IngramSpark - Where Books Are Born: An Interview with Ben Hughes

EPISODE 231I

Welcome to season one of 2021! We'll now produce ten episodes every quarter, plus the monthly Encouraging Words episode. With the extra time, we're able to make some improvements to the show -- including a full transcript for each episode. Enjoy!

Today's guest is Ben Hughes, Business Development Manager at IngramSpark. Ben has a long history in publishing, both in traditional publishing and in working with independent/self-published authors. In our interview, he explains what IngramSpark does as a company, how they work with authors around the world, and what you can expect from them in the future.

Ben kindly agreed to take questions from the audience, so leave your question in the comments section below the YouTube version of the show. https://youtu.be/CzMt8-YIRFw

The transcript timecode begins at the start of the interview, so you'll need to add about 8 minutes (8:03) to the time to jump to that spot in the full episode.

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:02.160] - Kitty

Today's guest is Ben Hughes. Ben is the business development manager for IngramSpark in the U.K. In this role, he oversees all lines of business as they relate to IngramSpark, including the customer service team, and has been in this post since January 2020.As the needs of authors develop in an ever changing publishing landscape, Ingram Spark is adapting to ensure that its author platform is second to none in terms of service, author, education, distribution options and customer satisfaction. Ben leads on these areas of focus for the U.K. business while also working closely with the parent organization in the United States and the other global office in Australia. With experience across physical and digital bookselling and publishing, Ben has worked for the lightning source, part of the Ingram business, and prior to that spent five years at Penguin Random House in various sales and operational roles.

[00:00:55.800] - Kitty

Welcome, Ben.

[00:00:56.740] - Ben

Thank you very much, Kitty. Thank you for having me. It's fun to see you. So it's been maybe well, by the time this goes live, almost a year you and I met in person in the last week of the Old World. I know it feels like a long time ago, and in some ways it is, but in others it's not really. And obviously, a lot's changed since then. But, yeah, you came to see us in sunny Milton Keynes in the UK where we're based. And yeah, it's great to great to see you again. It was so fun.

[00:01:27.330] - Kitty

I have to say that was one of the best parts of my trip. I mean, here I had never been to had I ever been to England before, maybe for my husband's a twin and his twin brother went to England, happened to be on their birthday, and we went to meet them for a weekend. But this at most was my second trip to England. And the most exciting part for me was going to the IngramSpark's facility.

[00:01:51.120] - Ben

I actually remember how excited you were and I think it was quite infectious. It was quite a small group. So we have these days where people can come, just for your listeners for context- we invite people to come and see where we print the books and what we do and how it works. We do these days maybe what we try to do one a month, but depending on what time of year it is, obviously we get less uptake the closer we are to Christmas. There are certain times of day where people are too busy. And yeah, that day it was quite a small group.I can't remember quite why, but it was nice in a way that it was a small group because it meant that we got to spend more time talking to each individual and it felt a little bit more personal, which is good.

[00:02:28.770] - Kitty

Yeah,...