Anyone know anything about Ingram Spark?

[VydorScope]

Ingram to show some indie love?

Ingram used the IBPA keynote luncheon on Saturday as the platform to introduce “Spark.” This new Ingram service was created to allow independent publishers to deal directly with Ingram in DISTRIBUTING print on demand (POD) books. The quoted costs for the POD service: 1.3 cents a page and 90 cents for the cover (no varnish or embossing). A $49 fee to set up a title is waived if you order 50 books. Ingram will make the books available throughout the US and 38 countries across the world. Spark is scheduled for launch on May 28. By August, Ingram will also offer e-book conversion and e-book DISTRIBUTION for Kindle, Apple, Kobo, Nook, and all LSI partners. Ingram plans to eventually offer the sale of ISBNs (as arranged through Bowker) and add marketing services. Ingram Content Group sponsored the luncheon and served also as a vendor at the conference, describing the company as “the world’s largest and most trusted distributor of physical and digital content.”

Source: http://www.mipa.org/blog/143-ibpa-university-delivers

[gmw]

It sounds like an alternative path in the Lightning Source' services. Interesting.

I also liked the bit at the bottom, it seemed like a very succinct summary of our situation:

As the other keynote luncheon speaker, Dominique Raccah (founder of Sourcebooks, the largest woman-owned trade publisher in the US), predicted—within three years, her own business will change so much as to be “unrecognizable.” She offered this formula for the time being:
- Make a strong book.
- Communicate.
- Distribute.
- Rinse and repeat.