“Can’t I just use the CreateSpace ISBN?”
“But I heard I can buy one ISBN for A LOT less money from Ingram!”
“I have a publisher who is going to publish my book and they will let me use one of their ISBNs!”
No. No. No. No.
If you are going to publish a book yourself, if you are going to be taken seriously as an author and as a publisher, you have to have complete control of your brand, your publishing decisions, the name listed on your book and on the pages that LIST your book.
Spend the money and go to www.myidentifiers.com and get your OWN ISBNs.
Book buyers, librarians, reviewers and everyone else in this industry knows that serious books have been published correctly and with all the steps taken. If you skip this obvious and very public step, what ELSE will you be skipping? You will throw your entire publishing reputation into doubt.
It is not worth it.
Get your own ISBNs. Buy 10 for under $300 because you WILL need a separate ISBN for your eBook and any other format you may come up with.
[…] Here is the full story: If you have purchased your ISBNs from your country’s ISBN/Books in Print bureau (in the US, it is Bowker) then YOU own the ISBN and YOU are the publisher of record. (To reach Bowker in the US, go to http://www.myidentifiers.com) Here’s more info on why you need your own ISBN. […]
[…] number to the title. Never accept a “free” ISBN – it comes with strings attached. (Read THIS article to learn more about what those strings […]