Global Exchange Service

Global Exchange Service

Global Exchange Service


A set of information to understand how the Global Exchange service works.


Global Exchange Service allows Italian publishers to distribute their titles in print versions worldwide through a print-on-demand system.
The service is provided in partnership with Ingram Content Group, the world's largest distributor of publishing content.


For more details, please see the service description page Global Exchange Service .

The business model involves no disbursement by the publisher to activate and maintain the distribution, and is therefore risk-free.

  • There are no set up nor distribution fees.
  • When uploading your titles you will be able to select the markets in which you wish to distribute and set the sale price in the currency of the market. The portal will show you in real time the compensation in euro that you will receive for each sale: you can then choose whether to increase or decrease the sale price according to your earnings prospects. 
  • To cover service costs, for the first 10 sales for each title you will receive a fixed compensation of 1€, from the 11th sale onwards you will be paid the compensation set for the market where the sale took place.
  • Monthly we will add up the compensations you will have accrued from your titles distribution in the various markets, and not yet paid: the compensation payments will be made either upon overall achievement of a minimum threshold of €1,000 or by December 31 of the current year.
  • You will be able to monitor the progress of sales and compensations at any time through the "Compensation reports" and "Account statements" sections.
  • There are no suspension/deletion/re-activation fees.
  • If you wish to review a pdf (interior or cover) of a title with distribution active/suspended/deleted, we will ask for the advance payment of 90 € per review, before transmitting the new pdf to Ingram.

For more information, please see the service contract.

The title sale price:

  • Must be expressed in the currency of the distribution market
  • Must be less than 500
  • Must be such as to guarantee a minimum compensation of 3€ per copy sold

The publisher accepts the contract for the Global Exchange service.

The publisher selects the titles he or she wishes to distribute and uploads them to the Global Exchange repository, specifying the necessary metadata, selecting the countries in which he or she wishes to activate distribution, and setting the selling prices for each market.

The title becomes part of the Ingram catalog and is distributed globally.

When the title is purchased, it is printed by Ingram or one of the local printing partners and sent to the end customer or the bookstore where the order was placed.

For each recorded sale, the publisher is paid the compensation established when the title is uploaded.

Distribution is active in the following countries:

  • Australia
  • Brazil
  • South Korea
  • Germany
  • Japan
  • India
  • Poland
  • United Kingdom
  • Singapore
  • South Africa
  • Spain
  • United States

For more information regarding markets and sales channels, Click here.

Once the distribution is enabled, it can take from 2 to 6 weeks before your title turns available for sale in all different distribution channels, hence it can be ordered.

Your personal Global Exchange Service archive allows you to follow-up on the status of the processing.

No, if you already have a distribution agreement with Ingram, you can’t activate the Global Exchange service for those titles.

Titles of any genre, category and language can be uploaded and enabled for international distribution without any limitation.

Currently, only milled paperback bound titles without flaps can be enabled for international distribution. Minimum and maximum formats are as follows:

  • Minimum: 102 X 152 mm
  • Maximum: 210 X 297 mm

Not all sizes are available for all paper types. The portal alerts you when you select a combination that is not managed by the distribution.

PDF cover requirments:

  • 3 mm bleed required on all four sides.
  • Graphics, illustrations, and color intended to print past the edge of a cover should bleed a full 3 mm past the final trim size
  • All text, important images, logos and the barcode should respect a safety margin of at least 3 mm from the trim marks
  • If the cover has a spine width greater than 9 mm, the spine safety is 2 mm
  • If the spine width is less than 9 mm, the spine safety is 1 mm

When uploading, you will be asked for a variety of information about your title. We recommend that you be as accurate and specific as possible to increase the chances that your title will be discovered by potential readers and thus increase its sales.

Click here to download the full list of required metadata. 

For titles loaded in the Global Exchange archive, the print quality and interior paper types available are as follows:

Print quality

  • Black & white 
  • Standard color 
  • Premium colors 


Interior paper

  • 50lb Creme
  • 44lb Groundwood
  • 50lb White
  • 70lb White

If you have the opportunity, please edit and remove the manufacturing declaration from your pdf file. Otherwise, the title may go into distribution presenting a double "Printed on" page: Rotomail's and the one of the local printer, if any.

No, it is not necessary to remove the cover price from the file.

Yes, you can choose to upload your titles individually or proceed with a bulk upload. For more information on modalities, please contact us by writing to podrotomail@rotomail.it.

Yes, in order to ensure compliance with Ingram's technical requirements, your files may be subject to certain modifications.


For more information, please consult the contract.

Of course, at any time you can choose to:

  • Suspend the distribution, i.e. pause it. It is always possible to reactivate the distribution at a later date, after the suspension.
  • Cancel the distribution, i.e. stop it permanently. It is possible to reactivate the distribution after the cancellation until Ingram declares the distribution expired. In this case to reactivate the distribution, you must proceed with a new transmission.

The portal will guide you showing for each title only the actions available according to the distribution status.

You will not be charged any cost of suspension, cancellation, reactivation of the distribution.

Certainly, you can choose to change the distribution markets and their respective selling prices by accessing the Global Exchange archive and clicking on the 'Actions>Edit Pricing' button of the title on which you wish to make changes.  Once you have applied the changes, click on the 'Actions>Update pricing' button to transmit the changes to Ingram.


Please note: you can change markets and selling prices once per month for every single title.

Certainly, you can choose to change the title metadata (Title info, Authors & contributors, Title categorization, Title description) by accessing the Global Exchange archive and clicking on the 'Actions>Edit' button of the title on which you wish to make changes.  Once you have applied the changes, click on the 'Actions>Update metadata' button to transmit the changes to Ingram.


Please note: you can update metadata once per day for every single title.

Certainly, you can choose to update the title pdf files by accessing the Global Exchange archive and clicking on the 'Actions>Reload pdf' button of the title on which you wish to make changes.  Once you have applied the changes, click on the 'Actions>Review pdf': the system will require the advance payment of 90€ for every modified component (interior, cover), before transmitting the changes to Ingram.


Please note: you can change pdf files once per month for every single title.

Your compensation payments will be paid to you in euros, regardless of price and sales market.

Certainly, from your "Global Exchange" section you can access the following sub-sections:

  • Account statement: from here you will be able to view the performance of the titles over the last month, including the beginning balance, the total of the incoming movements related to the compensations earned in the various markets, the total of the outgoing movements related to the eventual payment of the compensations by Rotomail and the ending balance.
  • Account movements: section summarizing all movements related to the titles being distributed -accrued compensations and payments received.
  • Compensation reports: history of the sales of the various Books in the different markets and the compensation calculated for them in the various months of distribution
  • Compensation payments: list of compensation payments arranged and made by Rotomail to you
  • Price history: details of sales prices and compensations established per individual ISBN in each of the distribution markets

 
In each sub-section you will be able to export a summary excel file.

Yes, you must issue a regular invoice for "Global Exchange Service" of an amount equal to the payment value plus the 22% VAT rate. Rotomail will pay you after 120 days from the date the payment was placed, in any case after the collection of the compensations from Ingram. For more information, please consult the contract.

We will settle the accrued compensation for sales of your titles:

  •  By the end of the calendar year (31 December) regardless of the amount accrued
  •  Periodically, when the total amount of 1000€ is exceeded 

Payment will be made 120 days after the date on which the payment was placed, in any case after the collection of the compensations from Ingram.

You can monitor the progress of your compensation and the respective payments from the 'Compensation reports' and 'Compensation payment' sections.

Yes, it is possible that the compensations may change over time due to changes in the euro exchange rate of the currency of the market in which the title is distributed or due to increased printing or service costs. 

In the event that such a situation should arise, we will promptly notify you. We would like to remind you that it is possible in any case possible to change sales prices even for titles already in distribution, in order to maintain the expected compensation from the sale of your books.

For further information, please consult the contract.

We will check the average value of the exchange rate on a monthly basis; should this value depreciate compared to the threshold value used on the portal to define the compensations, we will re-define the new threshold value for the market where the depreciation occurred, and we will re-calculate the compensation for single sale of your books in the market itself.

The current threshold values of the euro exchange rates are:

  • US market: 0,85 (USD→EUR)
  • UK market: 1,05 (GBP→EUR)
  • AU market: 0,55 (AUD→EUR)

No, as it is a print-on-demand service, titles in international distribution are not subject to the right of return.