Ingram, owner of Lightning Source, which has cooperated with Amazon in the past, has issued a statement about Amazon's decision that all POD books it sells must be produced by Amazon affiliate, BookSurge.
Ingram chairman John Ingram said, "We all live in a world where decisions are made about insourcing and outsourcing, and free choice is important. At Ingram Book and Lightning Source, we are going to work really hard to continue to be the compelling choice as publishers make their outsourcing decisions.... At Lightning Source, we produce a great product and thus do justice to our publishers' valuable titles. There is no question that we provide the highest print quality, the fastest turnaround speeds, and the most comprehensive portfolio of channels for a publisher's books."
Amazon, which sells about fifteen percent of the books in the US, represents a large and readily available market for small publishers, but the contracts for Amazon's various options cut deep into what are often already slim profit margins.