Transcription
No free ISBNs ever.
Okay, so this doesn't work as well because we actually don't have wire hangers in our house, but don't use the free ISBN ever, ever. I've made a ton of videos about ISBNs for self-publishing authors over the years, and I still get questions in the comments from authors who find my videos too late, as in they've already made a mistake. It's okay; we all do. And then I have to be the one to tell them that the mistake is fixable, but it's going to be a process. More often than not, that mistake is using the Amazon free ISBN.
So today, I'm going to detail exactly why you should never, ever, ever, ever use the free ISBN from Amazon. Stay tuned.
Hi, I'm M.K. Williams. I'm an author, and I love sharing my insights about all things books and publishing with you. Before I get into the details of today's topic, don't forget to hit subscribe. You'll be notified when I put out new videos every week about publishing, making a creative being an author, and now being an entrepreneur.
I started self-publishing in 2015. Last year, in 2023, I queried and signed with an agent, so I'm going through the process of traditional publishing. I'm letting you know in the front of all my videos if this is for self-publishing authors or traditionally publishing authors, and this video is for self-publishing authors.
So I'm going to walk through a few examples for a first-time self-publishing author based on all the authors I've helped on this channel and in my client work to explain why you should never use the free Amazon ISBN. At the end of this video, I will tell you the one exception to this rule.
Okay, and if you fit this one exception, then have at it and enjoy the free ISBN. But for everybody else, like 99% of you, don't do it.
Okay, so let's go to the first scenario. Let's talk about Amy. Amy has always dreamed of writing a novel and publishing it. She has big dreams; she's a big idea. The book is finally done, and she has done some research about traditional publishing or self-publishing. Because her book is in a genre that does well with self-publishing, and she likes the idea of getting the book out now because she has two more in the series behind that, she's eager to get it out now.
This same scenario would also apply for non-fiction if Amy was really excited to write about a non-fiction topic.
Okay, so Amy has found someone to format her book and do the cover design. She has the book edited; she's doing all the steps, and she's spending a lot of money in the process, right? So when she does her research on the different self-publishing platforms and sees that Amazon provides a free ISBN, she thinks, "Oh my gosh, finally something for free!"
Oh my gosh, IngramSpark offers a free ISBN too, and Draft2Digital—oh my gosh, jackpot! Like, Amy is so excited.
Time out. Okay, I'm super frugal. I want to advocate for authors to get more things for free if they can. The cost of one ISBN in the U.S. is $125 for a number. Are you kidding me? So if an author can get a break, I am all for it. I want you to know that before I give you this advice of why you shouldn't take the free thing.
Okay, time in.
So Amy has planned to do an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover for her book. All right, for her novel. So that means she needs three ISBNs. The savings can add up really quickly if she takes the free ISBN.
Here's the catch: the ISBN that is given for free from Amazon or IngramSpark or Draft2Digital can't be used anywhere else, so you're locked into that one platform.
Now, the good news is that if Amy picks IngramSpark or Draft2Digital, she's getting wide distribution. On IngramSpark, she can do the ebook, the paperback, or hardcover and distribute to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart—everywhere. On Draft2Digital, she can do the ebook and the paperback. There's no hardcover yet, but probably by the time this video is published, they'll announce it the next day because that's what always happens to me.
But with Amazon KDP, you just get to Amazon.com, and that's it.
Okay, so if you're Amy, you're thinking, "Well, I'll get an Amazon ISBN for Amazon and a Draft2Digital ISBN for that platform and an IngramSpark one for that one."
Uh-huh.
So there is one ISBN that identifies the ebook everywhere that it exists, and there is one ISBN that identifies the paperback everywhere that it exists, and one for the hardcover everywhere that it exists.
Think of your book as you're birthing triplets, right? They look identical because it's the same book, but its ebook is baby 1, paperback is baby 2, hardcover is baby 3. Each one of your babies only has one social security number; they can't have multiple.
Okay, so unless Amy is changing the trim size or the cover or making a different edition on each of the different platforms, each of her books has to have the same ISBN when it's used elsewhere.
So that's why I say Amy should buy her own ISBN so she can take it wherever she wants. Or let's say she takes the easy route and just goes with IngramSpark or Draft2Digital, but then a year later she doesn't like the pricing anymore or the print quality or whatever reason. Her book's ISBN is now locked to that platform.
Okay, whereas if she had owned her ISBN, she could pull it off the platform and go elsewhere.
Now let's look at scenario two, and this is the one that I actually see all the time.
So let's say in this one that Amy didn't have big dreams, right? She just wanted the book done. She wanted a proof of concept. Is anyone even going to like this? She just wanted to prove to her kids that she could do it and that hard work pays off, right?
She thinks she'll go with Amazon KDP because Amazon is one of the biggest retailers, and if her book is going to sell, it's probably going to be through Amazon anyway, so she'll just use the Amazon free ISBN because she wants to save money. If people like the book, she'll invest in marketing later. She's just trying to keep costs low.
Okay, now it's been a year, and Amy's book is selling well on Amazon. She has great reviews. Oh my gosh! And she is getting people asking her if they can buy this book from a local bookstore or on Kobo or on Google Play, right? Can they get it at Barnes & Noble? She is getting people asking her about other retailers.
So Amy is ready to expand. She's so excited that her book has taken off; she never imagined this.
But when she goes to take those same files and the same ISBN and upload them elsewhere, she can't because Amazon owns that ISBN, and the other platforms won't accept it.
So she could fib and cheat the system and use a new free ISBN, but when the bookstores who want to stock the book or the libraries search for that book, it comes up as a totally new book with no reviews.
So what's this book you're talking about that this patron said they wanted? It's not this. What is this? Like, there's no reviews. I don't know if this is a good book or not, even though they're saying, "Yes, it's a great book; everybody's talking about it."
Like, this one was just published. What are you talking about?
So then Amy would think, "Well, what do you mean this book has no reviews? All the reviews are on Amazon."
Well, like, it's a different book if it has a different ISBN.
So what Amy needed was the ability to take the same ISBN and upload it elsewhere so people could see, "Okay, yes, it's the same book, the same book that was released in 2022; it's the same thing."
Okay, but she can't take her Amazon ISBN with her because she should have used her own.
So now she needs to release a second edition of the same book with a new cover or a new bonus chapter or a new something under her own ISBN so she is free to upload it anywhere she wants.
So do you see how this free ISBN is a really big handcuff for you? Because it seems great at the time, but then when you have that big success or you just don't like that platform anymore and you want more options, it's handcuffing you.
And that's why I really think as an author you should not use it.
Us authors, I know it's expensive. I feel you on it. Let me tell you, I am super frugal. When I was first self-publishing my book, I hustled. I wrote these crazy weird fitness articles for 20 bucks a pop, which is a horrible rate, just so I could afford my ISBN.
Now, I told you I would give you the one time that you can use a free ISBN and that you probably should use a free ISBN.
Now, there are a lot of other creators on YouTube who talk about low-content self-publishing on Amazon KDP. So these are usually journals or diaries; you have the lined paper. The real selling point is the cover art.
But these can be seasonal, and the majority of the audience is on Amazon. Unless you're creating beautifully handcrafted leather journals, in which case that's not you—like you're putting a lot of task into it—like the low-content vertical is really just on Amazon.
Now, other platforms have limited low-content books, so the main place to publish them is Amazon KDP. There's not much else you can do to take that journal elsewhere.
And then you're constantly creating new ones to meet trends. So if that is you—low-content journals and diaries on Amazon KDP—get the free ISBN because you're not taking the book elsewhere, and you're going to need a lot of them.
So in that case, by all means, have at it. Don't waste your money on it.
I have lots of other videos about ISBNs. If you're sitting here thinking, "I'm not in the U.S.; how expensive is my ISBN?" It's probably going to be less expensive if you're in Canada.
Good news is you do get a free ISBN; it's from the government. You do have to apply for it ahead of time, but once you apply, you own that ISBN. It's been assigned to you. It's a little bit of paperwork, but you don't have to pay for it. You just have to plan ahead a couple of weeks for getting that issued to you.
So you're lucky! Enjoy your free ISBN, Canadians!
And they're a little bit less expensive in the UK, but they do have to pay for them.
And those are the three biggest countries that follow this account, so other countries do a Google search.
Okay, what other questions do you have about ISBNs? I'm going to link to most of my ISBN videos and put them below in the comments. But if you have a question I haven't answered, let me know, and I will make a new video for you.
If you found this information helpful, please give this video a thumbs up, hit subscribe, or even the shiny new thanks button that tells YouTube that you found this information helpful, and then they can get it in front of other authors like us.
Now you can go back to writing your book.
Hey guys, thank you so much for watching this video. I hope you really found it helpful and informative.
And before you head on to watch another video on YouTube, on this channel or another channel, or go back to actually write your book, I want to let you know that I answer a lot of other questions on this channel—really short, to the point, succinct, you know, one question, one answer.
But I've pretty much downloaded my brain into my Author Your Ambition books, and you can get these anywhere that you can find books.
So whether you're just starting out writing, whether you're figuring out your plan for self-publishing, or you're trying to figure out marketing, I pretty much have a book for you.
So Self-Publishing for the First-Time Author, Book Marketing for the First-Time Author, How to Write Your First Novel, and Going Wide are all available, like I said, anywhere that you can find great books.
And you can easily find all the links and the different retailers if you go to AuthorYourAmbition.com/books.
All right, talk to you guys soon. Bye! [Music]