How To Get An ISBN: 6 Best Answers

Learning how to get an ISBN is crucial, especially if you’re a self-published author. You can’t sell a book without one. Thankfully, the process is pretty painless and straightforward, but there is a lot to know simply because there are a lot of “if that, then this” scenarios to be aware of.

Since you can’t publish without learning how to get an ISBN, we created this in-depth guide for you. We’ve taught over 8,000 authors how to write, publish, and market their books over the last 10 years, so we’re more than happy to teach you how to get an ISBN!

Remember: Becoming an author is about more than just the book. It’s about the business as well, and we’ll break down a very important part of that, especially if you plan to write more than 1 book.

If you’re ready to get to the point and learn how to get an ISBN, here is the step-by-step breakdown.

How to get an ISBN: what’s covered

• What does ISBN stand for?
• How much does it cost to get an ISBN?
• How many ISBNs to get?
• How to read an ISBN: examples
• The difference between ASIN and ISBN?
• How do you buy an ISBN?

1. What does ISBN stand for?

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number and is a 13-digit code used to uniquely identify your book out of those published worldwide. And yes, it is redundant when people write and say “ISBN number,” but that’s beside the point how learning how to get an ISBN!

What is an ISBN used for?

An ISBN, or International Standard Book Number, is a regulated 10 or 13-digit identification number which allows libraries, publishers, and book dealers to locate and identify specific books.

It’s a method of cataloging published books across the world. If you want your book to be identified, you must learn how to get an ISBN.

Where did these ISBNs even start and why do we have them?

In the early days of World War 2, the Japanese military sent messages back and forth and the Allies needed to crack their intricate numbering system to get an edge in the war and turn the tables.

But how did they crack this complex system? MI6 recruited a young mathematician named Gordon Foster to work as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park, where he scanned millions of numbers looking for patterns in the code.

Decades later, when the book industry needed a standardized tracking program in order to coordinate the increasing number of titles being published each year, Gordon Foster was approached by WH Smith, a British retailer, to write a report on how to create such a system.

This report led to the 9-digit standard book number which went live in the UK in 1967. It eventually led to the ISBN system used worldwide.

Several years later, this turned into a 10-digit numbering system when a policy was needed for new editions and variations. Then, in 2007, the ISBN switched to a 13-digit format and is now the standard used everywhere.

Do I need an ISBN to sell my book?

Self-published authors need to learn how to get an ISBN because all books that are recognized as “published” need an ISBN. Without this number, your book will not be registered globally as a published book. This is another reason why you must learn how to get an ISBN.

This is the standard method for self-published authors even if you publish on Amazon and get a “free” ISBN. It’s not really free, and there are many limitations covered below.

Think of it as buying a piece of property: You own it and it is registered in your name.

The “free” version Amazon gives you can only be used on Amazon. So if you plan to go wide with your publishing (which we recommend), you will need to learn how to get an ISBN of your own. Plus, it’s always best to set up the self-publishing process to be as individual as you can just for your records.

That’s why even though we help our authors publish, the books, ISBNs, and data is completely under their ownership to protect their book’s rights.

To learn how to get an ISBN, follow these steps:

• Go to the website https://www.myidentifiers.com.
• Set up an account by going to the “Sign In/Register” option at the top right of the page (or in the mobile menu) and fill in the required information. In the “Company Name” field, you can put either your author LLC name or your personal name.
• Choose the amount of ISBNs you want to purchase from their selection. Tip: It’s our experience after a decade in this business that the most successful authors always publish more than one book.
• After purchasing your ISBNs, navigate to your account by clicking the “Welcome [your name]!” option in the top right menu.
• Hit the “My Identifiers” option on the left of the screen under “my account.”
• Once here, select an ISBN and click the “Assign Title” option next to the number.
• Fill in the details completely in order to register the title with your ISBN. Note: this must be done prior to uploading your book because the book-specific ISBN will be needed for that process.
• Once you have your ISBNs approved (which can take 5 days), you can then use them everywhere that requires your ISBN.
• When publishing, no matter which site you use, follow the prompts until you reach the option for ISBN. Paste the number here.
• If you publish your paperback through KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), you can fill in your number in the “Paperback Content” section of your book when you log into your bookshelf.

That’s it! It does require a bit of time and an expense, along with waiting for approval, but it’s pretty straightforward.

But if you’d rather not need to worry about any of this process but still maintain all the rights, ownership, and royalties for your books, fill out an application form to work with us and let’s see how we can reduce the stress of publishing for you.

2. How much does it cost to get an ISBN?

It costs about $125 to get one ISBN in the US. However, if you purchase more than one at a time, this cost could be lowered.

How to get an ISBN for free?

Warning: Amazon may grant you a free ISBN for your first book, but this can ONLY be used on KDP for distribution to Amazon and can’t be used for self-publishing services elsewhere. Due to this, we always recommend purchasing a new one despite Amazon’s free ISBN.

How to get an ISBN you can purchase?

Here are a few tips for learning how to get an ISBN that you purchase:

• If you publish physical copies through IngramSpark, you get your ISBN for only $85
• Buying your ISBNs in bulk can save you money if you intend to publish more than one book (most do)
• Amazon issues you an ISBN for “free,” but you have to list Amazon as a publisher along with other limitations
• If you’re in Canada or South African, it’s possible to get an ISBN issued through your government
• Australians pay about $40 for an ISBN
• UK residents will pay somewhere around 89 pounds for an ISBN

And here’s a video on overall book publishing costs:

What is the purpose of an ISBN?

ISBN stands for “International Standard Book Number” and before it was implemented in 1967, the method and system for cataloging, ordering, organizing, and locating a specific book was a chaotic mess.

Today, to market your book at a bookstore, a library, or almost any book distribution channel on the planet, you need to learn how to get an ISBN because you’ll need the number. Let’s unweave the intricate web of how to get an ISBN and how they work in the publishing industry.

How to get an ISBN outside of the US?

ISBNs are free in many countries, provided either by the government or a publicly administered branch. However, in the US and the UK, ISBNs are administered by Bowker and Nielsen respectively and require you to pay.

Wondering how to get an ISBN if you’re located outside the US? You can find out your local ISBN Agency here. While ISBNs are assigned locally, you can use them internationally.

If you live in the USA, you have to get an ISBN through myidentifiers.com, run by Bowker, the only company that is authorized to administer the ISBN program in the United States. You can purchase ISBNs as a single unit or in bulk of 10, 100 or 1000.

How long does it take to get an ISBN?

You will receive your ISBN five business days after Bowker receives your non-priority application. Choosing priority processing reduces the time to two business days, or you can get your ISBN within 24 business hours if you choose express processing.

How to register your book and ISBN?

As soon as you purchase your ISBN through Bowker following the process above, the registration process follows by choosing the ISBN, and assigning a book to it. Bowker automatically registers all ISBNs that have been assigned with BooksInPrint.com.

3. How many ISBNs to get?

The answer to how many ISBNs you should get is subjective.

First off let’s clarify a few common mistakes:

• You can only use an ISBN once. The ISBN is a unique number for that particular book, and can be assigned once, and only once, to that title. It can’t be used with any other book in the future, even second versions of the same book.
• You don’t need an ISBN to sell in each individual country. ISBNs are international, they are just assigned locally. A US-based publisher can purchase their ISBN through Bowker, but can stock their book worldwide using that ISBN.
• You need an ISBN for every specific format of the book and any new versions. Want to sell your book in print, as an eBook, and also as an audiobook? That’s great, however, you need a different ISBN for each one. If you want to publish a revised and updated version, you’ll also need a new ISBN. (This doesn’t cover fixing some typos and errors).
• If you create a series of books you can’t use the same ISBN for them. You can use the same ISSN, however. Many fiction and nonfiction authors have an ISSN number assigned to their book series. ISSN stands for International Standard Series Number and can be purchased from the Library of Congress. However, each book in the series will need its own ISBN.

Buying a single ISBN might seem feasible if you only want to publish one title, but remember that you need an ISBN for each format. So if you want to publish your book as an audiobook, you’d need a brand new ISBN for that, as well as needing different ISBNs for your eBook and print versions.

Not to mention that you’ll need an ISBN for any future books you publish, like if you’re writing a book series.

We recommend that if you’re serious about making book sales, you should purchase at least a bulk of 10 ISBNs. That gives you 3 ISBNs to use for publishing as an eBook, in print, and as an audiobook. You can keep the remainder for any future books you might publish.

Note: ISBNs never expire or go bad. In fact, if you have one from a long time ago, you can simply reconstruct it for use.

You may ask, but what if my old ISBN is really old and only has 10 digits? That’s not a problem, either. With this handy tool from Bowker, you can convert the ISBN easily and immediately.

4. How to read an ISBN: examples

As of 2007, the ISBN is a 13-digit number. This came about in part because of the large volume of eBooks being written and published every year.

Knowing how to break down and interpret these 13 digits aren’t of much use and interest to most book readers, but for publishers and distributors, it’s a necessity.

If you want to publish lots of books under your own publishing name then it’s something you may want to pay attention to. You can tell a lot about a book and its author by reading the ISBN.

The 13 digit ISBN helps:

• Identify the specific title
• Identify the author
• Identify the type of book they are buying
• Identify the physical properties of that particular book
• Identify the geographical location of the publisher

Let’s break it down and look at what all these numbers mean.

Here is the ISBN for a particular book:

978-3-16-148410-0

You’ll notice this sequence is divided into 5 number combinations. But the first three digits “978” indicates that this string of numbers is for an ISBN. If we remove these digits we have:

3-16-148410-0

First is the initial digit, in this case: 3

The 3 is the language group identifier which here indicates German. For English speaking countries a 0 or 1 is used. Numbers for language identification generally range from 1-5.

Here is a list of the most common Group identifiers:

• 0 or 1 for English
• 2 for French
• 3 for German
• 4 for Japan
• 5 for Russian
• 7 for People’s Republic of China

It’s worth mentioning that the rarer the language, the longer the number identifier will be. For example, Indonesia is 602 whereas Turkey is 9944. You can reference the complete list at the International ISBN Agency.

Next is “16”. This is the “publisher code,” and it identifies the publisher on any book that has this number. This number can be as long as 9 digits.

“148410” — This six-digit series represents the title of the book. The publisher assigns this to a specific book or edition of the book, such as a hardcover version or paperback. This could be a single digit or stretch to multiple digits.

“0” is the last digit and is known as the “check digit.” This number is mathematically calculated as a fixed digit. This is always a single digit. This number indicates that the rest of the ISBNs have been scanned and is calculated based on the other digits in the code.

Where is the ISBN on books?

The ISBN is usually found above the barcode on the back of the book. However, they’re not the same. The barcode is much different than the ISBN.

This is an important distinction because:

• When you learn how to get nan ISBN and purchase one, you don’t automatically get a barcode
• The barcode of your book can change, while your ISBN can remain the same.

We’ve already discussed what data the ISBN carries, however, the barcode includes extra information such as the book’s fixed price and the currency it’s being sold in.

Barcodes are a necessary element of your book as they allow for most retailers and distributors to scan your ISBN for retail and inventory reasons. If you got your ISBN through Bowker, as advised here, you can get your barcode by going to this page and following the prompts.

The standard barcode is known as the EAN (European Article Number) barcode, and your barcode must be in this format to sell your book in bookstores.

(Breakdown of the typical EAN barcode on the back of a book by Publisher Services)

ISBN search: how to find your book’s ISBN

If you want to learn not just how to get an ISBN but how to look up the ISBN of any book out there, you can do so easily by visiting the website ISBNSearch.org.

You’ll be greeted with a screen like the one above where you will be prompted to type in the ISBN, author name, or book title.

After hitting “search,” you will have a list of books matching your searched items with the both the 13-digit ISBN and the 10-digit, like in the example below.

How to read a barcode

Knowing how to get an ISBN is part of the process, but knowing how to read a barcode also matters. If you look at the picture of a standard barcode, you’ll notice two barcodes side by side. The barcode that appears on the left is the EAN generated from the ISBN.

The other number appearing on the right is a 5-digit add-on, called an EAN-5, that contains the price of the book. The first digit is a 5 and is a must for scanners to read. The 4-digits after the five indicates the price of the book.

For example, if the number reads 52995, this means the price of the book is set at $29.95. If the price of the book changes, a new barcode must be used, though the ISBN wouldn’t change.

This would only be replaced by a new ISBN if the book is published as a new edition or as a new version.

To buy a barcode you must first purchase an ISBN. You can buy your barcodes at Bowker and they even offer a barcode-ISBN combo:

• 1 barcode + 1 ISBN is $150.
• 1 barcode + 10 ISBNs is $320.

Remember that Bowker does have bundles, though. You can get a combination of ISBNs and barcodes for various prices. This is all just part of the process of learning how to get an ISBN.

5. The difference between ASIN and ISBN

If you’ve used Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program you’ve probably come across an ASIN. ASIN numbers are used by Amazon to manage and identify the products they are selling on their site. It’s a 10-character alphanumeric unique identifier that’s assigned by Amazon.com and its partners.

You can find this on your book page. In your browser, the Amazon ASIN will be after the product’s name and “dp”. The next place to find this is in your book or product details area of your book page.

However, an ASIN is not the same as an ISBN. You can only use it with Amazon. If you want to sell through other platforms or in brick and mortar stores, you’re going to need an ISBN.

Do I need an ISBN?

If you want to publish and sell your eBook on Amazon, then the quick answer is no, it isn’t necessary. Amazon will assign your eBook an ASIN number which will be used to identify and track your title.

However, that’s only with Amazon, and only with eBooks.

If you want your readers to get a hold of a print version of your book, then you’re going to need to learn how to get an ISBN . . . and the good news is, you are!

This might be important if you have a brick and mortar marketing strategy, or if you want your book to be accessible through libraries (more on this later), or if you’re looking to deal with wholesalers or other online retailers.

Here’s a simple rule of thumb: if you want to sell your book by means other than as an eBook on Amazon, then you’ll need an ISBN.

6. How do you buy an ISBN?

Part of learning how to get an ISBN is learning how to buy one, and you might not even have to buy your ISBN because of services offered to self-published authors.

You can get an ISBN when dealing with a whole host of On-Demand or self-publishing companies, like Draft2Digital, Smashwords, or IngramSpark. If you learn how to get an ISBN for free/a low cost with them, what’s the use in paying for your own one?

Here’s the problem: most of the time, you can only use those free ISBNs with the channels those companies distribute through.

Let’s say you get a free ISBN with Draft2Digital, but then you notice that there are some retail channels you can access through Smashwords that you can’t with Draft2Digital.

You can’t use the Draft2Digital ISBN with Smashwords. Smashwords will only let you use your own ISBN or an ISBN they assign to you. So what do you do? You get a free ISBN with Smashwords.

And now you have two ISBNs for the same book. Same book title, same book format, but two ISBNs.

You then hear of some exclusive channels you can get through eBookPartnership. The only wrinkle? You need an ISBN and they won’t take your Smashwords’ or Draft2Digital’s ISBN. So you sign up for their free ISBN instead. Now you have three ISBNs for the same book.

Should you buy your own ISBN?

Yes, you should because this problem can repeat itself again and again as you discover more ways to distribute your book. Sometimes you’ll have to pay for the ISBN, sometimes you won’t. But it leads to you having several ISBNs, all from different publishers, for the same book.

Can you picture how unprofessional that looks to a bookstore? Wouldn’t it have been easier to start off by buying your own ISBN? Wouldn’t that make you look more professional?

On top of this, each of those free ISBNs identifies the self-publishing company as a publisher. It’s the equivalent of using your business email address as [email protected] or [email protected] instead of [email protected] (assuming you’re named Matt).

Not only does this make you look unprofessional, but there are some stores that will refuse to stock your book on this basis. All of these issues can be sidestepped by simply purchasing your own ISBN through Bowker.

As you can see, learning how to get an ISBN is crucial to publishing your book!

Libraries and ISBNs

So, how to get an ISBN as they relate to libraries? We briefly mentioned that if you want to stock your book in libraries, you’ll need to learn how to get an ISBN. However, that might be the furthest thing from your mind.

You might have decided to focus purely on eBook publishing and what part do libraries play in eBooks? A big one.

Libraries are becoming more important to the distribution of eBooks. Overdrive is the largest supplier to schools and libraries in the world (serving more than 30,000).

And guess what you need to be able to partner with Overdrive? Yup. An ISBN. This is why you must learn how to get an ISBN.

ISBN links and resources

These links appeared throughout the post but here they are for easy access.

• International ISBN Agency
• ISBN.org by Bowker
• Bowkerlink Publisher Access System
• Bowker Identifier Services
• U.S. Copyright Office
• ISBN Guides: Basic Information

If you’d rather leave the process of learning how to get an ISBN to us, we’re happy to help with that!

How to get an ISBN: take your next step

Now that you know how to get an ISBN, take your next step by using our free resource below!