ISBN number for self-published book?

Question

How can I get an ISBN number for a self-published book I have written?

Answer 1

http://www.iuniverse.com/ad/yah/?cid=yah_iu&s_kwcid=TC-2563-19223973011-S-4770241011&OVRAW=iuniverse&OVKEY=iuniverse&OVMTC=standard&OVADID=4770241011&OVKWID=19223973011 (Get the free self publishing guide)

Contrary to popular belief you CAN get an ISBN for a self published book without going through a major publisher, many of my fellow Barnes and Noble booksellers have done it. We hold, at my store, a yearly local author event - at no cost to the author - to help promote authors in our community. Many of our other stores also have such events, and the Community Relations Manager at your local location should be able to give you the name of the website/phone number/address you need to obtain you ISBN. You can also ask online at our Bookclubs forum (http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/?z=y). We may not carry it in our stores, but if it has an ISBN we are usually more than happy to add it to our website and to our list of Print-on-Demand books that we can order into our store. BN.com and Amazon.com carry thousands of self published, print on demand books.

Answer 2

You can't. Only the publisher can. They are sold in lots of ten and then only to a publisher. The prefix is always the same for that particular publisher. This is one of the terrible downsides of self publishing. I try- and others do too - here to talk people out of self publishing, but they see the easy way out and go for it. The result is incidents like this. You have to contact your self publisher and ask if they will sell one to you, but if the book is already printed, it won't be in the book. Without an ISBN, your book is not for sale anywhere but at the self publisher. Not at Amazon.com Barnes and Noble.com. Books a Million.com etc. Even WITH an ISBN your book will not find its way onto the shelves of bookstores unless you are willing to spend a ton of money on promotion.

I star every Q and A on writing and publishing. I post against self publishing all day long. So do many of the other Writers Beware sites. And yet people do it anyway. Very sad. Go to my profile and print out a lot of the starred Q and A and start learning how to publish traditionally for your next book. These situations just kill me. It is such a waste. Write me and tell me who the self publisher is and maybe I can help.
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They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.

Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.

Pax - C

Answer 3

I don't think you can. It seems that most books don't have isbn's until they've gone though a publisher -- who has rights to such things. I don't want to steer you wrong, so I'd recommend contacting a publishing company or literary agent; they're more on the ball about such things.

Answer 4

1

Answer 5

If you are just curious, go to your local library. It really depends on the nature of the book. They start with computers at 000.0000