No Rest for the Wicked Writer

I've spent the last couple of days working on the last three releases for this year and the first two for 2020. It means setting up what I call the blurb pages, i.e. the document that lists the pertinent information about the book, such as title, series, author, ISBNs, ad blurb, links, prices, etc.

As I'm entering the information on Bowker, I realize I've almost used up the first 100 ISBNs I purchased back in 2011. That's two per book, one for the EPUB and one for the trade paperback. What happens when I start doing audio? Or hardbacks? It all adds up quick.

DH and I discussed the purchase of more ISBNs over lunch this afternoon. I'm leaning toward purchasing the 1000-pack after the first of the year. If I get my act together with Alter Ego's releases, I'm going to need a lot more than 100.

Some folks advocate not using ISBNs, and that's their prerogative. However, I've found that having a company name, logo, and ISBNs specifically assigned to that company means retailers of all stripes take my little publishing business more seriously.

After all, I not just a writer. I'm a mad and fluffy micro-publisher!

Why Indies Taking over the World Is Not a Fad

There's been a lot of panic in the publishing world over the last few days thanks to Bowker's report that self-published authors now hold 12% of the total e-book market and 20% of certain popular genres, such as romance.

"Don't look, Ethel!"

I'm under no illusion that the e-book market is a miniscule percentage of the total publishing market. I also know that Bowker can only report on books that have ISBNs and that most indie writers don't bother with ISBNs on their e-books. (I'm one of those writers that bought ISBNs back in the day when it was the only way to get books into certain e-tailers like Apple. And dammit, since I bought them, I'm going to use them!) So deep down, most industry professionals realize the total indie numbers are much greater than what Bowker is reporting. We simply don't know by how much.

"Boogity! Boogity!"

Bowker's report and the trad industry's subconsciously acknowledged indie growth has prompted a spate of elitist diabtribes on the web, the worst of which I will not link to because of the author's obvious attempt at troll-baiting. The one person who surprised me was trad publishing guru Mike Shatzkin. Granted, his back-handed compliment regarding Anybody Press as the newest member of the Six Horsemen was probably the nicest thing he's ever said about indies. The rest of the article turned into an advertisement of his upcoming seminar on how to fight our growing market threat.

"It was too late. She'd been done incensed."

Except I don't think the trad pubs know what they're really fighting. Indies offer a wider range of selection at a lower price than they do. A lot of writers are now making a living wage as indies compared to the paltry advances and royalties offered by the trad pubs. On top of everything else are the draconian clauses and shitty treatment aimed at writers by what are essentially middle-men(women). The trad pubs really don't understand why experienced writers are leaving in droves.

"She done got a free shot!"

I'm not one of those writers who believes print will go away. Hell, Target is selling LP's again. Granted, as a specialty item, but it was weird seeing the cover of The Dark Side of the Moon again. What I'm saying is down the road, print will be the specialty collector's item that an LP is now. Right now though, publishers haven't hit that stage, and they still need source material. They think they can rest on their ability to distribute to bookstores.

"Get you clothes on!"

But what bookstores are they distributing to? Borders is officially gone. Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million are barely hanging on and have been closing stores as leases end. Costco, Target and Wal-Mart only care if the books are the NYT's top twenty. Indie bookstores are slowly making a comeback, but the owners are much more selective in their inventory, pleasing their customers rather than shoving the latest Grisham down every person's throat.

"He likes to turn the other cheek."

So what happens next? Who knows. But even the trad publishing people are seeing the writing on the walls. Indie publishing is not going away. What each side morphs into over the next couple of years is the real question.

And for your viewing pleasure (and the source of my quotes), here's Ray Stevens:

A Very Odd Day

Yesterday, I finally got up the nerve to register Angry Sheep Publishing on Bowker and acquire a hundred ISBNs.

"Why, when you can get them for free from Smashwords?" you ask.

Because I want those ISBNs registered under MY company's name, not someone else's.

Except I held off on pulling the trigger for nearly a month. Not because of the cost (I'd saved up the money from the last couple of months' receipts), but because of the fear. Acquiring ISBNs made the whole business process TOO real. I lost my last business thanks to the economic insanity of 9/11 and the Enron collapse following on the heels of the tech market crash. All three events in 2001 did a number of the Houston economy.

I don't want to lose another business to factors beyond my control. Stupid, I know. Everything in publishing, but the actual writing, is beyond my control.

Then Bridget McKenna, a regular commentor at The Passive Voice, let me know that my books were mentioned in Amazon's latest newsletter. I can't confirm this since I don't subscribe to Amazon's newsletter.

The whole thing was very odd to me, not that I question Bridget's veracity, but because my sales are not in the Amanda Hocking/J.A. Konrath atmospheric levels.

D.H. believes it may be their way of apologizing for the kerfluffle over Creating a Business Plan for the Indie Writer. I think someone was assigned to physically verify that the rest of my books weren't smurched from the public domain and got hooked on one of the stories.

Whatever the reason, the odd mix of fear and excitement made sleep elusive last night.

Lessons Learned Part 3 - Revisiting the ISBN

My!  How things have changed since I first wrote The Power of the ISBN back on February 11!

For the record, the information in that post was accurate at the time it was written.  But the subsequent changes in less than three months shows just how fast the publishing industry is morphing.

Barnes & Noble no longer requires ISBNs for e-books published through PubIt!, their indie e-book branch.  They are now emulating Amazon and using an internal cataloguing system.

On the other hand, Smashwords only requires an ISBN (whether you purchase one of theirs or provide your own) if you want your e-book included in their premium catalog.  The premium catalog is how Smashwords distributes to Apple, Sony, etc.

Furthermore, I've yet to find any penalty to a producer or a retailer for failing to use an ISBN.  If someone has knowledge to the contrary, please say so in the comments section.

It makes sense for retailers to not need an ISBN if they're selling directly to the consumer.  The whole purpose of the ISBN and its matching bar code was to make tracking distribution and sales through multiple outlets easier, but it was relatively expensive if you're not a Big 6 publisher.  For the most part, the wholesale distributor has been cut out of the new e-book sales model.  Smashwords is one of the few exceptions, but only because Apple is desperately clinging to the old model.  (Which frankly makes no sense to me.  There are ways to scan content before loading a file into their sale area if they're that paranoid about viruses, trojans, worms, etc.)

So we're to the point where you only need an ISBN if you go through the equivalent of a wholesale distributor (whether electronic or print).  Personally, I think that's wonderful because it saves me some dough and keeps costs down for my readers.

Clarification of Needing an ISBN

Angie Benedetti brought up a good question on Friday's comments that definitely needed some clarification.


My original statement:  Also, different e-book formats are supposed to have their own individual ISBNs.


Angie asked:  What do you mean by format here? My first thought is PDF vs. ePUB vs. MOBI vs. whatever else, but I know that's not how the publishers do it. Help? :)


My answer in the comments, plus some additional clarifications:

You are NOT supposed to use the same ISBN for MOBI as you do for ePUB, or PDF, et. al.

Do some publishers do it? Yes. Are they supposed to? No. Since many e-publishers only sell digital version from their own websites, not through third-party retailers, it's pretty much a non-issue.

Using George W. Bush's Decision Points as an example, check out Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Amazon does use the same ISBN for the Kindle version as the hardcover version, but they also make a point of stating the ISBN is from source pages (i.e. the hardback) and attach an ASIN (which stands for Amazon Standard Identification Number). The ASIN is an internal number used only by Amazon because they're assuming their MOBI e-books won't be read on anything but a Kindle. They also assume the MOBI version won't be available for sale anywhere else, even though Smashwords does sell MOBI versions of e-books.  For the record, Decision Points by George W. Bush is not sold on Smashwords.

Again, the lack of ISBN goes back to Amazon and Smashwords not requiring ISBNs to sell directly from their websites.

However, Barnes and Noble shows a separate ISBN for the ePUB version than either the hardback, the paperback, or the audio book versions of Decision Points. But again, Barnes and Noble only sells the ePUB version, as does Apple iBooks. There's an assumption that they will both be selling the ePUB version as retailers, which is why they both require ISBNs.

All of this hinges on whether or not you're going to sell the same digital format of your ebook through multiple retailers.  The ISBN is a retail record-keeping device, just like a UPC (universal product code).

Also, instead of buying your own ISBNs directly from Bowker, you can buy them from certain retailer/distributors like Smashwords and Lulu.  Yes, buying from a third party is cheaper because they buy ISBNs in larger bulk quantites.  But the way ISBNs are coded, if you use the third-party route to buy your ISBN, it looks like the third-party is the publisher of record.

Since I'm acting as my own publisher, I'd prefer to play it safe--buy my own ISBN blocks and have different ISBNs for different digital versions since I'm going through different retail outlets. For example, I plan to sell my e-books' MOBI version through both Amazon and Smashwords ans well as the ePUB version through Barnes and Noble by myself and iBooks by way of Smashwords, therefore I will have different ISBNs for the MOBI and ePUB versions.  I'm also looking at the possibility of more e-retailers opening down the road as e-books gain more traction in the market.  Individual ISBNs will make it easier to track which e-version sales are doing better.

I admit it's a combination of control issues and old attorney habits rearing their heads--an ounce of prevention, yada, yada, yada. . .

If I was only selling my ebooks through my website, I wouldn't bother with the ISBNs.  I'd save my money for other things, like venti peppermint mochas from Starbucks.  *grin*


Does anyone else have questions? If I don't know the answer, I'll try to find out for you.

The Power of the ISBN

[Editor's Note:  While this information was correct at the time of the original post, things have changed yet again in publishing.  Please see the post for May 11, 2011, for updated information on the ISBN requirements for various e-book distributors.  The links for Bowker and the Canadian government are still valid.]

Currently reading - Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

Out of the distribution channels, I narrowed my choices down to Amazon and Barnes & Noble for their respective customer reach and Smashwords so I can do coupons for my loyal blog readers.  (To know what you're getting in to, go read the the first chapter of Zombie Love.)

Now, I can distribute an e-book through Amazon and Smashwords without an ISBN, but not through Barnes & Noble or anyone else I've discovered so far.  And Barnes & Noble is one of my prime choices, so I need an ISBN.  (I've been seriously studying CreateSpace, Amazon's paper independent publishing arm.  It looks to be much cheaper than Lulu, but CreateSpace also requires an ISBN.)

"What's an ISBN?" you ask.

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number, a unique identifier for every book, paper or digital, that goes through normal retail and library chains.  If you go through a regular publisher like Ellora's Cave or St. Martin's Press, the folks at the publishing company handle the ISBN for you.  If you indie publish and you want to distribute through certain channels, you'll need to buy your own.

In the U.S., an ISBN can only be purchased through Bowker.  However, Canadians can get them free from the Canadian government.  (You lucky dogs!)

A single ISBN costs $125, but a block of 10 starts at $250 up to $1000 for a block of 1000.  If you're going to publish more than one book, or multiple versions of one book, it's much cheaper to buy blocks.  Also, different e-book formats are supposed to have their own individual ISBNs.

As I said, certain channels will accept your e-book without an ISBN, but if you're looking long-term distribution into most retail outlets and libraries, an ISBN assigned to your book will be in your best interest.

Once you've bought a block and assigned the number to your book, you'll need to register the ISBN with Books-In-Print.  Morris Rosenthal has an excellent blog on self-publishing, and I suggest you read his post on dealing with Bowker.

It sounds complicated, but it's not hard.  Isn't administrative stuff fun?