha
I don’t know if this is an unpopular opinion but I cannot stand books with a dust jacket
you are very beautiful
It sounds like KDP wins lol 😂
If KDP ever gets a dust jacket or pre-order option for print books, IngramSpark is screwed