You've purchased your own ISBNs, now what?
If you haven’t already purchased your own ISBNs I highly suggest you do so. If you don’t intend to purchase ISBNs then this information doesn’t apply to you.
Set up your ISBN first
Consider setting up your ISBNs as step 1 in self-publishing your book. Before you can submit your POD (print on demand) book you need your ISBN set up and accepted. Plan accordingly, once you submit your ISBN information it can take up to 48 hours to be accepted.
The following information is required to set up your ISBN:
- Book Title
- Medium & Format (ex “Print” & “Paperback”)
- Genre (selected from a list provided)
- Contributors (author and any other contributors you want to list, like cover designer)
- Publication Date (see below)
- Target Audience (selected from a list provided)
- Title Status (this will most likely be “Active Record” if you are setting up a new book to sell)
- Price (this is the price you intend to have listed on the back of the book). Not sure how price your book?
There are other fields available that I would recommend filling in as it will help services find your book, but that is something you can always go back and fill in later. Just be aware that any changes you make require that same up to 48 hour “processing” period before they are considered live.
Publication Date
For me this was a “chicken before the egg” scenario. I couldn’t list my book on Amazon without an ISBN and without knowing how long it would take to be approved in both systems I couldn’t list a date with certainty. I selected a publication date 4 days ahead assuming it could take 2 days for the ISBN approval and 2 days for Amazon to list my book. In reality, it took about a day for each so my actual “publication date” on Amazon ended up being earlier than the date listed on my ISBN record. They tell you not to adjust the publication date in Bowker, so I have to assume this is acceptable.
Multiple Formats
If you are intending to immediately list your book in multiple formats (like eBook and paperback) Bowker does have a “Clone” feature to help you set up the title a little quicker. Unfortunately it doesn’t copy over all of the information, so you’ll still have to do some of it manually yourself.
Congrats! You’re one step closer to listing your book for sale.