Publish Setup · Deciding Between All Three
KDP, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital: Using Them Together
What to do
Understand, in plain terms, why many self-published authors end up using all three platforms together (KDP, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital), and when it's reasonable to skip Draft2Digital.
Why it matters
You've now walked through the setup for KDP, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital. This is the step back: a short, practical summary of how the three fit together, since each of the topics-lists above focused on one platform at a time.
Step-by-step
- Many authors use all three together, each for what it does best: KDP for direct Amazon sales (by far the largest single retailer for most books), IngramSpark for wider print reach into bookstores and libraries, and Draft2Digital for reaching ebook retailers and library-lending platforms beyond Amazon, all from one upload.
- Draft2Digital and KDP don't compete for the same job. KDP sells your ebook and/or paperback on Amazon; Draft2Digital gets your ebook everywhere else (Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and more) plus into library-lending platforms like OverDrive and Hoopla. Using both isn't redundant, since Draft2Digital doesn't reach Amazon and KDP alone doesn't reach the wider ebook retailer and library-lending world.
- IngramSpark and Draft2Digital also don't fully overlap: IngramSpark's real strength is wholesale print distribution (bookstores, library print/wholesale ordering, hardcover), while Draft2Digital's real strength is ebook distribution and ebook/audio library lending. D2D Print does offer its own print-on-demand option, but it's a newer addition alongside D2D's much longer-standing ebook-distribution service.
- It's entirely reasonable to skip Draft2Digital if you're fine being Amazon-only for your ebook, plenty of first-time self-publishers do exactly that, since KDP alone gets an ebook and/or paperback live and selling with the least friction. Add Draft2Digital later, at no cost to try, once you specifically want your ebook reaching readers who shop at Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, or who borrow from their local library's digital collection, rather than Amazon alone.
- A practical order many authors follow: get the book live on KDP first, then add Draft2Digital for wider ebook reach (it's free to add, so there's little downside to doing it once the KDP edition is settled), and add IngramSpark separately if and when you specifically want deeper print/bookstore/library reach or a hardcover edition.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Assuming Draft2Digital is a replacement for KDP, it isn't; it doesn't reach Amazon at all, so KDP is still the only way to get onto Amazon directly.
- Assuming Draft2Digital and IngramSpark do the same job just because both say "wider distribution". Draft2Digital's real strength is ebooks and library-lending platforms, while IngramSpark's real strength is wholesale print to bookstores and libraries.
- Treating all three platforms as mutually exclusive, when in practice most experienced self-publishers who use more than one platform use all three, each for the specific reach it provides.
Completion checklist
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Troubleshooting
I'm still not sure. What do most self-publishers actually do?
Most first-time self-publishers start with KDP alone, since it's free and simplest. Many then add Draft2Digital fairly quickly afterward, since it's also free and specifically extends ebook reach beyond Amazon with very little extra work. IngramSpark tends to get added later and more selectively, once there's a specific reason to want deeper print/bookstore/library reach or a hardcover edition, since it carries its own setup fee.
Does using Draft2Digital mean I have to redo my manuscript formatting or my print-ready files?
No. Your manuscript from the earlier stages of this app works as-is for Draft2Digital's ebook conversion (a Word document is exactly what D2D expects), and if you use D2D Print, the same print-ready interior and cover PDFs you built earlier apply there too, as long as the trim size matches. Only the account setup and platform-specific upload steps are separate for each platform.