How can I get an International Standard Book Number (ISBN)?

Dave, I've just wrapped up an ebook that I want to sell, and I've been told by a couple of publishers that I should get an ISBN before releasing it. What's an ISBN and how do I get one for my ebook?

Dave's Answer:

ISBN's are International Standard Book Numbers, as you probably know, and they're internationally unique IDs for books and book-like works. To give you an idea of how these work, here's the ISBN for my recently book Wicked Cool Shell Scripts: ISBN 1-59327-012-7. This breaks down as country identifier: 1, publisher identifier: 59327, title identifier: 012, and check digit: 7.

Checking another book from the same publisher, Hacking: The Art of Exploitation, we can see that its ISBN is 1-59327-007-0, so indeed "59327" is the publisher ID and these books are #12 and #7, respectively.

The following detailed ISBN Q&A is directly from the ISBN clearinghouse organization, and it offers definitive answers on these questions.

What is the purpose of an ISBN?
The purpose of the ISBN is to establish and identify one title or edition of a title from one specific publisher and is unique to that edition, allowing for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers and distributors.

What is the format of the ISBN?
Every ISBN consists of ten digits and whenever it is printed it is preceded by the letters ISBN. The ten-digit number is divided into four parts of variable length, each part separated by a hyphen.

Does the ISBN have any meaning imbedded in the numbers?
The four parts of an ISBN are as follows:

Group or country identifier which identifies a national or geographic grouping of publishers;
Publisher identifier which identifies a particular publisher within a group;
Title identifier which identifies a particular title or edition of a title;
Check digit is the single digit at the end of the ISBN which validates the ISBN.

Why do some ISBNs end in an "X"?
In the case of the check digit, the last digit of the ISBN, the upper case X can appear. The method of determining the check digit for the ISBN is the modulus 11 with the weighting factors 10 to 1. The Roman numeral X is used in lieu of 10 where ten would occur as a check digit.

Who assigns an ISBN?
ISBN are assigned by ISBN group agencies worldwide coordinated by the International ISBN Agency in Berlin. ISBNs are assigned in the United States by the U.S. ISBN Agency. R.R. Bowker is the independent agent in the U.S. for this system.

Who is eligible for an ISBN?
The ISBN Agency assigns ISBNs at the direct request of publishers, e-book publishers, audio cassette and video producers, software producers and museums and associations with publishing programs.

All Q&A is from the ISBN.org ISBN FAQ.

Your best bet to proceed with obtaining an ISBN is to read through the material on their site, then apply for an ISBN directly. It's $19.95 for 10 ISBN's if you don't require expedited processing, so it's quite reasonably priced.

Categorized: The Writing Business (Article 3921, Written by Dave Taylor)
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Comments

I think you calcualted the price for 10 ISBN's incorrectly. $19.95 is for the "Publisher Registration Fee" then add another $225.00 for the "REGULAR PROCESSING FEE."

Posted by: Michael Clark at March 10, 2005 10:58 PM

By George, Michael, you're absolutely right! In fact, to get 10 ISBNs you'll need to pay $225 for the ISBNs themselves PLUS $19.95 to register as a publisher. Add it up, divide by ten, and you'll find that it's $24.49/ISBN in total.

Posted by: Dave Taylor at March 11, 2005 1:50 AM

ISBN numbers are keyed to the specific publisher, so why would the publisher tell the author to get an ISBN number? They should provide it - or are we mixing terminology here (the website host isn't considered the publisher)?

Peter

Posted by: Peter Lucash at March 11, 2005 4:25 AM

Peter, I think you're getting things mixed up. The original question, as far as I could fathom, was someone who was self-publishing an ebook. If you have a publisher, then, yes, the publisher should be arranging for an ISBN, not the author.

Posted by: Dave Taylor at March 11, 2005 4:38 AM

How do I find out how many books have been sold?
I've been told there is something I can click on.

Posted by: john campo at November 4, 2007 5:01 PM

Question: my partner and i are in the final phases (the pdf is being finalized) of wrapping up "the funny face coloring book" which we anticipate to be a series. we are debating whether to find a publisher or go direct. obviously having an established publisher we anticipate will increase readership/sales, but then monetary concerns aside what do you suggest, what else should we consider, we want to be in the publishing business and we want to get to market as fast as possible. is it realistic to think we can do this ourselves, what should we watch out for? any thoughts on the matter would be much appreciated. if we use a publisher can we still promote the brands: "bringing people together" & "whatsupbro productions"? please do feel free to contact me directly. If publisher is the way to go please can you provide us with some good contacts. Dwayne my partner has done an amazing job with the coloring book so i really want him to get the 7 star experience in bringing his work to his "readership".

Posted by: Jonathan Lurie at December 14, 2007 7:42 AM

I wish to get an ISBN number for my book that i wrote. Who is the authorized agency in Nigeria for this number?.

Thank you

Posted by: olufemi ogunbode at June 23, 2009 9:20 AM

i will like to know what is rquired to be a publisher. i have been in somehow engaged in pulishing books and i ve been doing well and yet i have not registered as a publisher but i dont no how to process it at the right way. please advice me.

victor uzodinma
4rom nigeria

Posted by: victor uzodinma at September 1, 2009 3:00 AM

Am thinking of going into self publishing of some of the books have written..
So please help me with ideas on how to go about the isbn number and also idea about self publishing.

Posted by: Akeem Salami at May 1, 2010 4:53 PM

I am a student i can't afford to buy an ISBN but i want to be publishing my write ups in journals with isbn. Pls help me. My email is twergywhite@yahoo.com

Posted by: femi at June 3, 2010 10:03 AM

i would like to acquire ISBN for my new book publication.

Posted by: Abel at June 29, 2011 8:44 PM

I REALLY HAVE A BOOK ALREADY FOR PUBLISHING BUT THE PROBLEM IS THAT I DON'T HAVE A SPONSOR-ER WHO CAN HELP ME TO ACHIEVE MY GOAL OF BEEN A GREATER AUTHOR OF BOOKS

Posted by: OHAKWE .M. SHEPHERD at August 6, 2011 9:51 AM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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