Price Changes

Changes to the list price, wholesale discount and returns option are updated weekly. These changes are different than other metadata updates because they affect your publisher's compensation payments and distribution orders.

You no longer have to wait to make these changes only once a month. You can now update the pricing, returns option or discount more quickly, to meet a bookstore's requirements for an in-store event, as an example. Only changes to the list price, wholesale discount, and returns option are updated weekly.

You can now submit updates to a book's list price, discount and/or returns option, through your IngramSpark account no later than 11:59 PM US Central Time each Thursday, to have it applied in the Lightning Source system the next day, Friday at 12:01 AM US Central Time. The updates are then sent out to all of Ingram’s global distribution network.

To help with converting this cut off time to your local time zone you can find a time zone conversion tool here. 

NOTE: Due to Daylight Savings time changes happening at different times throughout the world, please always check the time for Nashville, TN, to ensure you don’t miss the cut-off time of 11:59 PM US Central Time each Thursday.

Compensation and returns are based on the pricing we have in our system at the time of the sale or return.

Changes to the list price, discount, and/or returns option for your book can have a negative impact on your compensation earnings.

Example:

Prior Pricing (what the pricing was in our system- the book was returnable and copies were returned back to publisher)

$18.00             retail price

-53%               wholesale discount our distribution partners receive (not bookstores, libraries, etc.)

$8.46               wholesale price our distribution partners pay us

-$5.00              print cost

$3.46               pub comp earnings

Current Pricing (pricing was changed and the pricing is in our system now) List price was increased, the discount was decreased and the book was made non-returnable.

$50.00             retail price (increased from $18)

-30%               wholesale discount (decreased from 53%) our distribution partners receive 

$35.00             wholesale price our distribution partners pay us

-$5.00              print cost

$30.00             pub comp earnings

This is an example of how these changes can affect your earnings: 

Books purchased at $50 – 30% = $35.00 Wholesale- this is what the bookstores pay and this is what they are refunded when returned 

Books purchased at $18 – 53% = $8.46 Wholesale- this is what the bookstores paid and will now be refunded $35.00 <-$26.54> 

PLUS, if the book was to be returned back to the publisher, it's an additional $2 charge per unit if in the U.S. and $20 per book if returning to an address outside the U.S.

If you are considering making pricing changes, please use the publisher compensation calculator to determine how much you will earn. Contact our support team if you have any questions.