As of Feb. 1, 2026, IngramSpark is increasing their pricing in two different ways. First, the market access fee (aka global distribution fee) will increase from 1.5 percent to 1.875 percent. Because this fee applies to every book enabled for distribution, this is probably the biggest overall earnings impact for authors. For a $15 list-price book, that fee will increase from 22.5 cents to 28.1 cents.
Second, production costs are increasing, although IngramSpark isn’t spelling out what those increases are. Instead, they’ve simply made the new rate sheet available. (Compare to the current rate sheet.)
Here’s what I notice.
- Across most formats, the per-cover fee rises about 1 to 3 percent.
- Hardcover and jacketed editions already carry the steepest production costs, and the new rates go even higher. Color jacketed hardcovers have consistent increases of 20 to 30 cents per unit.
- Color printing for standard color and premium color shows larger per-page increases than black-and white printing. Example: Premium color for a small hardcover goes from .0730 per page to .0752 per page. For ultra-premium color, the per-page increases average around 4 percent.
- Standard color paperbacks (small and large) now have lower costs.
There are no changes to title setup fees (all free), order handling, and shipping (calculated at time of order). Overall, there’s not a dramatic overhaul here, just a systematic nudging upward of pricing. Authors with high-page-count titles, hardcover books, or color books should be sure to run the cost calculator and see if their retail pricing needs adjusted.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
