Self-Publishing Assistance Is Becoming Threatened

Today’s post is by writer and creativity coach Anne Carley (@amcarley.bsky.social).

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Some words of caution for writers who’d like a bit of help with the adventure that is self-publishing. It used to be the case that bringing in a more experienced person to help get your book out into the world was doable. As I’ve recently discovered, that has changed.

A little background: Starting in 2012, I helped new authors get their nonfiction books finished and self-published. But eventually I stopped helping others self-publish, and focused my efforts on coaching writers to complete and polish the best book they could write.

However, recent circumstances beyond my control required me to assist a client self-publishing their new book. Feeling pretty confident that I knew what to do, I offered to help. Weeks and weeks later, the struggle continues with KDP and IngramSpark. (Happily, Draft2Digital has been just fine so far, setting up ebook distribution.) I’m perplexed and dismayed by what I see. The landscape has changed, drastically, for the worse.

My best guess is the problems arise from fears of identity theft, pushback against “books” written by AI, and an apparent policy change on the part of the big print-on-demand (POD) distributors to discourage informal outside assistance to self-publishing authors.

I’ll explain.

My typical process for assisting authors

My usual plan for a client publishing their paperback and ebook consists of three parts.

1. We set up paperbacks with KDP (for retail on Amazon).
2. We set up paperbacks with IngramSpark (for wholesale to libraries and bookstores).
3. We set up ebook distribution to a host of sellers via Draft2Digital (while listing the ebook separately on KDP/Amazon).

I believe I first adopted this strategy from Jane Friedman, and it held up for years.

Problems with establishing and verifying identity

Getting the system at KDP to believe you are who you are is a challenge—especially when you’re assisting the author. KDP and IngramSpark, using a combination of email address and mobile phone number, regularly authenticate the identity of the person using the author’s online account. Unless the author is always sitting in the room with their helper, this leads to difficulty.

Also, for practical reasons, we wanted to ship KDP’s paperback proofs to the client in care of my shipping address. This apparently set off security alarms. All the information my client and I had painstakingly entered into the system became suspicious. No kidding, the client and I had to meet multiple times in person to safely exchange sensitive personal information so that the online forms could be filled in and the security questions could be answered. This involved significant inconvenience for the client, including travel. At one point, the client had to bring their passport and driver’s license to me, just so we could convince KDP’s automated system that we were legit. Another time, KDP insisted on extra special double top-secret numbers from the client’s credit card, in addition to the usual security code. At that point, my client wondered out loud how many people just stop trying to publish, because of all the frustrating steps.

Consolidating two IngramSpark accounts

At one point, we had contracted out the print-on-demand printing and distribution to a third party. It soon became clear, though, that the third party was not a good fit for the client, and we parted ways. This put me in the hot seat. Time did not permit searching for someone else to do this work—we had a fixed launch date. The paperback needed to be available from Ingram, not just KDP; library and bookstore sales were important to this book’s marketing strategy.

The third party directed the client to set up their own IngramSpark account, but I soon discovered that using this account was a nonstarter. Why? Because it keyed to the client’s email address and mobile phone number. Every login to the account dashboard was met with automatic two-factor authentication, pinging the client’s email and/or mobile phone. I inadvertently interrupted the client’s weekend the first time this happened, and put a stop to it thereafter; after all, the whole point of my stepping in to do this work was to relieve the client of the burden. So I created a new email address for our shared use, and opened a new IngramSpark account under that email. When they asked for a mobile phone number, I put in mine, for the obvious reason: two-factor authentication would come to me, not the client.

An error message came back, telling me that an account already existed with that phone number. Well, yeah. My own IngramSpark account uses my mobile number. Turns out, IngramSpark keys each account to a unique mobile phone number (not email address, as with KDP). I remember muttering to my client, as I discovered this in real time on a call with them, “This is why people get burner phones.” I won’t go into the next weeks of tech purgatory. Suffice it to say that eventually I used a virtual number so that it rings to an app on my existing mobile phone.

One month later, we have not been permitted to order IngramSpark proofs. Why? Because there are two accounts in the client’s name. So what? Turns out another hidden rule at IngramSpark is that they prohibit multiple accounts. Why not just ask them to cancel the first account that the third party erroneously advised the client to set up? I did ask, as soon as I learned about the problem, but IngramSpark customer service has yet to address the matter. Meanwhile our launch date cannot change, and we will probably need to resort to using another distributor with a back door to IngramSpark, just to get the book into their system in time.

Why don’t we use my own existing IngramSpark account instead of faffing around with their hidden rules? Because accounting. I am not serving as the client’s publisher. They are their own publisher. And this means that the income from future sales of books should flow directly to the client. Hence the requirement that they have their own IngramSpark account with the correct banking and tax information. (Imagine the agita involved, after the fact, begging IngramSpark to shift a book published under my imprint to someone else’s IngramSpark account.)

Why would an author need assistance?

Given all these headaches, doesn’t it just make sense for every indie author to tough it out and learn to work within the systems provided by IngramSpark, KDP, et al.? Not necessarily. I can think of numerous scenarios from my own working life. For example:

• Authors with congenital or acquired neurological issues who need assistance with complex data input requiring the use of computer screens and keyboards.
• Older authors, not digital natives, who can manage word processing, email, and internet searching, but not setting up detailed print specifications.
• Authors who have limited time and attention for sets of technical skills they have no other need to master.
• Vision-impaired authors.

That’s not an exhaustive list. And it doesn’t begin to include the dangers of the potential “gotchas” that lurk within KDP and IngramSpark—like clicking the box for “Expanded Distribution” on KDP’s pricing screen. That can bring a whole world of trouble if you ever want to sell or distribute your book with anyone else. (FYI, unclicking the box does not necessarily solve the problem.)

Also, the KDP and IngramSpark authentication systems keep changing. After several months’ absence, even for an experienced do-it-yourselfer like me, I barely recognized parts of the process with KDP and IngramSpark. They like to keep us on our toes.

Alternatives for self-publishers

Private enterprise has risen to the occasion, of course. Many companies offer to ease the burden of self-publishing. I have limited experience with them, but I can tell you that, thanks to transparent pricing on their website, one such company, BookBaby, would charge my client over $900 upfront for distributing the paperback. After deducting the cost of printing and shipping the required and included 25 copies, that still comes to about $700 the client would need to pay, prior to launching the book, just to offload working within the KDP and IngramSpark systems. Seems like a lot. It’s no doubt worth it for some authors. But what about something a little more down to earth?

Reddit has some good information, and YouTube offers video tutorials. But the information is all over the map—some good, some formerly good but out of date, and some plain wrong. Trusted information sources like Jane Friedman and ALLi exist, and can be very helpful to those with the time and inclination (and budget, in ALLi’s case) to learn about the ins and outs and stay up to date as the landscape continues to shift.

Time for authorized representatives

I have to believe there are ways to establish the credentials of a helper for writers who want to self-publish. Too many authors are shut out of the system otherwise, or, perhaps worse, make inadvertent errors that can be painful, technical, and time consuming to fix (if/after they are recognized).

Years ago, I remember getting authorized to represent my elderly mother with a government agency, so I could use the system on her behalf. Surely we can have an equivalent process that permits trusted representatives of an author to interact with the POD systems at KDP and IngramSpark. Right?

In the past, I could get on the phone with customer support at KDP or IngramSpark, the client joining in our conversation and addressing any security and privacy concerns so that I could operate as the client’s agent. It was all above board and transparent. Those of you who’ve tried, since the pandemic began in 2020, to talk with a human at IngramSpark will be laughing bitterly as you read this.

But for the moment, if you’re an indie author on a budget, you’re on your own when it comes to interacting with KDP and IngramSpark. I wish it were otherwise, and I hope the situation will change for the better.