We are delighted to share the exciting news that IngramSpark and the Alliance of Independent Authors is to pilot an innovative programme for self-publishers.
In partnership with The Alliance of Independent Authors(ALLi), the publlishing platform Ingram Spark (IS) is to enter up to 200 suitable self-published titles in Nielsen's Enhanced Bibliographic Data Feed, a service previously only available to trade-published titles.
According to Nielsen, enhancing metadata in this way gives a significant boost to sales, making books more visible to bookshop buyers, librarians and others in the books business.
Testing Neilsen Metadata for Self-publishing Authors
Under the partnership with ALLi, IngramSpark will add the enhanced bibliographic data of 100 selected IS titles to Nielsen’s feed, at no cost to the authors involved, to test the service over a period of six months.The test is to see if the enhanced bibliographic data does indeed help to support greater sales for self-publishers over titles which don’t have this additional service.
Alli Director Orna Ross says:
“Marketing budgets are always tight for indie authors, and it can be difficult to know where money is best spent. ALLi is grateful to Ingram Spark for coming up with this pilot project and providing the funding to our members to assess whether this service is, in fact, useful to self-publishers.”
Andy Bromley, Ingram’s International Marketing Manager said:
“In preparation for the new IngramSpark UK/European website launching soon, IngramSpark is offering ALLi members the opportunity to participate in the Nielsen Enhanced Biographic Data feed. By the week beginning 22nd July, we will add the Nielsen Enhanced Bibliographic feed to all ALLi titles that apply. As we have a maximum submission threshold of 200 titles, this is available on a first come, first service basis.”
FAQS
No, the program is open to authors anywhere who have saleable books and a marketing plan.
4. How Will I Know If My Book Was Accepted?
All authors who apply will receive notification when the titles have been applied.
5. Do I Need To Do Anything Else?
Participating authors are encouraged to market their books as normal during the pilot.
6. How Will I Find Out The Results?
By the end of the test we will share the results to those who participated.
Is this over? I get “this attachment not available” when I click on the link above
see misspelling of publishing in your recent e-mail– double L:
” the publlishing platform Ingram Spark (IS) is to enter up to 200 suitable self-published titles in Nielsen’s
Oh, and this may sound stupid, but where do I find my ALLI number?
It is your affiliate number, Jonathan. Log in to the ALLi membership website and navigate to the section about becoming an affiliate and you will find the number there (it’s the one after the affid? in the code for setting up your affiliate badge).
Taken from this, https://selfpublishingadvice.org/watchdog-ingram-spark-vs-createspace-for-self-publishing-print-books/ , I can put a book right now on IS even if it is already with CS? I’ve never used IS, so can I assign an unused ISBN to IS when I sign up?
Jonathan, you can publish your book on any platform you like, provided the copyright is yours. ALLi’s standard recommendation is to publish a paperback on both CS and IS using THE SAME ISBN because it is exactly the same product. If you use different ISBNs for the same product, it will confuse the various stock systems. So no need to use up an unassigned ISBN – just use the one you have for your book on CS.
Hi Andy/ Orna — What about authors who are with LS rather than IS? In fact I upgraded this year to the enhanced service now that I have five books out — to see if it would make any difference so am ok for now. But if we can do a deal for next year I would very much want to be included as it’s not cheap! (Not yet sure it makes a difference but too early to tell!) Oh and it’s children’s books, which are always different!
K
If this has good results, it will give authors a reason to choose Ingram Spark over other publishing resources (CreateSpace, etc.). Sounds intriguing!
This is a great offer. Is the ‘IS’ number to which you refer infact the ISBN? Or does it refer to an Ingram Spark number?
Thanks.
Glad you like it Steph. You’ll need your ALLi membership number, your IS account number and your ISBNs for any title you want to put forward.