In the world of business publishing, every decision you make reflects on your brand, your expertise, and your professional credibility. One critical yet often overlooked decision is whether to purchase your own ISBN numbers. While this may seem like a minor detail in the grand scheme of self-publishing, the implications are significant and far-reaching.
Imagine launching your latest book, a culmination of your hard work, insights, and expertise. Now, imagine having full control over every aspect of that book’s identity, distribution, and metadata. This control isn’t just about vanity—it’s about ensuring your book is accurately represented in the marketplace, maintaining flexibility for future editions, and maximising your revenue potential.
Owning your ISBNs isn’t just a technicality; it’s a strategic move that empowers you to uphold your brand’s integrity and reach the widest possible audience. In this article, we’ll delve into why owning your ISBNs is essential for business authors and how it can set you apart as a true professional in your field. Read on to discover how this seemingly small choice can make a big difference in your publishing journey and, ultimately, your business success.
Understanding ISBNs
Let’s start with the basics. ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number and is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. They are used for the ordering, listing, sales, stock tracking, and cataloguing of books globally. Currently, ISBNs are monitored and controlled by the International ISBN Agency, which issues ISBNs to national ISBN agencies for distribution within their region or territory. By owning your ISBNs, you maintain full control over your book’s metadata, which includes the title, author name, publisher information, descriptions, pricing, specifications, and other discoverability details.
Benefits of Owning Your ISBNs
First of all, owning your ISBNs gives you complete control over your book metadata (To find out more about metadata and why it is important, check out this article – Book Metadata: The Ultimate What, Why & How Guide). This guarantees accuracy by ensuring all the details about your book are correct and reflect your brand. It also makes updating them yourself easier so that you can correct information as needed without relying on a third party.
Having your own ISBNs portrays professionalism and credibility to the market. If you use your company name as your publishing imprint, it reinforces your brand identity. This improves the perception of you and makes you look more professional and established in the eyes of readers, retailers, and libraries.
Owning your own ISBNs provides you with more flexibility when it comes to distribution. You can freely distribute your book across different platforms and retailers without restrictions that might come from using a third-party ISBN (e.g. using an Amazon-issued ISBN restricts your book to being sold on Amazon only). This can also ensure that your book is available in international markets by having control over distribution rights.
Though assigning an ISBN to a book is not an assertion of copyright, it does influence the ownership of certain publishing rights over that book. By owning those ISBNs, you retain all rights to your book and ensure that you receive the maximum royalties you earn from copy sales. This provides a level of freedom from third-party limitations by avoiding contracts that might limit your rights or earning potential.
Practical Considerations
There are a few practical considerations to owning your ISBNs. The first of which is the fact that ISBN numbers do not expire and are non-transferable. This means that they provide you with long-term control over your books, allowing you to explore future editions or formats of your book well into the future. This also offers you the flexibility to rebrand or update the book without needing permission from a third party.
ISBN ownership also influences public listings of your book with book retailers and libraries. They can help you to ensure your book is correctly catalogued in library and retail databases. These accurate listings can increase the chances of your book being discovered and expanding its reach.
Pitfalls of NOT Owning Your ISBNs
The biggest pitfall when it comes to ISBNs is the temptation to use third-party ISBNs. Quite often, these are offered free of charge when using a particular platform or service. As tempting as this is, it does more harm to your book and your brand than the financial savings are worth.
Using these identifiers, as opposed to owning your own ISBNs, can limit your control over distribution, potentially present difficulties in making changes to your book or metadata, or, worst-case scenario, your book could disappear for good if that third-party platform or service goes out of business. Stop and think for a minute what the cost to your credibility as an author or the impact on the reputation of your brand could be if any of those scenarios came to be. Then compare that with the cost of £174[1] to purchase 10 ISBNs in the UK that are yours forever to do with as you need whenever you need them. The decision of whether to purchase your own ISBNs or not is a no-brainer.
Next Steps
As a business author, every decision you make impacts your brand, your reach, and your bottom line. Owning your own ISBNs is not just about having control—it’s about professionalising your approach to publishing, maximising your revenue, and ensuring your book is represented accurately and effectively in the marketplace.
By taking ownership of your ISBNs, you’re not just publishing a book; you’re making a strategic business decision that underscores your commitment to quality and control. It’s a step that can distinguish you from others, enhance your credibility, and pave the way for long-term success.
But how prepared are you for the journey of self-publishing your business book? To find out, take our Business Book Readiness Scorecard. This comprehensive quiz will help you assess your preparedness, including crucial elements like ISBN ownership. The quiz is based on the 5 Principles of Successful Business Publishing and provides you with feedback on any areas that need improvement to have that revolutionary effect for you. It takes just 2 minutes to complete, is completely FREE, and will give you customised feedback instantly.
[1] As of July 19, 2024
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