I received an email this morning, a Service Alert describing an anticipated modification to Ingram Spark's cloth hardbacks . . .
I found nothing in this regard on the Ingram Spark site, at least not yet. If this is accurate, I must say I'm disappointed. I've been very pleased with the cloth w/jacket hardbacks (surprisingly, these hardbacks have done as well or better than paperbacks in sales for me). I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the future will be.
On October 22, 2019, we will be retiring our blue and grey cloth covers and gold foil spine stamping in favor of a blue and grey digital cloth image with linen textured lamination*. As a publisher with cloth titles, this announcement is to inform you of next steps (no action required).
Next Steps
[*=left]As of October 22, any title that has been set up with blue or grey cloth will be printed digitally using a comparable blue and grey cloth image.
[*=left]No changes to metadata or files are required by the publisher.
[*=left]This change will happen automatically and will not impact the availability of titles.
[*=left]Spine text that was previously foil stamped will be digitally printed using a non-metallic comparable gold-colored ink.
[*=left]After October 22, the cloth book type will no longer be an option for new titles set up in Ingram's systems. It will be available in the blue and grey digital offering only.
Why Is the Cloth Book Type Being Retired?
[*=left]Productivity: In today's high-demand marketplace, cloth book types slow down the hardcover production process, unlike digitally-printed book types.
[*=left]Consistency: The new book type is more accurate in terms of applying spine text to hardcover books which means better quality and less margin for error.
[*=left]Flexibility: The new book type will introduce new features and capabilities for publishers, including customization of the cover beneath a book jacket. On October 22, like-for-like conversion will be the only available option as the foundational step of more unique offerings still to come for this book type.
Please Note:
If you are an author services company using Ingram for printing, please update your own websites and backend systems to accommodate this change.
Visual comparisons of the cloth book type and the new digitally-printed book type will be available soon via email. Please feel free to reach out to your sales representative or customer support if you have questions not covered in this email.
*Linen textured lamination will not be available in our AU facility and will be replaced by our standard matte lamination.
I found nothing in this regard on the Ingram Spark site, at least not yet. If this is accurate, I must say I'm disappointed. I've been very pleased with the cloth w/jacket hardbacks (surprisingly, these hardbacks have done as well or better than paperbacks in sales for me). I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the future will be.
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