Of the 300,000 books that had been in SPD’s warehouse, titles from approximately 130 publishers were sent to Ingram for warehousing. (Ingram had agreed to accept books from 50 publishers.)
After SPD announced that it had ceased operations on March 28, 2024, Ingram reached out to all publishers whose books they are warehousing with the following instructions:
“As a result of [SPD’s] closure, our warehouse and fulfillment services relationship with SPD has ended and we have ceased fulfilling orders for your titles. This step was taken to minimize the financial impact to you. In an effort to expedite the relocation of your inventory, please complete and return the form linked here by April 17th so that we may review in a timely manner.
Please complete the form linked above if you choose to have inventory shipped to a new location. You will be responsible for covering the shipping and handling costs. We will provide you with a quote and payment instructions, upon receipt of the completed form. Any inventory remaining in our distribution center after 60 days from the date on this e-mail will be recycled. We will continue to process returns from Ingram wholesale customers for all titles that remain associated with the SPD account for six (6) months. All returns will be recycled, unless agreed otherwise.
Should you wish to make your titles available through our Lightning Source print-on-demand program or to speak with a representative, please contact Lightning Source through this link, https://getstarted.ingramcontent.com.”
On April 9, Publishers Lunch reported the following:
“Further to Monday’s reporting on unclaimed SPD inventory, Ingram clarified procedures for impacted small publishers, stating that there is ‘some flexibility’ on the time frame. A recent email informed former SPD clients that they would need to complete a request to relocate their inventories by April 17 and that any inventory remaining at the Ingram distribution center after 60 days would be recycled.
They write in an email to PL, ‘While we have some flexibility within the 60-day timeframe to retrieve inventory, we do ask for a prompt response to expediate their desired next steps, which includes the necessary movement of ISBN numbers of affected titles from SPD’s account for potential future resale.’
The email continues: ‘Conversations with publishers interested in wholesale and/or distribution relationships with Ingram are currently underway. We are also aware of and have shared other distributors stepping in to help many of the small presses. Regarding any remaining inventory, we are exploring additional options to provide to publishers who are unable to relocate their inventory in a timely fashion.’
The email also states that Ingram is ‘doing everything we can to ensure continuity and success for independent publishers impacted by this latest closure.'”
