How Do I Get an ISBN for My Book?

From the ISBN agency for the country where you, the publisher, are based. Where you sell the book doesn't matter. In the US that is Bowker, which charges $125 for one, $295 for ten, $575 for 100 and $1,500 for 1,000. In the UK and Ireland it is Nielsen, which charges £93 for one, £174 for ten, £387 for 100 and £994 for 1,000, including VAT. In Canada, ISBN Canada charges nothing: ISBNs are free to eligible publishers, for print books, ebooks and audiobooks. The alternative is a free ISBN from your publishing platform. It costs nothing, but on KDP and IngramSpark it doesn't carry your imprint and can't follow the book to another printer.

---

The longer version

Step 1: Check you need one

Not every format does. Kindle ebooks don't, and several ebook stores assign their own identifier. Paperbacks and hardcovers do. Start with do I need an ISBN? before you spend anything.

Step 2: Find your agency

There is one ISBN agency per country or region, and you buy from yours:

The rules are about where you live, not your nationality or your market:

• Bowker sells only to publishers physically located in the United States or its territories.
• Nielsen sells to anyone based in the UK, Ireland or a British Overseas Territory.
• ISBN Canada is open to self-publishers physically located in Canada, and publishing companies whose main place of business is in Canada. Canadian publishers who work only in French apply to Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), not ISBN Canada.
• Thorpe-Bowker sells only to publishers physically located in Australia.
• New Zealand's National Library issues ISBNs to a person, company or organisation located in New Zealand that is the book's publisher. Requesting one puts your publisher name, on the public Global Register of Publishers, which is your own name if you publish as an individual.

A Canadian author paying Bowker is the classic avoidable mistake. So is a US author buying from a reseller rather than from Bowker: Bowker warns that an ISBN from anyone other than the official agency may not identify the publisher correctly.

Step 3: Work out how many

You need one ISBN for each format: paperback, hardcover, ebook and audiobook each take their own. That is why the block of ten is the usual buy in the US. A block of ten costs $295, against $125 for one. Bowker says they never expire, so unused numbers carry over to later books. How many books can one ISBN cover? has the format-by-format count.

Step 4: Buy or apply, then assign

• Bowker and Nielsen: open an account, buy the block, and the numbers sit in your account until you assign each one to a title.
• ISBN Canada: open an account first. A new account can take up to about two months, so apply well before you need the number. Once approved, you request ISBNs from it.

When you assign an ISBN, you record the book's details against it: title, format and the publisher name. That publisher name is your imprint, the name readers and retailers will see. See what is an imprint?

Step 5: Use it on your platform

Enter the ISBN when you set up that format. Give each platform the ISBN for the matching format; a paperback ISBN can't go on the ebook. Apple Books is strict about timing: the ISBN must be supplied with the initial submission — it cannot be added to a title later.

The free alternative

KDP, IngramSpark and Draft2Digital all assign free ISBNs. The catch is ownership. KDP's free ISBN is offered for paperback and hardcover only, registered to “Independently published”, and it can't be used with another printer. IngramSpark's free ISBN lists its own imprint as the publisher and can't be moved to another platform. That trade-off is set out in KDP ISBN vs your own ISBN.

---

Common exceptions

• Pen names don't need separate ISBNs. The ISBN identifies the edition and the publisher. The author name is just one of the details recorded against it.
• A new edition needs a new ISBN. Fixing typos doesn't count as a new edition; a substantial revision does.
• Barcodes are a separate purchase from some agencies. Check whether your printer generates one before paying.

---

Related questions

• Do I need an ISBN?
• KDP ISBN vs your own ISBN
• How many books can one ISBN cover?
• What is an imprint?

Sources

• Bowker, Buy ISBNs (myidentifiers.com): prices, eligibility, expiry.
• Nielsen UK ISBN Store, Buy ISBNs: prices including VAT, eligibility.
• Library and Archives Canada, ISBN pages: cost, eligibility, BAnQ, account processing.
• Thorpe-Bowker, Buy ISBNs (myidentifiers.com.au): prices, setup fee, eligibility.
• National Library of New Zealand, ISBN pages and service terms: cost, eligibility, the public publisher register.
• Amazon KDP Help, Get an ISBN; IngramSpark and Apple Books records for their ISBN terms.

Agency prices and rules are quoted from the AuthorAZ records for Bowker, Nielsen, ISBN Canada, Thorpe-Bowker and the National Library of New Zealand. Verified 15 October 2026.