Formatting MS Word for Ingram Spark

[@Brettagher]

This video has been the most helpful by far in regard to printing on IS.

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Glad it was helpful! Good luck with your book.

[@justbeingjahzara8354]

thank you so much. This video has been so helpful. I was having so much trouble figuring out this platform and you saved me a lot of time!

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

My pleasure. I'm so glad you found it useful.

[@christopherbradshaw6630]

I watched loads of IngramSpark formatting videos and this is easily the clearest and most helpful. Many thanks.

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

You're very welcome! Thanks for watching.

[@gingerhill4479]

Thank you so much for making this video. I have been struggling with IngramSpark for a few years now and you have cleared up everything! Precise and to the point!

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

My pleasure! Glad it was helpful.

[@josephineharris3098]

OMG. Thank you. I had the dread unembedded fonts error in the text and jacket, and was tearing my hair out. It seems odd that Ingram Spark doesn't have a better help section for uploading new books, as it quite likely affects the number of new accounts they might lose when people give up :). Made my day much better. Thank you, Simon.

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Thanks, Josephine. I'm glad it was helpful.

[@WriterandPhotographer]

I had to re-upload three times because my children's book is supposed to have illustrations (full page) opposite all of the chapter first-pages, so the illustrations are on the left and the chapter first-pages on the right. Had to add in 3 or 4 blank pages in the end to make everything work, so I am paying for blank pages. Also, a suggestion regarding typefaces for those who want to use a commercially-free font and not buy a license. Check your blank spaces on each page to ascertain that there will not be extra fonts embedded that are not actually being used. (and which may be fonts that require a license) This way, when you get to the last step in Simon's instructions and convert to a PDF file, you won't see several fonts embedded that you didn't even use. Thank you for this video. I am waiting on some softcover copies of my book right now to see what it looks like in person.

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Thanks; I don't have experience with children's books which must have additional challenges with all the full colour pages.

[@chriswood3277]

A wealth of information!!! Thank you so much, I’m surprised you don’t have more comments. Valuable information indeed!!!😊

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Thanks, Chris, I'm glad it was helpful.

[@rosesheffler451]

Dear Simon Michael Prior, This was excessively helpful. Well done, and thanks for all the tips. It'll save us all a huge headache. Sincerely, RJS

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

My pleasure. Glad I could help you.

[@RedWizardFox]

You are amazing. Your voice is so soothing and I was lost before I found you. Thank you so much for everything you do!!

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

You are so welcome. I do hope the video was helpful. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

[@mikeborthwick8645]

I have been looking for instructions on how to format my Word document to the IngramSparks format for a while now -- followed the video instructions to the letter -- downloaded to IngramSparks - approved the first try, great video. But, I could not do this formating using MS Word on my Mac, for the File icon beside the Home icon, didn't show up, when I put my file on a Microsoft computer with MS Word, the Icon was there and were able to follow the instructions perfectly. Thanks.

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

No problem, Mike. Glad it was of help. I'm not a Mac user, so can't help with that aspect.

[@TappingtheMatrix]

Super helpful information! Thank you so much!

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Glad you found it useful!

[@mishthemaverick8607]

This is great to know, as I live near Melbourne.

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Glad this was helpful!

[@Zombiphone]

Thank you! After having worked with KDP, barnes and noble, smashwords, and draft2digitial for print and digital and having zero issue, I was about ready to rage quit on Ingramspark's formatting requirements.

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Glad this was of some help. I only filmed it because I couldn't find anything to hep authors do these steps!

[@FlowingDepths]

You're amazing! Thank you. Ingram for Word was a nightmare.

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Glad it helped!

[@fadingstarlight8]

This has been very, very helpful thank you! Fantastically paced and really useful!

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

I'm so glad you found it useful, Chris.

[@dragonsisters6929]

Fabulous tutorial :)

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Thank you! 😊

[@getkraken8064]

In learning how to format a Word novel ms, I inadvertently answered a seemingly unrelated question from observing the page of your book shown. I see you used italics alone to indicate inner dialogue, so I will too. Thanks for the guidance.

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

No Problem. I've always used italics to indicate inner dialogue and my readers seem to like it. Good luck with your book!

[@KoralyDimitriadis]

great video!

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Thanks! Good luck with your book!

[@glennwalker5564]

Very helpful tips, thank you! I wonder if you have a companion video on how to create the book cover in Microsoft Publisher then download to IngramSparks as PDF?

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Sorry Glenn, I have no experience of MS publisher. I recommend Canva for book cover creation.

[@catherineklug]

Thank you so much for this ☺️

[@simonmichaelprior3236]

My pleasure! Hope it helped.

[@P.EnglishLiterature]

Thanks for this video. New sub here!

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Many thanks for watching and subscribing!

[@JourneysInPages]

Thanks for this, Simon - even though I'm getting my pages formatted for me, this gave me some very handy tips for what to expect when I venture into both the KDP and Ingram Spark upload areas for the first time (hopefully by the middle of next week!)

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

No problem, Sally. Good luck with it!

[@zootubia]

Very helpful. Thank you!

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

You're welcome!

[@fineart6147]

thank you

[@shenbrian4763]

Hi，Simon, Greeting from Sydney. Thanks for such a clear explanation. I learn a lot. I have been keeping asking a quesiton about if IngramSpark Chinese books. I just could not get any feedback. Would you point a direction where I will be able to get answers on this quesition. Thanks again.

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

HI Shen, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I'm sorry, I don't have any experience with Chinese books on Ingram Spark. Good luck!

[@rajtc15]

Hi Liked your video its very helpful but, I got couple of questions: 1) Don't we have to setup margins and gutter? 2) Is there a paperback template for Ingram spark, or can we use the KDP paperback template?

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Hi Raj, You could setup margins in Word, definitely. I used the default. I use the same Word file for KDP and IS text, it's the PDF that shows exactly how it's going to come out. So you could use the KDP template, but don't do this with the cover, they're different. Good luck!

[@rajtc15]

@@theselfpublishingnavigator Thank You so much Simon.

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

My pleasure.

[@kmc08]

I tried following step-by-step, but when it came to saving as a PDF, my screen was totally different. I didn't have any options to populate (embed font, PDF options, etc). Great video, though. I wish I could've did it myself before having to pay someone. No fault of yours, just couldn't find the proper settings on my computer. Thanks

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Sorry it didn't work for you. Could I confirm you were using the right Acrobat program?

[@JourneysInPages]

By the way - and sorry for not thinking about this when I wrote my first comment - for both KDP and IS: Does one have to do the entire job of uploading and creating meta data etc. all in one session, or can one plug away at the task bit by bit? And does it make any difference between whether you do the IS first or the KDP first? I'm guessing that if not choosing expanded distribution on either, they are completely independent and the order doesn't matter.

[@MichelleSegrest]

Hey Simon, Are you selling much on Ingram Spark? Do you think it's worth it?

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

I started publishing on Ingram because at the time, Amazon didn't print paperbacks in Australia. Now they do, so the benefit has reduced somewhat. I maybe won't do it for the next one.

[@EddieCurran1]

Do you have any recommendations for people who can upload books to Ingram and, if needed, do it fast?

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Sorry Eddie, I tend to do it all myself so I'm not familiar with anyone who offers this as a service. Good luck!

[@gunny123451]

should we add page numbers to the word document to submit to Ingram Spark?

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Thanks for your question. I did, yes.

[@xn0tafraid]

What about when you are formatting an ebook for ingram sparks? how would you format the file?

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

Sorry, I have no experience with using IS for Ebooks, I publish ebooks only on KDP. Thanks for watching.

[@mongo3829]

@@theselfpublishingnavigator Why do you choose KDP for eBooks rather than using Ingram? Just easier?

[@theselfpublishingnavigator]

@@mongo3829 Hi, thanks for the question. I've never considered IS for eBooks. KDP works well for me, my books sell and if I give Amazon exclusivity I can get them in the Kindle Unlimited library, which is a useful bonus.