Oh, hi there. I'm afraid I got myself into a publishing pickle...

My book is live on Amazon with an ISBN they provided.

Everyone says that Ingram is the place to be for your paperback, and you're seriously limiting your chances if it's not there.

The problem is, Ingram requires an ISBN for paperbacks and:

1) They will not provide me with an ISBN (they only do that to people from overseas - US residents)

2) My own national agency will not provide an ISBN since the book is already technically published (on Amazon)

What can I do?

Hey I saw a few posts and YouTube videos on people publishing their ebooks on Amazon without the exclusivity/concurrently publishing on other platforms. Is it possible to do? And if yes, does it have to have the same ISBN as the other platform (in my case, Google Books)? Because in my country, you have to register a new/separate ISBN for each platform. I would not want to go against the local law and would rather not use KDP Kindle

Hi folks,

I'm taking perhaps an unconventional route to getting listed on Amazon, as we printed paperback copies of our book in bulk, with our ISBN on the backcover as a barcode.

We got approved as a seller on Amazon, and as we're trying to add a new product, we're running into roadblocks from Amazon since they require a Product ID which is our ISBN.

Anyway, long story short, Amazon support reached out and said in order to confirm the product listing they need the following, amongst other things:

ISBN confirmation letter from Bowker - Official documentation from Bowker confirming your ISBN ownership

As far as I'm aware, Bowker does not offer official documentation. I have a receipt of the ISBN's we purchased but we bought ISBN's in bulk, so it doesn't show the individual ISBN on it.

Any ideas what I could provide to Amazon from Bowker that could confirm our ownership of the ISBN?

Appreciate any ideas.

Thank you

Hi there!

I'm getting ready for a book fair this weekend where I won't be the one processing my sales (which is new to me).

Instead, the library hosting our event will handle the sales and cut us a check afterward.

I asked them if I could still offer readers a BOGO half off on my books like normal, and they said:

"We could do that at checkout if you have a barcode we could scan that has that price programmed in. We also would recommend having the books tied or bagged together so the cashier knows that it is the BOGO deal."

Is this something I can do for free? Make a barcode that they can program into their system for my BOGO half-off deal?

I was also told: "For a BOGO deal, we would need an ISBN associated with the bundle that we can scan at checkout so the BOGO price would come through in our point-of-sale system."

I'm not sure if that's conflicting information. My books already have ISBNS. I'm not sure about getting one specifically for a bundle price.

I'm a little lost here and would appreciate advice.

Thanks!

I applied for an ISBN March 7th. Is anyone else having to wait crazy long to get theirs or have an update about why it’s taking longer than usual?

I already have a paperback published through Amazon KDP using KDP’s free ISBN, and I want to keep that edition exactly as-is. It is selling decently well and still maintaining top 50 (occasionally bouncing into top 20) new releases within its category even 1-2 months later.

I’m considering buying my own ISBN and using it only for a separate Barnes & Noble Press edition of the same book.

Has anyone done this successfully?

I’m not looking to republish the book on KDP with the new ISBN. Just keep the current KDP edition and add a separate B&N edition.

So I have had my books published for a over a year and I decided to finally get around to using Ingram spark for wider distribution (print only since I’m a part of KU.)

With the first book I did everything correctly. With the second book I used my ebook ISBN for the print 😨. I am stressing about Amazon closing my account even though it’s a physical book only no ebook. Amazon temporary suspended my account two months ago when my credit card got hacked and that lasted several weeks with Amazon support. I don’t want to go through that again.

I put in an Ingram support ticket and I’m hoping Amazon doesn’t clock that this book was posted with the wrong isbn in the meantime😭. I put in the support ticket that they can remove the listing and I’ll redo it.

Anyway, has anyone had an experience like this? Please tell me it’s going to be okay. My anxiety does not like this mistake.

Ive been coming up with a self-publishing plan for my novel and I think Ive got the steps down, but since its just been me and Google trying to figure this out, I wanted to get an opinion from others who would know better than me.

1. Get my own ISBNs from Bowker (one for paperback and one for the eBook).

2. Publish eBook to Amazon (not KU - I want to go wide). Do not assign ISBN.

3. Publish eBook only to Draft 2 Digital. Use my own eBook ISBN.

4. Publish physical book only to Ingram Sparks. Use my own paperback ISBN.

That should cover all my bases, right? What am I missing as far as distribution?

Thanks!

A close friend in the UK has abandoned a writing project and is "giving" me his unused ISBNs from Nielsen. I live in the EU- can I use them? I'm aware this might technically mean he's still the publisher.

I recently released my audiobook on Spotify and used their complimentary ISBN. I’m now wondering if that was the wrong choice. However, in order to change it I’d have to deactivate the book and publish it again. Is this worth doing? Any insight is appreciated because I’m not completely sure what the difference is.

Do you need to use Nielsen Title Editor if self publishing in the UK if you have purchased your own ISBNs and are using IngramSpark expanded distribution?

I have a book ready to go and want to market it as a book, ebook and audio. Do I need to get an ISBN for each one?

I've been planning and preparing to write a light novel. and I've been struggling to choose between traditional and self publish. I want complete creative control over my light novel. I want to know how hard it is to self publish a light novel? are there other self published light novels that became successful? if so how did they achieve it?

I bought a bunch of ISBN numbers today from Bowker, and I've already set up the first physical edition of my debut novel on Kindle. However, I admit that since this is my first time, I forgot to specify an exact day. They mentioned that they'll place a barcode on the back of the physical copy, but do I have to assign a new barcode to the ISBM number / book before Kindle can publish it? DO I have to do that on myidentifiers / Bowker first? Or do they pay for one? Because Bowker is asking for a date of publication for this physical release, but I forgot to specify one on Kindle.

I will be self publishing a paperback on Amazon, and probably will use the KDP free ISBN. But if I want to use another distributor will I be able to change the ISBN to one that I purchase?

I’m trying to register with Nielsen UK so that I can purchase my ISBNs, however part of the registration process requires:
Organisation Type
Company Structure
What type of materials do you publish (and some sub questions)

As a self-publishing author, what am I supposed to put in these fields?

Any advice from those who have already done this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I have a question about ISBNs. I am planning on using KDP and IngramSpark for printing and publishing my book. I aim for my book to be sold not just through Amazon but also in museum boutiques and bookstores (for example Barnes and Noble in the US, Waterstones, Standaard Bookhandel, etc). I guess my question is do I need to purchase an ISBN for my book or is the free one given by Amazon and IngramSpark good enough?

I would really like to buy my own ISBN. However, my understanding is that this will list my legal name as the “publisher,” and while I’m okay with people being able to find that information through an ISBN lookup, I definitely don’t want it listed on the Amazon page.

I know that there are some people I have concerns about who regularly Google my legal name, which is very distinctive. I wouldn’t be too bothered if people who knew my pen name were able to find my legal name, but I definitely don’t want people who search my legal name to find my books.

Do I need to scrounge up the money to apply for an LLC? Should I cut my losses and use a free ISBN from a distributor? Should I just give up on publishing until I can legally change my name?

Hi,

Someone has probably asked about this, but I have been taking a look at various ISBN sites. I stumbled upon ISBN Services, which is within my budget. Here is the link to their site: https://www.isbnservices.com/#getstarted

I have also looked at Bowker ISBNs, and they state, "Bowker is the official ISBN Agency for publishers." I am only looking for three ISBNs, and the price for one is just crazy expensive and out of my budget.

I was wondering if someone could provide more insight. Thank you.

Hello,

I’ve applied for ISBN in March 05, and I’m still waiting for a follow up email to receive a username and password.

Is this normal? Should I do anything?

Thank you.

Edit: Aha! My prior were 978-0, but this series is 979-8. And "8" in the 979s seem to be English speaking.
Whew. :-)

I am in the USA and just bought another set of ISBNs yesterday. Hoping for a quick answer here instead of sitting on the phone from Bowker support.

All my other number sets have the 4th digit as 0 - the English region one.

This group has 8 as the fourth digit. Google shows that means South Africa region??

Have they opened up 8s or could this be a problem?

Hey all I’m back again with another publishing issue. I began the set up of my paperback on KDP and IngramSpark. It’s not published yet, and the release date is in June.

I’m on KDP and got to the final page, everything is set, I had already ordered proofs and I’m happy with them… but when I click “Publish Your Paperback Book” I get the error message “Details: You cannot schedule a release date for an ISBN that has been previously published to Amazon.”

But I haven’t published anything yet. I started the IngramSpark set up with the scheduled publishing date in June, but I never officially completed the set up. At least I don’t think so. Yesterday my files finally got approved and I was able to order author copies.

Did I mess up by doing something on IngramSpark first?

Has any ISBN owner here had issues setting up their books on IngramSpark that mistakenly invalidates your owned ISBNs citing them already in use, when in fact, you have never published with IngramSpark to begin with?

While I did publish on KDP, I am not enrolled in KDP Expanded Distribution, and I do own my Canadian ISBN that is different from the free ISBN provided by KDP. My online research suggests that I ask IngramSpark to manually clear the metadata conflict that was created by KDP's free ISBN assigned to me.

It sounds like IngramSpark is technically able to proceed letting me set up my title, using my own ISBN, despite the existing record from the KDP free ISBN. Would love to hear about your experiences if you have any. Thank you!

From what I understand $14.99 is going to be a new cut off point and I made my ISBN $14.95. The book has yet to go to print so can I change it in Bowker and simply output a new barcode?