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ISBNs - Who uses them? Where do you buy yours?
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Michael
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Nov 14, 2016 05:01PM
Any helpful hints much appreciated.
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My books (e-book, hardcover and paperback) all have a specific ISBN. It's basically an international book ID convention that allows a quick reference to the book and it's author.In Canada, we don't buy ISBNs, Fedreral and provincial certified agencies freely give you a series of ISBN numbers for you to use depending on the format of your books.
BTW, it has nothing to do with copyright protections or legal depots.
Bernard's FAQ response is correct. For the gory details see http://isbn.org.In the US, you can get them from bowker.com or createspace or sparkingram, or another publisher. I've heard that libraries require them but I've also heard writers say that they've gotten their books into libraries without one.
You don't need one to self-publish. It would appear on the surface that publishers abroad would need an ISBN, but you could always get one later. Other than that I'll let the more experienced speak.
I am in the U.S.A and buy ISBN's from Bowker. I do it so that my company (Marie Silk Publishing) can be listed as the publisher instead of Amazon or Createspace, which is what happens when you use one of their ISBN's. I bought the pack of 10 but regretted it because I did not realize how many ISBN's I would need. The price is really inflated the less you buy. For instance, 1 ISBN costs $125, 10 ISBNs cost $250.00, and 100 ISBNs cost $575. I wish I would have bought 100 in the first place. So far, with the 6 books I have written this year, I will need 24 ISBNs to have them in all formats (Paperback, hardback, epub, mobi). If you publish a second edition, it needs a new ISBN.
So I am about to buy 100 because I burned through the first 10 really fast. :)
Marie wrote: "I am in the U.S.A and buy ISBN's from Bowker. I do it so that my company (Marie Silk Publishing) can be listed as the publisher instead of Amazon or Createspace, which is what happens when you use ..."thx, Marie, for the excellent details on pricing.
i just found the smashwords FAQ on ISBNs and it is very complete. For example:
"Which retailers require a book to have an ISBN? Apple; Baker & Taylor Axis360 and Blio; Kobo; Library Direct; Overdrive; Gardners; and Oyster. Which don't require an ISBN? Barnes & Noble, Inktera (formerly known as Page Foundry) and Scribd."i'm going to add this one and bowker to the Author Resources Spreadsheet.
(https://www.smashwords.com/about/supp...)
Marie,I saw Bowker and their 10 for $250 deal.
Did you also need to buy barcodes for print books ?
I have not purchased any barcodes at all. Createspace automatically prints a barcode on the back of your book, based on the ISBN. So if you are designing your own cover, you'll want to make sure to leave blank the lower right corner of the backside :).
I designed my book cover and used one of CreateSpace's template showing the location and size the barcode should be. The template gives you all the parameters including trim, bleed and spine.I used one of the free ISBN barcode generator websites and placed it in the template. Everything was accepted during the review.
Why do we have to have Bowker if Canada gives them out free? I'd say go to Canada. Some European countries give them out free too.
GR wrote: "Why do we have to have Bowker if Canada gives them out free? I'd say go to Canada. Some European countries give them out free too."I maybe wrong but you need a residence address in Canada to get one. Here's the link giving how it works.
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services...
Denise wrote: "I buy 10 at a time from Bowker under my imprint name, Baer Books Press. The barcodes are $25 each, so my husband found a site that provides free barcodes http://www.creativindiecovers.com/fre......"cool. i'll add that to the author spreadsheet too.
My friend and co-author, domiciled in UK, purchased 10 from Nielsen (UK ISBN agency) and we paid 132 pounds for them..
Marie wrote: "I have not purchased any barcodes at all. Createspace automatically prints a barcode on the back of your book, based on the ISBN. So if you are designing your own cover, you'll want to make sure to..."I should clarify that I have never used Createspace template or cover creator. My cover designer sends me a pdf which I upload to createspace. These pdfs have never had a barcode, but of course when I purchase my books from Amazon, they have a barcode printed.
Hey guys, I just posted this in a couple groups, but in case you didn't see it, here it is. A great deal for the 100 pack of ISBN's, only $450 using the coupon page at the link. It says the coupon is good for the next 18 hours:http://www.fyvor.com/coupons/bowker/
