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ISBN necessary for E-Book ?

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john-r
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ISBN necessary for E-Book ?

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Hi guys,

I am planning to release a collection of shortstories I wrote myself on kindle. The book isn't finished yet, it will probably take me another few months but since there are a few people around here, who publish on kindle, I thought you could give me some advice. What are the most important things to take care of prior to publishing the book ? Do I need an ISBN ? I read this article about the importance of ISBN and I know that I do not legally have to get an ISBN but in my opinion an ISBN is a convenient thing to have. Don't you think ? Would you get an ISBN for a book you are publishing yourself or do you think it isn't necessary ? I don't expect my book to become a bestseller, it is really just something I wanted to do for a long time.

Thanks for helping !

john-r
greghsnow
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Re: ISBN necessary for E-Book ?

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Hey John how's it going? So I just helped Gerry Campbell, author of "Demand Horizon" publish his book and here's a few notes to consider. It's all about where you want to distribute it. If you solely want to distribute on Amazon Kindle, then you won't need too. Amazon will assign you a 10-digit ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) which is unique to the eBook. Each format you publish your book requires it's own ISBN because it is unique to what edition the book is, along with a few other aspects that leads it to be that way. Hope this helps.
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john-r
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Re: ISBN necessary for E-Book ?

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Hello gregsnow,

at the moment it is going fairly slow, not sure if I will get a lot done until the end of the year. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with me. I did't know about the ASIN but as far as I am concerned, that should be enough for now. As I said, I am not dreaming about becoming a best selling author with short stories.

Thanks again,

John
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Brooks127
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Re: ISBN necessary for E-Book ?

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I use ISBNs for my ebooks. A lot of time went into whether or not I should. What did it for me was there is some discussion online about how the book is registered under a thirdparty alternative such as Amazon.

I suspect the cost of acquiring ISBNs is what makes most people consider there options. It was for me at first, but the more I learned, the more I felt compelled to acquire some.
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Eric_Borgerson
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Re: ISBN necessary for E-Book ?

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Hi there,

I spent a lot of time looking into this question and ended up registering a separate ISBN for each version and format of my book. I found this article informative and persuasive: bookcoaching.com/do-i-really-need-a-sep ... -my-ebook/
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