Content

• To step
• Tips
• Warnings

You have finally read all the articles on wikiHow about character creation, story building, and book writing. Congratulations, that's quite an achievement! Now you want to publish your book over the internet and you need an ISBN for that. "Of course," you say to yourself. "What is an ISBN and how much does it cost to request one?"

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number and is a unique number assigned to books so that they can be identified worldwide. This way, sellers and readers know which book they are buying, the subject of that book, and who the writer is. Applying for an ISBN takes a bit of work, but we've already done the preliminary work for you and show you how to apply for one yourself.

To step

1. Find your local ISBN agency. Open your browser and go to http://www.isbn-international.org/agency.
   • Click on the menu - select group agency -. In this list you will find almost every country in the world. Choose your country from this menu. We take the Netherlands as an example here.
     
     
   • You can see that for the Netherlands you have to go to the ISBN Bureau, part of the Centraal Boekhuis. You can also find the address, telephone number, contact persons, e-mail address and website here.
     
     
2. Click on the link to the website. You will now be redirected to the Bureau's ISBN website, where you can learn all about the how, what, and why of ISBNs. You can look around here as long as you want.
   • We will proceed directly to requesting an ISBN here.
3. click on Register in the upper right corner. You will now be forwarded to the registration form that allows you to register for an account on the website.
   • With this account you can then request one or more ISBNs.
     
     
   • Note: You need a separate ISBN for each version of the book you are publishing, including hardcovers, paperbacks, ebooks, PDFs, apps and second issues.
4. Fill in the registration form. On the form you can indicate how many ISBNs you think you will need in the next three years. If you want to make an application, log in to the website with your account. You can create an account before you actually need an ISBN.
   • Note: this information only applies to the Netherlands. The prices and procedures for an application may differ per country. If you are not from the Netherlands, you can find the right website with the help of the first step in this article.

Tips

• Each publisher has its own group of ISBNs. These numbers cannot be sold or shared.

Warnings

• Don't trust people who offer you a single ISBN unless they work at your local ISBN agency. If you use this number, you will not be correctly listed as a publisher in various databases. The Dutch ISBN Bureau only sells individual ISBNs through their website.