ISBNs

[Madhairday]

But of a tedious one, but just wondered what people do about ISBN s when self publishing? Do you need one for e-books? Looking at CreateSpace, for print books they can assign one or you can buy one, what are the advantages of those options? Any thoughts welcome :)

Also, while I'm here, what do you all do re author names - does anyone use a pen name or do you tend to use your own name? I'm going down a pen name route for various reasons but interested in the whys and wherefores in it all.

Hi, madhairday! You don't need an ISBN for self publishing, so don't worry about it. I haven't had one for my self published books, though when I got my contract from my publisher (LOVE saying that!) that they'd allocated an ISBN for the e-book and paperback of both books, even though one book hasn't been written yet.

I would use a pen name if I did it again. For one thing it's easier to take criticism if it's not your name! For another, you can tell people about the book if you want and not tell them if you don't want them to read it. I know it's not foolproof, but for example I know a couple of people that don't read much anyway and certainly don't read the sort of thing I like to write, but they bought copies of the books and I hated the thought of them reading them.

I found it impossible to publicise my books. Every time I mentioned them on here I had lots of lovely Mumsnetters who read them and that kick started it all. It's one of those things, of course, that the more you sell, the easier it is to sell, but once you stop selling you can flatline.

Thanks, Imperial :) I didn't realise you didn't need ISBNs for e-books, that's good then. And yes - that's one reason I'm going with the pen name - I like to keep a degree of separation from the real me although I'll tell friends etc it's me. Have started a twitter account in pen name though remain to be convinced of the efficacy of social media marketing when it comes to self published books. It's an incredibly crowded market. Ho hum. It all goes on the experience file.

Must be awesome being able to talk about your contract You've worked incredibly hard for it!

I'm not convinced about Twitter for self-publishing. I've blocked loads of writers who are just so pushy about their books.

Thanks re contract - it's been a long time coming! Just so glad it's finally happened.