Actually, I believe CreateSpace has shut down. Amazon sent me an email to inform me that all my books were being transferred to KDP print.
So, this is a zombie thread that should probably be closed. Perhaps a new one could be opened up--KDP vs. Ingram. Or maybe this one could be renamed.
To give rosehips some kind of answer, though, I've never used Ingram, but I've heard on kboards that they're a bit trickier than Amazon. Also, they charge every time you load a new document, which I find to be a non-productive disincentive. It makes you less inclined to reload your book just because you overlooked a comma. On Amazon, fix the comma, load the book back on, and you're done. Takes less time to do it than to dither over it.
Amazon and Ingram are not entirely an either/or proposition, however. If you choose a book trim size that Ingram does in hardback, you can use the same file for both Amazon and Ingram. This is the scenario that I was going to try.
First, load your books onto Amazon. Make sure you like the book in its present form while you can still make changes for free. For my next books, I'm changing my trim size to 5 by 8 because that's a standard size that Ingram will do in hardback.
Then load the same file onto Ingram. If you keep to the same trim size, nothing changes, and you won't get hit with extra fees for modifying.
This requires double the ISBNs. Amazon, Smashwords, and D2D are all willing to give you a free one, but I don't know if anyone has ever used, say, an ISBN from Smashwords for their paperback. Those are all supposed to be for the epub version of your book. Figure you'll have to buy ISBNs, at least for the hardbacks.
The major snag here, and the reason I'm still in a holding pattern on it, is that ISBNs are really expensive. I believe a single one costs $100. OTOH, you can buy a block of a hundred for a mere thousand. And okay, it's a much better deal--ten bucks apiece--but you need a spare thousand to do it.
Still, there's no deadline. There's no reason why I can't go put my books into hardback next year, when I can hopefully afford it. Much better than thinking I can never have them in hardback at all.
