ISBNs and CoverArt

I owe someone a thank you for giving me the motivation to write a blog this week. We've been getting a lot of traffic on our self-publishing topics, but one future author took the time to ask for a bit of extra information. Since I always end up being wordy, and the topic was apropos, I can finally present this week's self-publishing blog post.

Apologies for it being so late in the week. We all at Crimson Melodies were at a convention over the weekend, for both work and fun, that threw us off our typical schedule. Noting to self: write blog posts before going on trips.

Hi [xyz].

It sounds like you're in a place I'm familiar with, having a book that is going to need more than just an editor to get it ready for the world. I'm still learning about the "best" way to do things, but I can definitely point you in the right direction based on my experiences.

The short, direct answer to your question about buying an ISBN yourself, and not needing any agreed upon contracts or other preparations, is yes. https://www.myidentifiers.com/index.php?ci_id=1479 Most publishing houses buy their ISBNs in bulk, 1000s at a time, without any more information than the simple statement that they are the publisher of record for those ISBNs. You can assign all the other information, like title, author, etc, at a later date, when you're actually ready to publish. If you want a bar code as well, it's a small extra charge, but it means that you could one day see your book on a book store shelf (most, if not all, stores require a bar code to offer a book for sale).

http://www.bowker.com/index.php/component/content/article/34/264

ISBNs are not limitations on your copyrights, by the way. No matter who owns the ISBN that becomes associated with your book, you will always retain all the rights to your content as an indie or self-published author – it's not like signing a contract with a big publishing firm where, typically, they keep exclusive rights to your content for X number of years after you sign. An ISBN that isn't self-purchased directly from Bowker only has stipulations about how your book will be distributed, depending on where you get the ISBN.

(Bowker is the ISBN authority in the US. Any ISBN, no matter who else attaches their name to it, at some point came from Bowker if the book is going to be printed in the US.)

Regarding covers and design: CreateSpace, and "publishers" like them (Lulu, for instance) will charge you a fair amount of money for their book design services. I've never used them so I can't speak for their quality of service, but if they don't fit your budget there are a few other options you can look into – mainly hiring people individually. It took time and a little bit of luck to find the wonderful artist who did the cover art for Eyes of the Seer back in 2006, but there are a lot of options in more recent days as indie and self-published becomes more popular. I didn't write this article myself, but it has a few links that might be a good place for you to start shopping around for cover art - http://www.katiesalidas.com/2011/05/self-publishing-cover-art-part-one.html

Unfortunately, I don't have any good suggestions for where to start looking for an editor or interior designer since I had the help of a few close friends for my book, and they aren't up to hiring themselves out. Depending on your level of comfort, you can always do your interior design yourself. CreateSpace has layout templates and helpful instructions on how to format a book for print in an editor like Microsoft Word, and you can use lots of other books as examples for how to do page numbers, footnotes, or whatever your book might need. If you plan on having interior images, though, that can get complicated very quick. Straight text, however, isn't much more complicated than a college term paper.

Some further disambiguation: The reason I have "publishers" in quotes up above is because that's how they (CreateSpace, Lulu, etc) would be listed, in relation to your book, if you use their free ISBN options. With your own, pre-purchased ISBN you have the most control over your book because the ISBN is non-exclusive – that means as long as the book's type of binding remains the same (IE softcover/perfect-bound or hardcover), you can always use that same ISBN regardless of who is printing / distributing your book. But, it may not be necessary, especially depending on where and how you plan to market. Amazon goes hand in hand with CreateSpace, and CreateSpace does allow you to distribute on Barnes & Noble as well just at a lower royalty return – the lower return, however, is comparable to the average royalty you would receive with any other "publisher", so it's not something to loose sleep over if you do choose CreateSpace.

Hardly anyone digs into an ISBN to see who is officially listed as the publisher, and if you are at all concerned about how it will be listed online or in the inside cover you can always use CreateSpace's vanity ISBN for $10 which allows you to list yourself. CreateSpace will still be listed as the publisher of record with Bowker, but that's not something the average book buyer will ever see. However, you can never use that ISBN anywhere BUT on CreateSpace, so the important decision is actually about how happy you think you'll be with your book in the long run through CreateSpace. (I've held more than one book printed through them, and can vouch for their quality. The bindings are sturdy and the covers are fairly durable, IE don't show wear any faster than most books published by a major publisher.)

If I could offer just one piece of advice, it would be this: Take your time. There are a lot of right ways to do things, and I actually think it's very difficult to do anything "wrong" when it comes to publishing a book since "wrong" is mostly a matter of opinion. But finding the best way, for you, is something that will keep you happy in the long run both in regard to how others will think of you and your book, and how you'll feel about it in the future. Little known secret: I know of a book, published under my associate's real name, that had ISBN purchased for it back in 2004, that no matter how hard they try they can't seem to get pulled from Amazon. It's mostly a communication issue, and they haven't figured out who to email or call to get results, but the reality is that there is a poor showing of a first book still out there for the world to see because it was published without knowing there could be complications in the future.

~Jesi

aka – Victor Mason of Crimson Melodies