ISBN Numbers

[Justin Nemo]

Hi

Does anyone know where I can get an ISBN number for my E-books. I have published some books with an e-publishing website, but there is no mention of it there.

I've seen conflicting articles across the net about e-books needing or not needing ISBN numbers so I'm a little confused to say the least!

Thanks in advance.

[WordsWithDani]

I was kind of wondering this as well. You can buy IBSMs, but I think it's just more or less a barcode for a physical book. I think if we needed to have one we would be forced to.

[anamardoll]

You buy them here:

https://www.myidentifiers.com/isbn/main

You're supposed to use 1 ISBN per "format", but most authors choose to interpret "e-book" as a single format. So if you have your book in electronic form, in paper form, and in audio book form, you would need 3 ISBNs.

[flipreads]

Originally Posted by Justin Nemo

I've seen conflicting articles across the net about e-books needing or not needing ISBN numbers so I'm a little confused to say the least!

It depends on your retailer/distributor. Some will even provide one.

Personally, if you want to future-proof yourself, get one.

For archivists, not having an ISBN is a big problem. If you want to go further, each different edition should have a different one, but few (if any) are following that rule and is simply viewed as unnecessary costs.

[Justin Nemo]

Many thanks for the responses. Very enlightening

[morriss003]

I took the trouble of getting one through the Library of Congress for my first book. It took about a year for them to finally issue it. Now I don't bother. Smashwords will give me a free one and Amazon has their own format. Really, that first one was mostly for ego's sake.

[osnova]

Here is where I buy mine ($1 per ISBN if you buy 1,000). Or you can buy it when you distribute through bookbaby.com ($19 per ISBN) , etc.

[SerenaFairfax]

IF YOU'RE IN THE UK, NIELSON'S IS THE OFFICIAL ISBN PROVIDER.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Justin Nemo

Does anyone know where I can get an ISBN number for my E-books. I have published some books with an e-publishing website, but there is no mention of it there.

I've seen conflicting articles across the net about e-books needing or not needing ISBN numbers so I'm a little confused to say the least!

ISBNs are assigned by your local ISBN agency. In the US that's Bowkers, in the UK it's Nielsen.

To find your agency for your country, look at the International ISBN Agency website.

No matter where you sell your books, your ISBN range must be assigned by your country's ISBN agency.

Some agencies do not charge for ISBN assignments, but most do.

The current recommendation for ebooks is that each individually order-able format should have a separate ISBN. But now that the format wars are dying down, there are really only two kinds of format to consider: ePubs and Amazon's formats.

Since Amazon's formats are only available through Amazon and get assigned an Amazon ASIN, assigning them an ISBN is pretty much pointless.

ePubs might be available from several places. I would recommend assigning an ISBN to your ePub version.

[VydorScope]

I just got mine through Smashwords, Lulu, and Createspace for free.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

I just got mine through Smashwords, Lulu, and Createspace for free.

When companies offer a free ISBN, they almost invariably are allowing you to use an ISBN from their allocation. This means that the publisher of record will be that company, not yourself.

If you ever decide to publish the book through a different company, the ISBN will have to change. It does not belong to you, but to the service provider you're using.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

When companies offer a free ISBN, they almost invariably are allowing you to use an ISBN from their allocation. This means that the publisher of record will be that company, not yourself.

If you ever decide to publish the book through a different company, the ISBN will have to change. It does not belong to you, but to the service provider you're using.

Yes, that is the case. I see it as no different the the IP address on my servers... but why should I care?

[pdurrant]

if you don't care, that's fine. So long as you know.

[Justin Nemo]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Since Amazon's formats are only available through Amazon and get assigned an Amazon ASIN, assigning them an ISBN is pretty much pointless.

Sorry PD, could you explain this a little further for me?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Justin Nemo

Sorry PD, could you explain this a little further for me?

ISBNs are intended to uniquely identify a book so that if a bookshop orders it, it gets the right edition. Publishers, readers, libraries and other book users also make use of the ISBN for this purpose.

But since an ebook sold through Amazon (in one of Amazon's formats) is never sold or available anywhere else, an ISBN is unnecessary (although Amazon in the KDP system do now allow you to give an ISBN, it is not required).

All products sold on Amazon are given an ASIN - ?Amazon Stock Identifying Number? - and can be easily referenced using that ASIN like so:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/ASIN/

e.g. My edition of Kim at Amazon has an ASIN of B003JBHNS4 and can be found at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JBHNS4/

I do also have an ePub version of this book, ISBN 9781905946143. But I haven't given an ISBN to the version on Amazon.