{"id":1405,"date":"2021-06-16T19:01:49","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T19:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/lamont\/?p=1405"},"modified":"2022-07-14T14:28:07","modified_gmt":"2022-07-14T14:28:07","slug":"publishing-on-amazon-kdp-use-a-free-isbn-or-pay-bowker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lamont\/2021\/06\/16\/publishing-on-amazon-kdp-use-a-free-isbn-or-pay-bowker\/","title":{"rendered":"Publishing on Amazon KDP: Use a free ISBN, or pay Bowker?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Someone asked: “I’m about to publish on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing … should I just use the free ISBN, or pay for one?” It’s a good question, and one that has real financial considerations, as ISBNs registered with the “official” U.S. ISBN registry are very expensive (see “Bowker ripoff: A 12,500% ISBN markup for new authors<\/a>“). On the other hand, using Amazon’s free ISBNs come with a cost, too. Here’s my take on how to navigate this question.<\/p>\n

First, KDP ebooks<\/a> (Kindle editions) don’t require ISBNs. Amazon will assign its own numbering system known as an ASIN to the ebook.<\/p>\n

But if you are using KDP to print paperback books, you will need an ISBN. As a publisher with long experience dealing with Amazon and Bowker (the U.S. ISBN registration agency) I would say use the free one Amazon provides only if you anticipate this being a one-off book with low sales<\/em>. This is what happens to almost all self-published titles, no matter how good the book is. Amazon is swamped with self-published books, and most of them will languish in obscurity without superior marketing or promotional efforts.<\/p>\n

If, on the other hand, you are a U.S. resident and have serious plans for bookstore distribution, a series, or an imprint, bite the bullet and pay Bowker’s outrageous registration fees for ISBNs. The current price for a single ISBN is $125, rising to $295 for 10 and $575 for 100. As a publisher with multiple titles, it makes sense to purchase 10 or 100 to start.<\/p>\n

\"bowker<\/p>\n

For people or companies with serious publishing aspirations, the Amazon KDP-provided ISBNs will be a liability. Why? Amazon is a dirty word in this business (see “Why Amazon\u2019s Buy Box policy attracts counterfeit books and cheaters<\/a>“). Bookstores have been decimated by Amazon for 25 years. Many will never<\/em> order titles from Amazon on principle<\/em>, even if it is from a famous author on an Amazon imprint. I once listened to Tim Ferriss lament this issue on his podcast – he discovered when he published one of his books on an Amazon imprint that bookstores wouldn’t touch it, for the most part.<\/p>\n

As for series and imprints, any serious publishing venture should have free and clear control over their own ISBNs. Amazon-assigned ISBNs will forever be associated with Amazon in databases and may interfere with future legal agreements, including distribution via wholesalers (see “Pros and cons of traditional book distributors<\/a>“). If series\/imprints are part of the publishing plan, it is advisable to register ISBNs via Bowker, despite the rip-off pricing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone asked: “I’m about to publish on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing … should I just use the free ISBN, or pay for one?” It’s a good question, and one that has real financial considerations, as ISBNs registered with the “official” U.S. ISBN registry are very expensive (see “Bowker ripoff: A 12,500% ISBN markup for new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3864,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57022],"tags":[6627,6457,40,99],"class_list":["post-1405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-e-books","tag-advice","tag-amazon","tag-books","tag-business"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lamont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lamont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lamont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lamont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3864"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lamont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1405"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lamont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1671,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lamont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405\/revisions\/1671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lamont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lamont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/lamont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}