ISBNs: Everything You Should Know
A unique ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is assigned to every book sold through trade outlets (i.e., online retailers, wholesalers, etc.). ISBNs are publisher specific, and serve three main purposes: they identify your book within the trade, help track book sales, and provide essential information about your title.
Each specific version of a book requires its own ISBN. For example, let’s say that you wish to have a paperback copy, a MOBI (Kindle format) copy, and an ePUB copy. Each of these formats requires its own ISBN.
At Mill City Press you can either use ISBNs we provide or you can provide your own. If you choose to use your own ISBN, you are essentially acting as your own publisher (but with us doing all the behind-the-scenes work).
ISBNs Provided by Mill City Press
Every publishing package includes an ISBN for one version (paperback or hardcover) of your book. The ISBN is tied to whatever imprint we publish your book under (e.g., if you’re published under our Mill City Press imprint, your ISBN is specific to that imprint and your book). If you have both paperback and hardcover formats of your book, an additional ISBN is provided as part of an upgrade package.
Every eBook publishing package includes two ISBNs - one assigned for the MOBI (Kindle) version and for the ePUB (iPad, Nook, etc.) version.
ISBNs Purchased by Authors for Use at Mill City Press
If you elect to supply your own ISBNs, you’ll need three things:
- A publisher name (it can be anything you’d like as long as the name isn’t trademarked or already being used);
- An ISBN for each format of your book (ISBNs can be purchased from www.MyIdentifiers.com in blocks of one, ten, one hundred, or one thousand); and
- A publisher logo (optional -- only if you want a logo on the back cover of your book).
ISBNs for Use with Mill City Press Basic or Advanced Publishing Packages
If you’re in our print-on-demand only distribution program (Basic or Advanced publishing packages), you can purchase a single ISBN for the print version of your book (if you don’t want to use ours).
ISBNs for Use with Mill City Press Premium or Professional Publishing Packages
If you’re in our Expanded Distribution Program (Premium or Professional publishing packages) and are supplying your own ISBNs, you’ll need to purchase a block of ten ISBNs. Authors in Expanded Distribution cannot use any ISBN with the prefix 615 (purchasing a block of ten ISBNs guarantees that your prefix won’t be 615).
How and Where to Purchase ISBNs
You can purchase a block of ISBNs at www.MyIdentifiers.com. (This is directly from the agency that supplies ISBNs.) When you get there, the first thing you’ll need to do is create an account. When you create your account, you will provide your publisher name and contact information. After your account is created, you’ll be able to log in and purchase your block of ten ISBNs.
If you plan to buy a single ISBN, you’ll still need to create a MyIdentifiers.com account to make your purchase. Remember, however, that you’ll need to provide a unique ISBN for each version of your book. If you’re planning on releasing an eBook version, printing both a hardcover and softcover edition, etc., it may be more cost effective for you to purchase a block of ten ISBNs rather than buying each individually.
FAQs
Why can’t I be in the Expanded Distribution Program and purchase a single ISBN?
Single ISBNs can be purchased from Bowker, and have the prefix 615. The 615 prefix is a generic prefix, and doesn’t tie your book to a specific publisher. Bowker issues thousands of 615 ISBNs, as it’s the prefix used for anyone purchasing a single ISBN.
When a title is in distribution, that book is tied to a publisher via the ISBN; the publisher is then tied to the distributor. If you were to look up a 615 prefix, you would not be able to identify the publisher associated with that ISBN, which creates problems for our distributor and can interrupt the publication process.
You can still act as your own publisher and participate in our Expanded Distribution Program, but you’ll need to purchase a block of ten ISBNs in your publishing company’s name (rather than a single ISBN).
Can my book be published through one of Mill City Press’s imprints without using a Mill City Press ISBN?
No. If your book is in one of our imprints, it needs our ISBN since we’re officially the publisher. But, should you ever choose to terminate your publishing contract with us, you’ll get all of the original production files, so all you’ll need to do is have our ISBN replaced with a new one of yours.
Should I use a Mill City Press ISBN or provide my own?
There are some advantages to having Mill City Press provide your ISBN:
- Save $300+ up front (if you do an eBook and printed book, you’ll need 3 ISBNs)
- Imprint branding for your book
- Dedicated page on the imprint website for your book (only for books in Expanded Distribution Program)
- You benefit from hundreds of incoming links to each of our imprint websites
Here are some advantages if you provide your own ISBN:
- If you ever decide to publish your book with another publisher, the ISBN travels with you (and may reduce some future re-distribution costs)
- Branding for your own publishing company
Since at Mill City Press you own all of the production files we create, you can always get your own ISBN later and do your own thing. Ultimately, it’s up to you.
If I provide my own ISBN can I still use Mill City Press’s distribution and fulfillment?
Yes. We submit all title data to our distributors whether it’s your ISBN or ours (if you want us to). We handle all reporting and payments from the distributors in the same manner. And, you get the same royalties either way.
If you use your own ISBN, you can also choose to handle all distribution on your own, using our services more for production. Again, it’s up to you.
