You have created your first book about business. You have a passion for educating business owners about all of the aspects of doing business, from deciding on the best legal business structure (i.e. Limited Liability Company (LLC)) and how to create a brand that speaks for your business to establishing a team to supply the demands of your customers.  You made a choice to self-publish instead of going the traditional publishing route.

Now as your book is being designed and laid out, you have to assign it an ISBN. An International Standard Book Number (ISBN), is a number assigned to a book that helps to identify its source. The ISBN is what you see positioned on the lower right-hand corner on the back of the book.

Let me explain what this means and how it works using the following scenarios:

SCENARIO #1

Self-Published

Say It Simply by Travis Adventiss (Paperback)
A Great Adventure Publishing
1112 Grand Rapids, Michigan 12512
657-756-9962 (o)
657-756-0012 (f)
angreatadventurepublishing.com

books@angreatadventurepublishing.com

ISBN: 9781253364571

In the scenario above you are the publisher. Self-Publishing can be done either for only yourself or other authors under your publishing company. The process as noted above will be the same, whether it's solely for you or others.

Now if you decide to consider working with a traditional publishing company like Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House or HarperCollins they would each be responsible for providing everything as stated in the above scenario. Let’s review the same scenario using a traditional publishing house:

SCENARIO #2

Say It Simply by Travis Adventiss (Paperback)
Penguin Random House

1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
212-782-9000 (o)
212-782-9001 (f)
global.penguinrandomhouse.com
penguinrandomhouse@penguinrandomhouse.com

ISBN: 9787771200013

Now here are the differences. In Scenario #1 you purchased your own ISBN or a set of ISBNs. Those numbers are assigned to you and your publishing company, A Great Adventure Publishing. In a nutshell, what this means is that you will receive the revenue directly for the books purchased under ISBN: 9781253364571. The ISBN is assigned only to Say It Simply (Paperback), and once you have used this number you can not use it again and it cannot be used for the hardcover copy of the same name.

It is the same with Penguin Random House; once they register ISBN: 9781253364571 for Say It Simply (Paperback) it cannot be used again, even for a hardcover copy of the same name. In Scenario #2 they will receive the revenue from the sales and in turn provide you a percentage of each purchase. Now let’s add Amazon to the mix.

Can you guess what would happen once you obtain a number from Amazon? You guessed it. When the ‘free’ number that Amazon has given you is researched it shows Createspace (a subsidiary of the Amazon brand) imprint.  

Yes, that ‘free’ number that Amazon graciously assigned to your first book, Say It Simply (Paperback), displays a type of partnership between you and Amazon (Createspace). Every author has a different take on this issue. Some authors do not care while other authors have a desire to publish other books and want to project a more professional appeal to retailers and other authors.

Keep in mind that some retailers like Barnes & Noble will not take a book into their stores if it states Createspace in their profile when they perform a research of the book. Remember, the ISBN only identifies the ownership of the publisher and nothing else. You would still need to get a copyright for your work and obtain a pricing bar code.  

I have heard conflicting stories and the jury is still out on whether an ISBN is needed for an ebook or if an e-book can share the ISBN with the printed copy. One thing that I do know is that if you have a hardcover, paperback or an audio book, each of them would need a separate ISBN. In having separate ISBNs, it helps to determine the tracking for how sales are going within each category.