Self punlishing and ISBN?

Question

OK - so here is my question...
I'm about to publish through CreateSpace. They give me a free ISBN... and a year later - I've sold so many copies that I want to change how its distributed, or i get a agent and can publish it the traditional way.
now how would this work, could i just resubmit the exact same book, with no changes and attach my own ISBN, or if i get a agent and get it published, do i just remove the book from print and let them reprint it with a isbn? as i only have the one book atm, i just find it pointless paying £100+ for a block of 10 isbn if im never going to use them,

Answer 1

Remember this. If your goal is to traditionally publish your book then that should ALWAYS be your first choice. If you self-publish first then you're going to have to sell at least 10,000 copies of a phsyical book in a short amount of time or sell 20,000 copies per month of an ebook. If you don't have high sales then no publisher will be interested in republishing it. You don't need those sales if try to traditionally publish as your first option. you introduce the sales aspect if you self-publish first.



I wouldn't waste money on an ISBN. Save your money and publish it on the Kindle as an ebook. It saves a lot of money and the only time you pay Amazon is when you sell a copy of your book. Though, if you self pub I suggest you hire a professional editor and cover designer. Higher a content editor, too, not just someone to look over grammar.



Good luck with your book!

Answer 2

Well first of all, congratulations on selling lots of your self-published book, you must have spent a lot of time and effort and well done.



Secondly, if you get a traditional publisher, they will assign the book a new ISBN. They may want you to make changes to your book depending on how they feel it will do in the current market. This is not something you need to worry about until you have that publishing deal under your belt.

Answer 3

The ISBN is used for ordering and (sometimes) inventory control. It says nothing about who owns the book or any of the rights to it. The ISBN just identifies the publisher of the book or, more accurately, the entity whom a buyer should contact to obtain copies of the book.



Therefore, if you manage to get an agent and the agent manages to get a publisher, that publisher will assign their own ISBN to their edition of it. There's no point in buying your own ISBNs and assigning one to the book while you're hawking it around agents, because at that stage, the book you're submitting to agents isn't published in any meaningful sense - there's no way for a bookshop or a member of the public to obtain copies of it.