ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. I’ll explain what ISBNs are for and then I’ll tackle why you need one and when. However, it needn’t be as expensive as you may have been led to believe. If you believe you need an ISBN not only for multiple books but for multiple versions of the same book and/or for each individual format of the book (PDF, MOBI, ePub, etc.), then this can add up quite quickly. In many cases, there’s only one source of ISBNs and this source is NOT cheap – especially if you are buying your ISBNs individually.

Depending on where in the world you come from, or what route you take to get published, obtaining an ISBN can cost anywhere from nothing to literally hundreds of dollars. For many, it’s a subject that’s all too often shrouded in confusion. This can be a complicated process and if you are not comfortable with digital technology you might find it somewhat frustrating.This a question that comes up frequently with new authors. There is no upper or lower limit on how many books you need to buy though Amazon, in fact you don’t have to buy any if you don’t want to, but most people are so excited to see their book in print that they decide to order a handful to give away to their friends and loved ones! One thing to note is that if Amazon does assign you a number, it will only work with Amazon, so it may prove to be difficult in the future to move to another publisher or self-publishing company, although this is not important to most people.Īmazon will, however, offer you a discount link, if you decide you want to buy your own independent ISBN through Bowker.Īmazon will take care of all of the copyright details, and although you don’t need to include a copyright page, most authors still do. If you are Canadian, you can also obtain a “free” ISBN number from the Government of Canada. The main generator of ISBN numbers in North America is a company called Bowker, but it is not absolutely necessary to go through them to get your ISBN number.Īmazon will auto-generate an ISBN number for your print book and an ASIN number for your digital book, register it with Bowker and even generate the appropriate EAN barcode for the back of your printed book. Any book that is made publicly available, whether sold or given away, should have an ISBN number for identification. ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number and it’s used to identify text-based publications that are “one-off,” rather than journals, newspapers etc. If you are self-publishing your book you will hopefully know by now that you need an ISBN number.

Here is Part Two in his three-part series on getting your book published on Amazon. My friend Stephen Ross helps people upload their book manuscripts to Amazon and he has very kindly offered to share some of his information with my audience.

Kindle direct publishing isbn