Important Information

What You Should Know

Getting an ISBN from us is quick, and most of the process is straightforward. A few details are fixed once your ISBN is issued, and a few are worth knowing upfront, so we’ve set them all out here in one place before you order.

It’s deliberately short. If you want the details behind any point, we’ve linked to the page that explains it.

1. You must live in the UK or Ireland

Membership of the Independent Publishing Network is open to publishers and authors based in the UK and Ireland. If you’re elsewhere, please use your own national ISBN agency. You can find it through the International ISBN Agency.

2. “Independent Publishing Network” will be your publisher and imprint

For every ISBN we issue, Independent Publishing Network is listed as the publisher in Nielsen’s system, and this cannot be edited. It’s the name that appears against your book on Nielsen and on retail sites such as Amazon.

Wherever you’re asked for an “Imprint”, “Publisher” or “Manufacturer’s name” (on Amazon, KDP, or anywhere else), enter Independent Publishing Network.

What this doesn’t affect: copyright and all rights and proceeds remain entirely with you. The book is yours; we supply the number and the registration.

What it might affect: if you later approach an established publisher, they may require an ISBN issued under their own imprint. For self-publishers, the imprint name makes no practical difference to how the book is sold.

3. You should list yourself as the distributor

By default, we also appear as the distributor, but unlike the publisher field, this one is editable, and we encourage you to change it. You can give your own details when you complete our registration form.

This matters because you are the person a bookshop will contact when it wants to order a copy. How readers and bookshops actually get hold of your book.

4. Registration is included, and it will put your book on Amazon

Every membership package includes registration on the Nielsen Book Database. Whether you use it is entirely your choice.

Registering is what makes your book findable: it sends your title details to UK bookshops, libraries, and distributors, as well as to Nielsen’s international data customers. It also means your book will usually be listed on Amazon automatically, and sometimes on other databases.

If you’d rather your book didn’t appear on Amazon, you can simply choose not to register it. We email you the registration form after you order, and it’s yours to complete or ignore. Bear in mind that an unregistered book won’t show in bookshop or library ordering systems either.

More on what registration does and why it matters.

5. You need a separate ISBN for each format

An ISBN identifies a single version of a book. A paperback and an e-book are two different products and need two different numbers. So do hardbacks, audiobooks and translations. A new or revised edition needs a new ISBN, but a straight reprint does not.

Work out how many formats you’re publishing before you order. Our pricing improves with quantity. See package prices.

6. We can’t guarantee where an ISBN will be accepted

To the best of our knowledge, members are using our ISBNs on their books throughout the UK, including with Foyles, Waterstones, Bertram Books, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Amazon Marketplace, Kindle, AbeBooks, Barnes & Noble, Valore Books, Biblio, eCampus.com and TextbookRush, among many others.

However, booksellers, distributors and wholesalers set their own policies and can change them at any time, so we cannot guarantee that any particular company will accept an ISBN we issue. If you’re committed to a specific retailer or distributor, check their current ISBN policy with them directly before you order.

7. Legal deposit is your responsibility, not ours

This applies to every book published in the UK, whether or not it has an ISBN.

One copy to the British Library, always. You must send one free copy within one month of publication. This is a legal requirement, and there are no exceptions.

Five more copies, usually. Five other UK legal deposit libraries are served by the Agency for Legal Deposit Libraries (ALDL) in Edinburgh. They aren’t automatically sent copies (they have to request them within 12 months of publication), but in practice, most registered books do receive a request. If one is made, you’re legally required to supply five free copies, and they go to a single address in Edinburgh rather than to the British Library.

You won’t have to deal with the ALDL yourself. Requests come to us. We email you to tell you which of your titles has been requested, where to send the copies, and what else you need to know.

Plan for six. It’s worth budgeting six free copies, plus postage, when you’re working out your print run and your costs. Most authors only hear about the five when the request arrives.

Electronic publications must also be submitted, though they’re supplied differently; see the link below.

Legal deposit addresses and full details.

8. What we do and what we don’t

We provide ISBNs, barcode images, registration on the Nielsen Book Database, and ONIX files, if needed. Membership is a one-off cost with no recurring fees, and your numbers and images are emailed to you as soon as you order.

We don’t hold stock, take orders, distribute, print, edit, design or market your book. Unless you appoint a distributor, orders come to you, and you fulfil them yourself. That’s normal for self-publishing, but it’s worth knowing before you start.

Next steps

Read all that and happy to proceed? Choose your membership package and get your ISBN.

Want to understand the whole process first — printing, pricing, bookshops, e-books and legal deposit? Start with our guide to self-publishing.

Still have a question? Read our FAQs or contact us — we’re happy to help.