Title Listing on Websites

Amazon list website message out of stock temporary temporarily out purchasing Cover Image Not Appearing status day week revise pub date sale date ebook

The available status of titles across all our global retail partners is as important to us as it is to you. 

IngramSpark utilizes Ingram’s global distribution network to list your title as Available for sale to more than 40,000 bookstores, online retailers, libraries, and schools.

How does it work?

• We send title metadata feeds for purchase status to our retail partners
• Each retail partner determines independently if they choose to list a title as well as how to display it for purchase on their website
• Because your book is printed on demand, it’s always virtually “in stock” and available for ordering from Ingram
• Most retailers—Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Indigo, Books-A-Million, and hundreds of others—reflect an “In Stock / Available” status for your print-on-demand titles, which is an accurate representation of the immediate availability of your title

We recommend that you refer your readers to their local bookstore or favorite online retailer if they want to purchase the book. Keep us informed about any available messaging issues you experience or data issues you uncover not addressed here.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take for a book to appear on a retailer’s website? 

Why does a book appear as Unavailable or Out of Stock on some retailer websites?

Why isn’t your book online?

If my book has been removed from distribution, why is it still appearing for sale with major online retailers?

How can I get more specific information regarding Amazon’s title information messaging?

How can a bookstore order my book?

How long does it take for a book to appear on a retailer’s website?

As soon as you’ve approved your title and enabled distribution, IngramSpark makes your title information available to retail partners.

• Typically, a title should be available for purchase on most websites within 4 weeks from the time the distribution service was enabled/added by you.
• Please note that if this is the first title you set up on the IngramSpark platform, this time can extend up to 6-8 weeks.

NOTE: We do not control when your title will appear on a specific retailer’s website, as each retailer updates the information on their site per their own schedule.

If your title isn’t showing up on a specific retailer's website, the issue is probably isolated to that retailer. If it’s one of our retail partners, we’ll work with them to resolve the issue.

If you have a specific publication date in mind for your book and have planned events and publicity around that date, it’s recommended you set that title up at least 6-8 weeks before that date.

Why does a book appear as Unavailable or Out of Stock on some retailer websites?

Every retailer has its own method for determining the available status of a title is on its website, and they’re free to do so. They may list a title as “temporarily unavailable,” available only within a certain time frame, or simply “out of stock.”

However, although a website may list your title as unavailable, stores can still order your book from Ingram Book Company.

If your title is listed as unavailable for ordering on a retailer’s website, IngramSpark will determine whether it’s appropriate to inquire as to the unavailable listing with the retailer. We don’t provide any guarantees, as the retailer’s title messaging is determined by them and not us.  

Recommended Best Practices

• We encourage you to offer a 53% to 55% wholesale discount in the U.S. (including Canada) market and 48% to 55% in the UK, Europe, and Australia markets. This allows bookstores to receive their normal trade discounts from the distributors and wholesalers from whom they buy books. 
• We also encourage you to consider offering your book as returnable. Many online retailers who sell books will no longer purchase books as non-returnable, and having a book status of non-returnable can affect the availability messaging on websites. You as the publisher can decide if you want to give bookstores, retailers, and libraries the option of returning unsold books.

Click Here for Amazon-specific Information  

Why isn’t my book online?

Due to Ingram’s metadata feed send to Ingram’s channel partners and retailers, stores have access to ordering your book if they want to. However, it’s possible that not every retailer will choose to list your book on their website—ultimately this is each retailer’s decision.

It’s also up to you to promote your book to these retailers and create interest in your book.

Keep in Mind

• Submitting REVISED FILES can affect your book's listing
  •  
    • If your book has been listed as on retailer websites, and you submit a revision to the cover file or interior file, the title must be pulled from production, which means it won’t be available for sale until the revision process is complete.
    • If IngramSpark/Lightning Source has received orders from retailers, those books must be printed before the revision can process.
    • Contact the support team if you have questions or concerns. 
• Cover Image Not Appearing 
  •  
    • Please allow up to six weeks for retailers to display your cover image on their websites. Pieces of information may appear, disappear, and reappear as they load the metadata feeds. 
    • We have no control over their process or how quickly they complete it. 
• Metadata
  •  
    • If you believe the information regarding your title, author, price, and/or description is incorrect, please notify support.
• Title Available Status in Foreign Markets
  •  
    • If market pricing for countries outside the U.S. is listed for your title, it’s common to see your title available for sale in those markets. Bookstores can order your title, and online retailers can feature your title on their website for customers to order.

Ebooks

If your ebook isn’t appearing on retailer websites, there are a few things you can check and correct before contacting support for assistance:

• Distribution Services
• Agreements
• Type of ebook
• Pricing
• Metadata

Distribution Services: Make sure that your distribution services are enabled.

• Log in to your IngramSpark account and click on the title; this will take you to the Title Information page
• Click on the ebook info button where you will verify the following:
  • Has distribution been enabled?
    • If the button is green and says "Yes", the information for the ebook has been distributed to the retail partners and should be available for sale.
    • If it is red and says "No",  click the button so that it says "Yes," and distribution services are then added/enabled.
• If the ebook has had distribution enabled for at least 30 days and it's not appearing on a website (and not due to previously mentioned issues) you can request support to rebroadcast the information.

Agreements: Check the agreements in your account.

You can find the agreements in your account by clicking on the drop-down arrow in the top right corner of the account and then clicking on the link for PAPERWORK. 

• Apple Books
  • If your eBook isn’t showing in the Apple Books store, check the Agency agreement to ensure the most recent agreement was accepted on 10/27/2020 or later. 
  • If you haven’t signed the Apple agreement and would like your ebook(s) fed to Apple, the agreement can be found within the “New Opportunities” option on your home page; you may need to scroll down a little to locate it.
  • Once the agreement has been signed, you can add Apple pricing to your eBooks. Once added, it can take up to 3 business days for your ebook to display on Apple Books. 

• Amazon
  • If you haven’t signed the Amazon agreement and would like your ebook(s) fed to Amazon, the agreement can be found within the New Opportunities option on your home page.
  • Once the agreement’s been signed, it can take up to 3 business days for your ebook to display on Amazon.

After the agreement has been completed through your account, the service will be added, and you can then move forward with adding pricing.

If distribution services have been enabled and the correct agreement is in the paperwork section of your account, check:

The type of ebook it is:

In your account, the ebook will appear as either fixed layout (FLEPUB) or reflowable (EPUB). 

• Fixed layout EPUBs are not reflowable and will only be available on Apple, Kobo, and Libreka. Barnes and Noble will accept fixed-layout EPUBs for children's books only.
• If you need the ebook changed from Reflowable to a Fixed Format or vice versa you will need to submit a new file to make that change. IngramSpark is not able to do this for you.

If the ebook is not appearing on Apple Books, the problem could be that the cover image is too large. The cover image is also inside the ebook, so both images need to be checked.

Apple requires the cover image and internal cover image to be less than 4 million pixels, each.  You can calculate image size in pixels by viewing the file properties and multiplying the Height times the Width. (Total pixels = length in pixels X width in pixels).

Cover images having more than 4 million pixels are not addressed by the IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum) EPUB validating tool:  validator.idpf.org. (If you use this epub validation tool, the file must be 10MB or less.) It may be possible to pass IDPF validation and still be rejected by IngramSpark or Apple.

Pricing: Is pricing included for all available markets?

• Check to see that pricing has been added for each market, as shown in the image below.

If my book has been removed from distribution, why is it still appearing for sale with major online retailers?

When your title is in distribution, we send the metadata to retail partners within our wholesale network. Once you’ve enabled data for distribution, the title’s metadata becomes publicly available. Removing metadata from all sites is outside of our control.

• When a title has been removed from distribution, any used or previously stocked copies of that title may continue to show as Available for Purchase through third-party sellers on Amazon or with other online retailers.
• Once the “On-Hand” inventory for a title is depleted, the title should then appear as “Title Unavailable” on retailers’ websites.
• If there’s a new version of the same title, that version should generate the first “hit” in the title search within that website. However, any used copies of the original version may continue to show as Available for Purchase.

Even if the retailer has no new inventory and we aren't printing any new orders, the title may continue to be listed on their website permanently.

Keep in Mind

• Removing or "de-listing" a title from an online retailer's website can be difficult.
  • For example, in the case of an online retailer such as Amazon, which allows third-party sellers to set up virtual "stores" on the Amazon site, this is nearly impossible.
• These sellers may have new or used copies of the book and will show availability as long as they have inventory. If a retailer or third-party seller has possession of new or used copies of these books, the copies would have been printed before your title was removed from distribution. 

Amazon

Amazon’s purchasing decisions are supported by an algorithm that’s proprietary to Amazon. Therefore, the way in which the company lists a title and the Available/In-stock status on their website is ultimately up to them.

In choosing to stock titles or even show products as available on their sites, Amazon considers many pieces of information about your book. Factors in a decision to stock a book may include a discount (with a maximum wholesale discount of 55% being most favorable), whether or not a book is returnable, product page views, and sales history. Even print-on-demand books may not show an “In stock” message at Amazon. Amazon may also list your title with an available message through third-party vendors. 

For additional information about Amazon's title status messaging, please visit the Amazon website.

We’re only able to notify Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Amazon.co.uk of an Available status problem once a title has been in distribution for at least 30 days. We then allow Amazon’s website enough time to update once a title’s metadata is sent before our initial notification.

Why is my book listed at a lower retail price on Amazon? 

Sometimes Amazon will order additional copies of a book to keep on hand and use that stock to fulfill orders. If the stock isn't selling, and they need the shelf space for another item, they’ll sometimes reduce the retail price. The reduced retail price is sometimes less than the print cost.

If an author or publisher sees this happen, they can buy those copies and resell them or give them away. This doesn’t affect the amount of compensation the author or publisher is paid, because the sale of the book already appeared on the Print Sales report, and they would’ve been paid for the sale.

Will Amazon list my book with Prime shipping?

The way Amazon lists a title is up to them. This includes shipping options such as Prime. Your book is always virtually “in stock” and available for order from IngramSpark.

Why is Amazon sending order cancellation emails to my readers?

If Amazon isn’t able to obtain the book for the reader, they may send a cancellation notice. This can be due to the book not being available to order for some reason and support may need to investigate the problem.

Amazon / Global Connect:

If your book has Global Connect pricing and is enabled for distribution, our Global Connect partners will distribute your title’s data to the following additional Amazon sites in Europe:

Amazon.it, Amazon.es, Amazon.pl, Amazon.in and Amazon.br.

• Please be aware that they will not be able to place an order for your book until the on-sale date.

How can a bookstore order my book?

IngramSpark doesn’t sell or promote your book to end consumers. If your title is enabled for wholesale distribution, IngramSpark will make your title available to its distribution channels, including our affiliate Ingram Book Group LLC (“Ingram”) who maintains one of the industry’s largest global distribution networks. Ingram sells directly to qualifying businesses and institutions only, such as bookstores, libraries, and other retailers.

How much of a discount will a bookstore receive if they order my book?

The wholesale discount you select through IngramSpark is shared among all distribution partners throughout the supply chain. As you can appreciate, we’re not the only piece in the distribution chain of your title. There may be multiple parties that handle your book before it reaches the businesses and institutions such as bookstores, libraries, and other retailers. Each company involved in the distribution chain may receive a portion of your wholesale discount.