A Peek Behind the Publishing Industry Curtain: How Ingram F#CKED Indie Bookstores

To get our books from finished manuscript to physical copy in a bookstore, most self-published authors select a print-on-demand provider who can print and distribute books as they're ordered. There are a few competitors, but the giant in the space is IngramSpark.

Because they lead the space, IngramSpark takes a huge chunk of the purchase price of books, so authors are paid very little per book, but it allows us to show up in physical retailers that otherwise couldn't find us or wouldn't take the risk.

This week, Ingram changed their payment terms in three huge ways: they're pushing all credit card processing fees to the buyer (bookstores), they're no longer accepting debit cards, and they are only allowing Ingram store credit for returns, not money back.

This is a painful slap in the face for indie bookstores, who already operate on tiny margins, and puts 100% of the risk of the publishing process on authors and bookstores.

For example, if an indie bookstore took a chance on a new indie author and purchased 10 copies of their book, now the bookstore makes 5% less on an already small margin because of credit card fees.

In addition, if they realize they can't sell all 10 and want to return some, the author, who likely only received $1 or $2 per book on the original purchase, will now owe Ingram the bookstore's purchase price—probably $12 or more each—and the bookstore won't get that money back. Ingram pockets the difference, holding it as a credit the bookstore can't use for operating costs—they can only spend it with Ingram.

It's already hard to get an indie book into an indie bookstore. It's a lot of risk for them to take on. And now it's harder.

So what are we doing about it?

Some indie authors like me are building our process to sell wholesale ourselves direct to stores. It's extra admin and requires us to connect with every bookstore one-on-one, but it puts more money in our pockets and keeps those stores from having to deal with Ingram's terms.

As readers, you can support indie bookstores. If you have any option, go to a physical bookstore in your area and fill up your 2026 TBR there! While national lists like this and this help you find indie bookstores, there are a lot of hidden gems to find when you search locally.