History >
First a thriving small press, then 40 years of steady growth as a book distributor.
What Makes IPG Different? >
IPG offers more distribution programs, marketing channels, and support services than any other distributor.
General Marketing Approach >
For publishers: high selectivity and close consultation. For customers: intense human contact and state-of-the-art data feeds.
Sales Channels >
IPG has more sales channels than any other distributor.- National Retail Accounts
- National Wholesalers
- Mass Market Retailers
- Independent Booksellers and Regional Wholesalers
- Special Sales and The Gift Market
- Schools, School Libraries, and School Supply Stores
- Book Clubs and Foreign Rights
- The Professional and Academic Market
- The Spanish Language Market
- Canada
- International Sales
- Libraries
- Direct-to-Consumer Sales
Digital Services >
Since 2001 IPG has provided e-book conversion, consolidation, storage, and distribution, and very favorable rates for POD printing.
Specific Services for Publishers >
Pre-pub consultation, sales meetings and shows, access to Bookscan, Publicity and PR, advertising opportunities, and much more.
Operations >
State-of-the-art software and Distribution Center facilities; 24-hour turn time on orders.
Financial Condition & Payment Policies >
IPG's client publishers have been, without exception, paid in full and on time. IPG has no long-term debt at all.
Distribution Agreement >
IPG takes a fee based on net billing but no fees (unlike most distributors) for the storage of active titles, in-out charges, sample copies, etc.
FAQs >
Any questions? Check out answers to frequently asked questions from customers, clients, and current publishers.
Data Management
IPG has a title database that contains specifications, descriptions, author information, reviews, and cover images for every title that it sells. This mass of information is continuously updated and automatically sent once a week, in electronic form, to more than 150 partners, some of which then feed their own chain of bookselling organizations. Online booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com, and many more, immediately put this information up on their sites. All of the larger chains and wholesalers rely on this data for ordering and reordering.
IPG also sends daily inventory availability data to the Indigo chain as well as an organization that provides data to 350 independent booksellers in Canada. IPG utilizes Edelweiss to provide complete catalog data for all of its front- and backlist titles to thousands of retail booksellers in the US market as well.
Such data feeds are very technically demanding and expensive to provide—in most cases, information must be converted to ONIX, and each recipient has special requirements as to how the data must be formatted; but the ability to provide this data gives IPG-distributed titles an important marketing edge.
Salma Yaqubi
Data Manager
Salma’s technical experience includes database administration for various sectors, including retail books, nonprofits, and the University of Chicago. At IPG, Salma manages all aspects of title data, from preparing new titles to maintaining backlist data to flowing this on a weekly basis to our accounts, sales reps, and electronic data recipients.
