How do I get an ISBN Number?

ISBN is the International Standard Book Number, a 10-digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products published anywhere in the world. Pick up any book on your bookshelf and you'll find that it has an ISBN. My book Wicked Cool Shell Scripts has an assigned ISBN of 1-59327-012-7.

Turns out you can decipher this ISBN number too: the four parts of an ISBN are the group or country identified ('1' in the ISBN above), publisher identifier ('59327'), title identifier ('012') and the check digit ('7'). Sure enough, check another title from the same publisher, NoStarch Press, Write Portable Code, its ISBN is ISBN 1-59327-056-9.

ISBN numbers are assigned by a group of agencies worldwide coordinated by the International ISBN Agency in Berlin, Germany. In the United States, ISBNs are assigned by the U.S. ISBN Agency: R.R. Bowker is the independent agent in the US for this system. It's easy to remember their website: ISBN.org.

You can apply for an ISBN on their Web site - it takes about two weeks for one to be assigned, and there's a publisher registration fee of $24.95 plus a service fee that starts at $225.00 for 10 ISBNs, no rush service (if you need something immediately, there's a $125 express processing surcharge). There's also a $25 annual fee for each publisher, so whether you have one ISBN or a thousand, you'll have to pay that additional amount too.

All told, for a new publisher to get an ISBN (or ten) will cost $250, or $25/ISBN. Since you can get 10 ISBNs for the same price as one, it's worth applying for books on your horizon too, rather than just the one you're about to publish.

Here's the critical link: Apply for an ISBN.

Note that there's a print application too, if you'd prefer not filling it out electronically and paying by credit card.

I hope this gets you started with your ISBN application. Once you've done that, don't forget to also register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office too!