IngramSpark Book Returns: Why They Show Up Late and Cost So Much

“The publishing industry is an odd mixture of commerce and culture.”

— Jason Epstein

If you’re publishing through IngramSpark, returns are something you don’t really think about at the beginning aside from checking a few boxes when you upload your books. Then one day they show up in your report as a return and completely change how you feel about your “sales.”

What makes them especially frustrating is how random they seem. You can go months without seeing a single return, then suddenly they appear for books that were sold weeks or even months ago. There’s no warning, no clear trigger, and no way to predict when it’s coming.

I talked about why IngramSpark is part of our global reach publishing plan here.

Why Returns Show Up Months Later

For me the confusion came from how book distribution actually works inside this system.

When a retailer orders your book through IngramSpark, that isn’t always a final sale for you. Bookstores order on a returnable basis, which means they can send copies back if they don’t sell your book. So what looks like a completed sale in your dashboard is sometimes just a temporary placement on a shelf. If it doesn’t sell, it comes back and that shows up as a return in your reports.

And books can come back much later, weeks or months after they were sold. That delay is why returns feel so disconnected from your current sales. You might be seeing the result long after the original order happened.

The Three Return Options (None of Them Great)

When you set up your book in IngramSpark, you have three options. In theory, this gives you control. In practice, each one comes with a trade-off.

No Returns

This is the simplest option. No returns, no surprise charges. There are loads of people who use this as their default for all their books. 

However, choosing No Returns can limit your reach. Many bookstores, larger retailers, and even some libraries won’t order non-returnable books. It’s considered too risky. When I first reached out to Chapters, I had to confirm that I had the standard (55%) retailer discount and that I had returns selected before they would add my books to their website listing. 

So while this protects your income, it can quietly block access to the very places you’re trying to reach.

Return & Destroy

This is where a lot of independent publishers land. This is what I have picked as a test for the first year of using this company. If you pick return - destroy and the book is returned, IngramSpark destroys it and charges you their printing costs. For full-colour children’s books, that cost is high. You don’t get the book back. You just get the bill.

Returns & Ship to You

This option sends the returned book back to you instead of destroying it.

It sounds better, but the costs, if you have a lot of book returns, can add up quickly. You’re paying the print cost plus shipping, and for Canadian publishers that often means international shipping as they don't print in Canada. 

By the time the book arrives, you’ve likely spent far more than that copy of the book could earn. Now you have a copy of your own book, hopefully not to scuffed up from being in a bookstore (I've seen some pictures in the forums) and packed and shipped a few times… that cost you money and you might not be able to break even on it.

The Math That Makes This So Frustrating

This is the part that really shifts how you see the different return options with IngramSpark.

To make your book available to bookstores and libraries, you also need to offer a standard retailer discount which is high. That discount cuts into your margin significantly right from the start. As an example, a $29.99 USD book does not mean you are earning anywhere near that.

After the standard retailer discount of 55% and printing costs, your profit can end up being under $2 per book.

Now look at what happens with a returned book when he printing cost is around $10 USD and the book is returned and destroyed, you are charged that full amount.

So in simple terms:

You sell 5 books and make about $8–10 total. One book gets returned and suddenly you are down $10. Those five sales are effectively wiped out by a single return.

And yes, all of this is shown in USD in the reports, which adds another layer of disconnect when you’re working in Canada and mentally converting everything back and forth all the time.

Why It Feels So Off for Indie Publishers

Traditional publishing builds this system into their model. They print in bulk, price differently because their bulk printing allows that, and expect a percentage of returns. 

With print-on-demand, especially for illustrated children’s books, the margins are much tighter. There’s no cushion unless you want to price your book out of the market. So when returns show up after a stretch of steady sales, it can feel like your progress just got erased for no clear reason.

What is Print-On-Demand and Why We Use It

Why I’m Still Leaving Returns On

As frustrating as it is to see a random book returned, I’m still keeping my books returnable. Because access matters for books.

Being available to bookstores, libraries, and larger retailers is part of the long-term plan, even if it comes with occasional losses. Turning returns off would solve the immediate problem, but it would also limit where the books can go. Right now, that trade-off still feels worth it.

The Part That Bothers Me Most

It’s not just the cost. It’s the waste factor of the standard system is that bookstores just destroy books if they can't sell them. Books that could have been read, donated, or shared in their community. Instead, they’re destroyed and written off as part of the system. That part is harder to accept than the numbers. 

I wish there was a return but Donate option so that the bookstore could donate them to a local school or charity that could share those books with people who could enjoy them, after all the bookstore must have thought they would be a good fit for their customers to order it in the first place.

Where I’ve Landed (For Now)

Returns are part of how book distribution works and IngramSpark is transparent about that process. Understanding that doesn’t make them less annoying. But it does make them a little less surprising when they show up months later and completely undo a bunch of sales that month.

Thankfully, book returns have been few and far between and I know that our books are in multiple countries and libraries so IngramSpark's distribution system is working and that's what matters, that access isn't something I'd be able to replicate on my own without a significant cost. So for now, I'll keep returns on.

You can explore all of our current titles on our Books Page.

If you'd like to help share our works, visit our Libraries Page for circulation details and ISBNs.

Our books are available through major retailers including Chapters, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, and Waterstones.