I know they need an ISBN, but are barcodes required for eBooks if you're going through Amazon KDP or something of that sort?
I thought they did need an ISBN I am under the impression that if you don't have one for your ebook that Amazon will slap one on there anyway.
they will but it doesnt really matter... the importance of having your own isbn is in print where you need the isbn to show that you're a professional to the book shops you want to stock the book. (assuming you're going to use ingram spark... book shops won't be buying print from amazon anyway so if you are only selling direct to the consumer via amazon you may as well use their free isbn for that too)
So third parties like Ingramspark or Smashwords would probably require one to distribute to Amazon? I went back and found this on Amazon: An ISBN isn't required to publish an eBook with KDP. Once your content is published on KDP, Amazon will assign it a 10-digit ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number), which is unique to the eBook, and is an identification number for the Kindle Book on Amazon.com. If you already have an ISBN for your eBook, you'll be able to enter it during the publishing process. Do not use an ISBN from a print version of your book; eBook ISBNs must be unique to eBook versions. You can purchase an ISBN from multiple sources on the Web, including the official ISBN body. I'm not sure if having an ISBN being on there would take the place of the ASIN or if you end up with an ASIN anyway. I've heard of some authors saying get your own ISBN for Amazon because you have more rights over your book, which is a concerning thing to hear, but I'm not sure how that all works. I guess you have a wider ranger of options with an ISBN as far as where you distribute. Still trying to figure out how all this works lol. I did a lot of reading before, but forgot most of what I've read regarding ebook self publishing. I'm seeing that it seems that barcodes are mostly for physical copies of books, is that correct?
The rights thing is rubbish... what they're talking about is that whoever owns the ISBN is the publisher of record, but it makes absolutely zero difference to copyright or any other legal rights to the manuscript You get an ASIN as well (thats an amazon stock number) totally separate to the isbn Aggregators won't require an ISBN to publish to amazon (by the way don't use ingram spark as an aggregator - they're crap for that... their strength is in PoD for print). I'd strong suggest going direct with KDP... if you're not going into KU you can use an aggregator for the other market places although its wise to go direct with kobo too so you can use their promo services (and if you're with kobo you can use them for overdrive) If you do want to use an aggregator i suggest Draft2Digital rather than Smashwords (publishdrive are worth a look once you start selling a lot, but they charge a fee instead of taking a percentage so they aren't ideal at the start) Barcodes are for Print/Audio - they go on the back cover (Ebooks don't have a back cover)... don't buy a barcode, once you've got an ISBN you can generate a barcode from it free anything else feel free to ask ... i recommend this book by my friend and mentor Adam Croft to get your head round the complexities of self publishing https://indieauthormindset.com/books/the-indie-author-checklist/ Also Mark Dawson and Joana Penn's podcasts https://selfpublishingformula.com/spf-podcast/ https://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/
Ah, I see. Yeah, it makes sense to have an ASIN as well because that's Amazon's own tracking thing. Oh yeah, Draft2Digital I think was mentioned on another thread I had up. I'll have to check it out again. Thanks for reminding me of it. Will definitely look into Kobo, too - that sounds familiar. Thanks for clarifying what the barcode is used for and the other resources
