Back in 2015 when young, naïve first-time author MK set out to learn about self-publishing every single resource I found confirmed that each format of your book needs its own ISBN, including eBooks. So if your book is in eBook, paperback, and hardcover that’s three formats, you need 3 ISBNs. I also saw that Amazon KDP made it very clear you could get a “free” ISBN from them. “Free” is in quotation marks because you can’t take that ISBN anywhere else. So if you are self-publishing under and Amazon-only strategy that probably works for you. But my own publishing strategy and the one that this channel follows is a wide self-publishing strategy. So I knew I needed to own my ISBNs so I could use them on any platform. So I went down that path, purchased my ISBNs, and the rest is history.
So I think it was in 2018 that I was on an online forum on Facebook for indie authors and answered a question, many of you know the genesis for this channel was to save myself time in answering questions and help more indie authors, and someone replied back to my answer saying that I was wrong about the cost of ISBNs because eBooks don’t need ISBNs.
“Huh?”
I had literally never heard this anywhere, I hadn’t seen it in any of my research. What? When I upload my eBooks to Smashwords, and Google play, and IngramSpark, and Streetlib, and yes, Amazon KDP, they all have a space where I can enter my ISBN. I did some quick searching and again found confirmation that each format needs an ISBN and eBooks are listed first. Then I did a google search for “ebooks don’t need ISBNs” and it brought me to this page on the KDP website:
Yep, KDP states that they don’t require you to bring an ISBN for your eBook. For your eBook they don’t provide an ISBN, instead they just assign your book an ASIN and call it a day. So somehow we got from “KDP doesn’t require an ISBN for eBooks” to “eBooks don’t need ISBNs.” This is super not true. And I can prove it.
I hopped on the Penguin Random House website. So PRH is one of the big 5 publishers. They are a high-volume business and there is no way they are paying for ISBNs they don’t need. Let’s check out some of their latest releases to see if they have an ISBN for their eBooks.
Yep!
So if one of the big 5 publishing houses is assigning ISBNs to their eBooks, what makes you think that you as an indie author-publisher are somehow gaming the system by not getting an ISBN for your eBook?
Again, if you are consciously electing to do an Amazon-only strategy for your books with no intent to take them wide and you are looking to save money, sure go with what KDP assigns you. But eBooks need ISBNs.
Okay. Rant over.
What other advice have you heard in the self-publishing world that you think isn’t quite right? Let me know and I’ll do a video on that as well. Happy to dispel any myths or validate any weird rules.
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MK Williams 
I have been thinking of ISBN issuance for my ebook format. I haven’t been able to get at a real conclusion over my pondering thoughts on this self-publishing activity.
I have usually thought it’s unnecessary to buy ISBN number for the ebook, since there is a cheaper option for self-publishing it through some big retailers online. I have been thinking about cheaper outlets in self-publishing over a long time. I believe there will be certain hitches that befalls something given out free, or something that is actually too cheap for its original price.
I think you have a good idea. What comes cheaply will have it’s demerits. Amazon self-publishing has benefits, that will be available only to a certain level of significance.
I hope to utilize your viewpoints in my self-publishing process, since I have been dealing with ebooks for a long time. I believe ISBN numbers are too important for a printed edition, and this significant factor can’t be avoided at all. Ebooks have to be carefully assessed over how important the content will be, and whether it’s mandatory to avoid giving it off as a lower content.
Thanks for your complimentary advice.
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