What Are ISBNs and Why Should I Care About Them? - Honest Indie Author

 Today, Panzer made a trip to the Honest Indie Author site. There our adventuresome kitty boy found a post about ISBNs.

 

In the post Debbi Mack gives a short description of ISBNs, why you might need them and where to purchase them. Amazon and most of the ebook sites don't require ISBNs, but you still might want to buy them. There's a link in the post to the ISBN purchase site.

For the U.S. only.

 

Panzer says, "ISBNs are for U.S. authors' hardbacks, paperbacks, ebooks, and audio books."

 

Note: Because of the illustrations this looks like a long post but it isn't. Bring a glass of lemonade for your reading time.

To read the post tootle over to ISBN

Where Should I Buy My ISBNs? - Indies Unlimited

Today, Panzer decided to make a quick stop at the Indies Unlimited site. With a little digging in the posts, our inquisitive kitty found one about buying and owning ISBNs for your books, ebooks and audio books.

Now where is that ISBN hiding?

According to Melinda Clayton, where you buy your ISBNs (International Standard Book Number) is extremely important. Your book's ISBN identifies it in the Books in Print database. This is how libraries and bookstores can find your book. Bowker is the official seller of ISBNs in the United States. If you buy your book's ISBN directly from Bowker, you are listed in Books in Print as the publisher of your book.  If you get your book's ISBN from Amazon, then Amazon bought that ISBN from Bowker and Amazon is listed as the publisher of your book. There's also an illegal side to not buying your ISBN from Bowker (or Amazon) too. Turns out there are scammers online who advertise they sell ISBNs at discounted prices and the ISBNs are either not delivered or fake made-up numbers.The post includes a link to the Bowker site and one for authors outside the United States.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... You do need to worry about who owns that ISBN, because some bookstores won't carry books with ISBNs showing Amazon as your publisher."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of cocoa and a muffin for today's reading selection. If you plan to follow the links in the post, bring a second cup of tea and another muffin.

To read the post tootle over to ISBNs

2019 eBook Distribution Round-up ... - DAVIDWOGAHN.COM

Panzer was tootling around in the Catopshere when he decided to stop in at the DAVIDWOGAHN.COM site. With a little digging around there, our inquisitive kitty boy found a post about aggregators and ebook distributions.

I couldn't have found all this on my own.

The post by site owner David Wogahn compares ebook aggregators. The post contains information to help indie authors and publishers determine their choice between using an aggregator for ebook distribution or distributing to each ebook retailer themselves. There's a comparison chart for the eleven current aggregators listed alphabetically. Included in the chart are the usual companies like Smashwords and Draft2Digital, but also companies like PublishGreen and XinXii as well as seven others. The comparisons cover costs, who the aggregator distributes to, their payment method, and their ISBN requirements (and costs for ISBNs, if any). Clicking the Plus button for each aggregator on the chart shows more individual information.

Panzer says, "Every indie author and publisher should check out this post and the comparison chart."

Note: This is a h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s post. Bring a gallon of tea and a dozen muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to ebook distribution

Bowker Finally Notifies Users of Hacked Website and Stolen Credit Cards - The Digital Reader

I'm so tired I can hardly move.

This has been a very busy day for Panzer so today's trip into the Catosphere was a short one. Our tired kitty boy made a quick trip to The Digital Reader site. With a little digging he found a post about the RR Bowker hacking.

According to The Digital Reader site owner Nate Hoffelder, RR Bowker has begun notifying authors about the possibility of their credit card information being compromised on their site. Bowker is where publishers and authors can purchase ISBN's for their books. The post quotes extensively from Tweets from an author about her experience with Bowker's notification about the hacking. Panzer reported on November 5 about the hacking.

Panzer says, "Mom never used Bowker because we could get the ISBNs through Create Space, so we're safe."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Bowker

To read Panzer's previous post tootle over to  Bowker hacking

Bowker Investigating Breach of ISBN Site - Publishers Weekly **

Panzer was shaken from his nap on the bed by crying and screaming coming from the Catosphere. Hopping into the Panzermobile our brave kitty followed  all the noise to the Publishers Weekly site. There he found a post about a break-in at the Bowker site.

Bad humans will steal anything.

According to the post by Jim Milliot, RR Bowker announced their myidentifiers.com site had been breached and  code added to their checkout page. This code enables unauthorized charges to credit cards used at the site. The site is used by authors and publishers to purchase ISBNs for their books. Authors cannot use this site to purchase ISBNs until further notice; instead there are links to other avenues for purchase. There are links in the post to the Bowker post and site.

Panzer says, "There are bad guys everywhere in the Catosphere."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of tea for today's reading selection. If you plan to follow the links, bring a muffin too.

To read the post tootle over to Bowker


** This is an important post for authors and publishers. Today's Panzerism will be here later.

The Number of Self-Published Titles Cracked 1 Million in 2017 - Publishers Weekly

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere when he decided to make a stop at the Publishers Weekly site. With a little digging in the posts there our adventurous kitty boy found one about ISBNs.

According to Jim Milliot, Bowker, the dispenser of ISBNs, has issued their annual report for 2017. The report lists print book ISBNs issued as 879,587 and ebook ISBNs issued as 129,601 for a total of 1,009,188 for the year. While ISBNs issued can be used to estimate the number of self-published books, it's not a totally accurate number. The ISBN numbers don't include Amazon's ASIN numbers for books published through KDP. The post does give information about ISBNs through CreateSpace (which is now gone), Lulu, Smashwords, and Author Solutions all of whose ISBN numbers are included in Bowker's total.

Everybody wants to write a book.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... What's a little kitty to do. The book publishing competition just keeps growing and growing."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a cinnamon roll for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to self-published titles

Smashwords: Bowker Ranks Smashwords the #1 Producer of Indie E...

How many?

Panzer couldn't believe it when he read Mark Coker's newest post at the Smashwords Blog.

Mark is posting about Bowker's newest Self Publishing Report. According to the report Smashwords was the largest U.S.A. "producer" of indie ebooks last year. This is based on the number of ebooks with ISBNs "produced" by Smashwords.

As you know Smashwords is not a publisher. You upload your document to Smashwords. Their "meatgrinder"  "produces" your ebook for distribution to the ebook outlets. Smashwords "produced" a lot of ebooks last year!

If you want to read the whole post, tootle over to Smashwords: Bowker Ranks Smashwords the #1 Producer of Indie E...: Bowker has ranked Smashwords the largest US producer of indie ebooks in 2012 according to their new annual Self Publishing Report for 2012...

ISBN's and Indie Authors

Who knew?

Panzer was out tootling around in the Catosphere. He decided to stop in at Galley Cat to see what's new there today.

He found a super important post about ISBNs for indie writers. Bowker has launched the Self-Published Author site. Did you know you can get an ISBN as a publisher without even forming a publishing company? That means we can buy ISBNs as the Panzer Publishing Company. Who knew that?

For more on ISBNs and indie authors, tootle over to ISBNs and Indie Authors

Smashwords: Smashwords Acquires 100,000 New ISBNs

 Woo hoo! Panzer is doing the happy cat dance. If you've spent any amount of time around his blog, you know how much he loves Smashwords.

He remembers not that long ago when Smashwords was the little guy on the block. But, he's been watching their distribution channel increase over the years. And their author numbers going up each year.

Look at them now.  Woo hoo is right. They're not the little guy any more. Buying 100,000 ISBNs for all the new ebooks they'll be putting out!

Read about it here Smashwords: Smashwords Acquires 100,000 New ISBNs: Smashwords this week acquired 100,000 new ISBNs from Bowker to accommodate strong growth in the Smashwords catalog. We provide these ISB...

Smashwords Acquires 50,000 New ISBNs

Yesterday, I posted about the steps you need to follow if you're going to be your own publishing company and do a paper book. One of the things I mentioned to do was secure an ISBN for your book.

Smashwords' post today Smashwords Acquires 50,000 New ISBNs explains in detail about ISBNs. Smashwords has also just purchased 50,000 ISBNs to give to the authors who use their distribution services.

Just one more reason to go the ebook route, don't you think?

5 Copyright, ISBN and CIP Resources

So, you've decided you want to publish your own D(ead) T(ree) Books. I mean, paper books not ebooks.

Yes, you're going to sell them through Amazon, but you want to be the publisher of record. You're planning to start your own publishing company to do this. There are a few rules you'll need to follow before you start to market your book(s).

Here are five resources to help you get started before and during the process of getting your book(s) to the Amazon store.

1. U.S. Copyright Office has all the rules and regulations for registering a copyright. Remember, before you can pursue a copyright infringement you must have a registered copyright.

2. U.S. ISBN Agency is the official site to purchase ISBNs for your books. (When you see the cost of ISBNs, you'll be doing more than one book.)

3. Electronic CIP: Cataloging in Publication Program is the Library of Congress's  pre-publication program allowing publishers to electronically submit their material for catalogueing for libraries.

4. Copyright  Page Samples You Can Copy and Paste Into Your Book.

5. Copyright Symbol Webpage. Scroll down the page for keyboard instructions to place your own copyright symbol on your work.

Uhmmm. Have you changed your mind and decided to go the ebook route, now?