Getting your own ISBNs

[David_G]

This seemed like a separate topic, if not, Mods, please let me know.

I went ahead and got ten ISBNs on Bowker. I want to use them at this point for print books. I am thinking, for the time being anyway, that Amazon will comprise my ebook sales, so I would just stick with their ASIN.

Now for my primary question. I am about to allocate one of the ISBNs for my paperback. It ask for my publishing date. I was thinking in November, as I need to do IngramSpark uploads now as well as what I already have completed for KDP, (though I have not clicked "Submit" yet on Bowker for the assignment).

What if any concerns about the publishing date versus timeframes should I be considering?

 

[lizmonster]

What if any concerns about the publishing date versus timeframes should I be considering?

Assuming you're talking about the actual work that needs doing in advance:

If all of your files are ready, I'd just allow time to order some author copies and make sure it's printing the way you want it to.

The other thing you might want to think about is pre-release marketing. It can sometimes make a difference to stir up some anticipation, but if this is your debut, I don't know how much traction you'd get.

But you might want to do some advertising in your first few weeks, so I'd figure out that piece and find out what, if anything, you need to prepare in advance.

None of that matters, really, if you want to release your ebook separately - you could release the ebook first, and the paperback once you were happy it was in the state you wanted.

 

[Al X.]

I don't have a good answer to your question. But I did find an interesting take on ISBN's from D2D. You might want to check it out before you commit one.

https://www.draft2digital.com/blog/the-surprising-truth-about-isbn/

 

[lizmonster]

I don't have a good answer to your question. But I did find an interesting take on ISBN's from D2D. You might want to check it out before you commit one.

https://www.draft2digital.com/blog/the-surprising-truth-about-isbn/

Couple things here:

1) This article is from 2016. (I didn't think to look until they mentioned CreateSpace.)
2) From the article:

Draft2Digital offers free ISBNs when uploading through our site, but note that our ISBNs can only be used through our service, and cannot be reused or transferred to a vendor we do not support.

I don't understand how they can call them ISBNs if they're not portable. Sounds equivalent to Amazon's ASINs, except you can't use your own ISBN as well.

3) Speaking of CreateSpace, this assertion

CreateSpace, for example, locks you out of some of their expanded distribution channels, such as libraries and academic institutions, if you use your own ISBN instead of one they provide.

while certainly true, absolutely overstates the value of KDP's expanded distribution channels.

TL;DR: Threats notwithstanding, I still think if you're wide you're better off buying your own ISBNs. (And we won't even talk about how they're free outside of the US.)

 

[WriteMinded]

. . .
I went ahead and got ten ISBNs on Bowker. I want to use them at this point for print books. I am thinking, for the time being anyway, that Amazon will comprise my ebook sales, so I would just stick with their ASIN.

Now for my primary question. I am about to allocate one of the ISBNs for my paperback. It ask for my publishing date. I was thinking in November, as I need to do IngramSpark uploads now as well as what I already have completed for KDP, (though I have not clicked "Submit" yet on Bowker for the assignment).

May I ask if you bought the ones that come with barcodes. I thought that Amazon or whoever you publish with provided barcodes, so I was surprised to see deals that incuded them with ISBNs when I made my first trip to their website.

 

[David_G]

May I ask if you bought the ones that come with barcodes. I thought that Amazon or whoever you publish with provided barcodes, so I was surprised to see deals that incuded them with ISBNs when I made my first trip to their website.

I bought the barcodes separate - $25 each. As you know from looking at their site, they do have some bundled deals.

The barcode that Amazon provides - I do not know if that will work if you decide to go wide distribution with someone like IngramSpark. The Bowker barcode works anywhere, fwiw. After I got my bookcover, I added it in Photoshop and it passed muster with KDP when I uploaded the cover.

A lot of what I am doing is definitely a learning process. For people that don't use apps like Photoshop, you probably have to get the person that does your cover design to add your barcode.

 

[WriteMinded]

I bought the barcodes separate - $25 each. As you know from looking at their site, they do have some bundled deals.

The barcode that Amazon provides - I do not know if that will work if you decide to go wide distribution with someone like IngramSpark. The Bowker barcode works anywhere, fwiw. After I got my bookcover, I added it in Photoshop and it passed muster with KDP when I uploaded the cover.

A lot of what I am doing is definitely a learning process. For people that don't use apps like Photoshop, you probably have to get the person that does your cover design to add your barcode.

Thanks for answering. $25 doesn't seem too bad. No, I didn't expect Amazon would let me use their barcode for anything beyond their reach.

Unfortunately for me, I don't use Photoshop. Never taken the time to learn how to use artistic applications. Envy those of you who are multi-talented. On the lookout for a cover artist now. Found a couple possibles. I have a vision or two or 200 in my mind, but was never good translating to paper, canvas, or digital artistry.

 

[David_G]

Latest question. Right now, I am set up to self-pub on Amazon and IngramSpark. Should I look at Barnes and Noble as well? I know that B&N can get books from Ingram, so is there any advantage? I can think of one - I can epub on B&N.

What else am I likely missing?

 

[Al X.]

Latest question. Right now, I am set up to self-pub on Amazon and IngramSpark. Should I look at Barnes and Noble as well? I know that B&N can get books from Ingram, so is there any advantage? I can think of one - I can epub on B&N.

What else am I likely missing?

First of all, I am unfamiliar with Ingram Spark's publishing service - who do they distribute to?

It makes no sense to me to go directly to Barnes & Noble or any other retailer. I publish my ebooks through Draft2Digital, and they push to most of the major retailers. I -think- they use Ingram Spark as their POD printing service. You can do the same thing for print books as D2D does print now as well. The thing about it is that aggregators like D2D and Smashwords (oops, D2D bought them) take care of all your sales and tax accounting.

I don't personally go wide for print books because I don't expect to sell enough for it to be worth it.

 

[David_G]

First of all, I am unfamiliar with Ingram Spark's publishing service - who do they distribute to?

It makes no sense to me to go directly to Barnes & Noble or any other retailer. I publish my ebooks through Draft2Digital, and they push to most of the major retailers. I -think- they use Ingram Spark as their POD printing service. You can do the same thing for print books as D2D does print now as well. The thing about it is that aggregators like D2D and Smashwords (oops, D2D bought them) take care of all your sales and tax accounting.

I don't personally go wide for print books because I don't expect to sell enough for it to be worth it.

Thanks for the suggestion. As I understand it, Ingram is THE book distributor. So Draft2Digital is using Ingram to get to places like B&N, Amazon and independent bookstores. IngramSpark is part of Ingram, so I am not sure I see the advantages to Draft2Digital.

 

[lizmonster]

Latest question. Right now, I am set up to self-pub on Amazon and IngramSpark. Should I look at Barnes and Noble as well? I know that B&N can get books from Ingram, so is there any advantage? I can think of one - I can epub on B&N.

What else am I likely missing?

B&N will get your print book from Ingram, but if you want an ebook for sale there, you need to do it separately. (Ditto Google Play.)

 

[David_G]

B&N will get your print book from Ingram, but if you want an ebook for sale there, you need to do it separately. (Ditto Google Play.)

Ah, so, Ingram for the print book, B&N for the ebook. Thanks! Does this mean I need to assign an ISBN to the ebook?

 

[lizmonster]

Ah, so, Ingram for the print book, B&N for the ebook. Thanks! Does this mean I need to assign an ISBN to the ebook?

Yeah, unless you exclusively sell the ebook at Amazon, you need an ISBN. But you can use the same one for multiple retailers, as long as the file format is the same.

 

[David_G]

Yeah, unless you exclusively sell the ebook at Amazon, you need an ISBN. But you can use the same one for multiple retailers, as long as the file format is the same.

Ok, confusion here. Are you saying I need to use epub format on both B&N and Amazon? I was thinking each site wanted a a different format.

 

[lizmonster]

Ok, confusion here. Are you saying I need to use epub format on both B&N and Amazon?

I don't know if you must, but I did.

 

[David_G]

I don't know if you must, but I did.

I was wondering if Kindle worked ok with epub format versus .kpf I originally loaded a epub to Amazon and it griped, but it looked ok. I am thinking they just want you to use their format for their own reasons.

 

[Al X.]

1. Ebook

Amazon, and D2d will accept multiple formats but their preferred is .docx.

2. POD

KDP Print will accept .docx and PDF but their preferred format is PDF

3. Not sure about Ingram Spark or D2D but I suspect that they prefer PDF too. The final printed product is in fact a PDF before being fed to the machine as I understand it.

 

[lizmonster]

1. Ebook

Amazon, and D2d will accept multiple formats but their preferred is .docx.

2. POD

KDP Print will accept .docx and PDF but their preferred format is PDF

3. Not sure about Ingram Spark or D2D but I suspect that they prefer PDF too. The final printed product is in fact a PDF before being fed to the machine as I understand it.

I uploaded an epub to Amazon, IS, B&N, and Google Play.

The print book was a pdf. (If I read the KDP help section properly, you can upload a properly formatted .docx instead.)

 

[lizmonster]

argh duplicate - sorry everyone!

 

[lizmonster]

Here's KDP's help file on ebook file formats.

 

[David_G]

I uploaded an epub to Amazon, IS, B&N, and Google Play.

The print book was a pdf. (If I read the KDP help section properly, you can upload a properly formatted .docx instead.)

For the POD, yes, KDP accepts a properly formatted .docx. IngramSpark wanted a .pdf, but that was just a quick export from my Word file.

I have been using the Kindle Create app on my PC to import my Word file to make an epub. Then I can export in a variety of formats, so that part is taken care of and frankly, it is an easy app to use.

 

[lizmonster]

I have been using the Kindle Create app on my PC to import my Word file. Then I can export in a variety of formats, so that part is taken care of and frankly, it is an easy app to use.

Yeah, my book formatting guy uses Vellum, which also lets you export to multiple formats. There are a lot of ways to accomplish this stuff.