How IngramSpark print compensation works
When a bookstore, library supplier or online retailer orders your book through Ingram, it pays a wholesale price: your list price minus the wholesale discount you set. IngramSpark prints the copy on demand, takes the print cost and a market access fee out of that wholesale price, and pays you what is left.
Start with the list price
The cover price you set for the market, here the United States in US dollars.
Take off the wholesale discount
List price × discount = the retailer's margin. List price − that margin = the wholesale price.
Take off the print cost
The cost to print that one copy, from IngramSpark's print and ship calculator.
Take off the market access fee
IngramSpark deducts it from the wholesale price. What remains is your compensation.
IngramSpark's own example uses a 6 by 9 inch, 150-page black-and-white paperback: "$15 list price - ($15 X 55% discount) = $6.75 wholesale price." Print cost and the market access fee come out of the $6.75, and "you will be paid what is left over." Note what the retailer does next is separate: a store can sell your $15 book for $12.99 and your compensation does not change, because it is based on your list price and discount.
Signing up and uploading cost nothing. IngramSpark's pricing page says: "It costs you nothing to sign up for an IngramSpark account and to upload your print or ebook."
Sources: IngramSpark, "Why Should I Discount My Book?" (June 28, 2023) and IngramSpark pricing, both checked October 26, 2026.
How the wholesale discount changes it
The discount is the one number you control that moves your compensation the most. IngramSpark lets you set it "within the range of 40% (minimum) to 55% (maximum)," and the minimum is 40% in the United States and 35% in the United Kingdom. It also says "the trade discount most publishers choose to offer booksellers is 55%."
The tradeoff is simple to state. Every point of discount is a point of list price that moves from you to the retailer. A bookstore deciding whether to stock a book from an author it has never heard of looks at that margin, and IngramSpark suggests a discount of about 50% to 55% if you want to compete for shelf space. If your copies mostly sell online, or you plan to hand the book to clients rather than rely on bookstore shelves, a lower discount keeps more of each sale for you.
| Discount | Wholesale price on a $17.99 book | Left before print cost and fee |
|---|
| 40% | 60% × $17.99 = $10.79 | $10.79 |
| 45% | 55% × $17.99 = $9.89 | $9.89 |
| 55% | 45% × $17.99 = $8.10 | $8.10 |
The print cost is the same in every row, so the whole $2.69 gap between 40% and 55% comes out of your compensation.
Source: IngramSpark, "Why Should I Discount My Book?", checked October 26, 2026.
How the returns setting changes it
Bookstores are used to returning unsold copies. On IngramSpark you choose whether yours can be returned, and the choice has a direct cost:
- No (non-returnable). IngramSpark will not accept returns from booksellers, so there are no return charges. IngramSpark also notes that making a book returnable is a good way to get it on bookstore shelves.
- Yes, destroy. Returned copies go back to Ingram and are destroyed. You are charged the wholesale price of each copy, with no shipping and handling fee.
- Yes, deliver. Returned copies are shipped to you. You are charged the wholesale price plus $3.00 a copy for shipping and handling to a US address, or $20.00 a copy outside the US. IngramSpark says this option is only available for books sold in the United States or Canada.
Two details matter for the math. First, you are charged the wholesale price, which is more than the compensation you earned on that copy, because it includes the print cost you never got back. Second, the charge uses the wholesale price active on the day the return is processed, so a later price change changes what old returns cost you. IngramSpark's own article puts it plainly: "Returns can be very costly."
Changes to price, discount and returns take effect weekly, according to a 2019 IngramSpark post. The same post says that if you switch a book from returnable to non-returnable, booksellers keep the right to return copies for 180 days after notice.
Sources: IngramSpark, "Making Your Book Returnable" (November 16, 2021), IngramSpark FAQs and IngramSpark, "Updating Pricing, Returns and Discounts Weekly" (April 16, 2019), all checked October 26, 2026.
A worked example
Worked example (hypothetical)
Say your 240-page paperback lists at $17.99 in the US. For this example, assume IngramSpark's calculator gives a print cost of $4.50 a copy. That $4.50 is an assumed number for the arithmetic, not a quote; get your real one from the print and ship calculator.
At a 55% discount. Discount: 55% × $17.99 = $9.89. Wholesale price: $17.99 − $9.89 = $8.10. Compensation: $8.10 − $4.50 = $3.60 a copy, before the market access fee.
At a 40% discount. Discount: 40% × $17.99 = $7.20. Wholesale price: $17.99 − $7.20 = $10.79. Compensation: $10.79 − $4.50 = $6.29 a copy, before the fee.
Lowest price that covers printing at 55%. The wholesale price must at least equal the print cost: $4.50 ÷ 45% = $10.00. Below a $10.00 list price, each sale would earn nothing.
With returns. Stay at 55%, set the book to "Yes, destroy," and say stores order 100 copies and send 10 back. Earned: 100 × $3.60 = $360. Charged for returns: 10 × $8.10 = $81. Net: $360 − $81 = $279, or $2.79 a copy. On "Yes, deliver" to a US address, each return costs $8.10 + $3.00 = $11.10, so returns cost 10 × $11.10 = $111 and the net is $360 − $111 = $249, or $2.49 a copy.
Enter those same numbers in the calculator above to check them, then swap in your real print cost.
Ebook compensation
IngramSpark's pricing page says: "You earn 85% of the net revenue received by IngramSpark with each sale, regardless of retailer." Net revenue here means what reaches IngramSpark from the retailer, so the 85% is a share of that amount, not of your list price. The pages checked do not publish each retailer's share, so this page does not turn the ebook rule into a per-copy figure. Your IngramSpark reports will show the real one once copies sell.
The same page lists conversion of a print book to an ebook at $0.60 a page, if you do not already have an ebook file.
Source: IngramSpark pricing, checked October 26, 2026.
IngramSpark compared with KDP
Amazon KDP pays paperback royalties on a different formula: (royalty rate × list price) − printing cost. On Amazon.com the rate is 60% at a list price of $9.99 or more, and 40% through Expanded Distribution, KDP's route to other retailers. Printing a black-ink paperback in a regular trim from 110 to 828 pages costs $1.00 plus $0.012 a page.
| Same 240-page, $17.99 paperback | Per copy | Working |
|---|
| KDP, sold on Amazon.com | $6.91 | 60% × $17.99 = $10.79, minus printing of $1.00 + 240 × $0.012 = $3.88 |
| KDP Expanded Distribution | $3.32 | 40% × $17.99 = $7.20, minus $3.88 |
| IngramSpark at 40%, assumed $4.50 print cost | $6.29 | $10.79 − $4.50, before the market access fee |
| IngramSpark at 55%, assumed $4.50 print cost | $3.60 | $8.10 − $4.50, before the market access fee |
The IngramSpark rows use the assumed print cost from the example, so treat them as a shape, not a quote. The shape is consistent, though: on Amazon.com itself, KDP usually pays more per copy. IngramSpark earns its place through reach into bookstores, libraries and retailers that order from Ingram, and through the discount and returns terms those buyers expect. You can use both: KDP for Amazon and IngramSpark for other retailers. To work out the KDP side for your own page count and trim, use the KDP royalty calculator.
Sources: KDP Paperback Royalty and KDP Paperback Printing Cost, checked October 26, 2026.
Where this fits in a book's value
For most nonfiction authors who run a business, compensation per copy is the smallest line in what a book is worth. At $3.60 a copy, 200 bookstore sales a year is 200 × $3.60 = $720. One client who found you through the book can be worth more than years of that. The book royalties explained page sets royalties in context, and what a book costs covers the other side of the ledger.
Put the per-copy figure in the bigger math
The Book Value Calculator adds clients, fees and talks to the royalty line, so you can see what the book is worth to your business over the years you choose.