We offer an Enhanced Distribution service to optimize the Amazon listings on Amazon.ca, where we set up your paperback book on KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), which is owned by Amazon.
We offer this service because Ingram doesn't distribute to Amazon.ca. Amazon.ca will usually list the book through Amazon.com’s feed, but it will occasionally only sell via third party retailers on the website. So far we have been unable to find any pattern of which books will be picked up and which ones will not.
When your book is set up through KDP, paperback orders placed through Amazon will be printed and fulfilled by Amazon itself, rather than through Ingram. Furthermore the listings on Amazon.ca and .com won't say "out of stock" and always show at your Suggested Retail Price. Through KDP, your paperback books will also be available for fast shipping through Amazon Prime. KDP print pricing is generally comparable to Ingram for black and white books and colour paperback books.
Authors are advised to consider the following restrictions of KDP/Enhanced Amazon:
- Lower royalty rate (40% minimum retailer discount instead of min 30 or 35% through Ingram)
- KDP is only available in paperback*
- KDP only offers 60lb paper
- KDP does not support landscape printing
- KDP does not support right-to-left (RTL) formatted books, which are common in languages like Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean
This service is $250 + tax and we can set it up for our authors at any time.
The alternative, if your main concern is ensuring availability of your book on amazon.ca, is to direct Canadian buyers to the Chapters/Indigo or Amazon.com listing of the book.
Enhanced Amazon is typically mostly of value to Canadian, though the fast shipping, quick set-up, and thicker B&W paper can make it a good option for many Australian and American authors/readers as well.
The following is a list of the markets effected by the Enhanced Amazon service:
- Amazon.ca
- Amazon.com
- Amazon.com.au
- Amazon.co.uk
- Amazon.de
- Amazon.fr
- Amazon.es
- Amazon.it
- Amazon.co.jp
*KDP has started offering hardcover distribution in beta. However, this is currently not available in Canada or Australia, and only in certain trim sizes for our US clients. Therefore we will continue to offer print on demand distribution in hardcover exclusively through Ingram.