You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club- Jack London
ISBNs
Ok,
So my research (which might be the only thing I'm actually good at) has turned up that unless you purchase a block of isbn numbers from Bowker's (www.isbn.org) then you are not actaully the publisher of the titles. For instance, if you purchase your isbn from a service like Lulu.com, then officially, Lulu.com is listed as the publisher of the book, regardless of what you put on there. (There are exceptions listed on their site, but not many.)
I guess this would be a good time to ask if anyone has any questions about ISBN #'s themselves. Working in bookstores and libraries for almost a decade has given me quite a bit of knowledge on the subject. Feel free to ask.
To get a run of isbn #'s you have to purchase at least 10. This will cost you a minimum of $275 and take at about 15 business days. They don't expire, however, so you can use them even if you publish 1 book every 10 years. To get a barcode that a bookstore will need to scan your book's isbn#, you have to pay $23/barcode (if you get a barcode for every isbn#). So, that's another $230.
Now, if you're thinking to yourself: "This sounds like a monopoly!" you are right. Bowker's has a special exemption (kind of like Major League Baseball) to be a monopoly. You don't have to have an isbn, but you do if you want to get your book into stores. The exception is Amazon, which gives a book its own AISN number unique to their site.
Anyone have anything to add?
So my research (which might be the only thing I'm actually good at) has turned up that unless you purchase a block of isbn numbers from Bowker's (www.isbn.org) then you are not actaully the publisher of the titles. For instance, if you purchase your isbn from a service like Lulu.com, then officially, Lulu.com is listed as the publisher of the book, regardless of what you put on there. (There are exceptions listed on their site, but not many.)
I guess this would be a good time to ask if anyone has any questions about ISBN #'s themselves. Working in bookstores and libraries for almost a decade has given me quite a bit of knowledge on the subject. Feel free to ask.
To get a run of isbn #'s you have to purchase at least 10. This will cost you a minimum of $275 and take at about 15 business days. They don't expire, however, so you can use them even if you publish 1 book every 10 years. To get a barcode that a bookstore will need to scan your book's isbn#, you have to pay $23/barcode (if you get a barcode for every isbn#). So, that's another $230.
Now, if you're thinking to yourself: "This sounds like a monopoly!" you are right. Bowker's has a special exemption (kind of like Major League Baseball) to be a monopoly. You don't have to have an isbn, but you do if you want to get your book into stores. The exception is Amazon, which gives a book its own AISN number unique to their site.
Anyone have anything to add?
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