ISBNs are essential to selling your book. The ISBN is linked to essential information about your book: what the book is, who wrote it, and what the book is about. Since the ISBN is an extension of the book itself, you should be aware of what you are buying, and who you are buying from.

This may not always be the case with illegitimate resellers. When selecting who to purchase an ISBN from, there may be ISBN resellers who claim to sell “authentic” or “trusted” ISBNs. While these sellers are certainly tuned into buzzwords, unless they are an authorized Channel Partner, those very same buzzwords can mean the opposite of what they are. Please be aware that there are unauthorized resellers of ISBNs, and that this activity is a violation of the ISBN standard and of industry practice.

If you use one of these illegitimate ISBNs, you will not be correctly identified as the publisher of record in Books In Print or any of the industry databases, such as Barnes & Noble or Amazon, or in the databases of wholesalers such as Ingram. This will make it harder for your potential readers to find the book easily. Discovering the consequences too late can lead to extensive costs to apply for a new prefix and reassign a new ISBN, and can potentially lead to the application of stickers to books already printed and in circulation.

Think of an ISBN as a driver’s license for your book – it tells retailers everything they need to know about your book at a glance. However, if you buy an ISBN from an illegitimate source, it’s along the same lines as buying somebody’s driver’s license on a street corner; you’re certainly buying a license, but you don’t know whose you’re buying!

You have spent time bringing your book to life, make sure you obtain an ISBN from a legitimate source like Publisher Services to make it available to as many potential readers as possible!