You can purchase your ISBN and Barcode for your book at any time, but I recommend doing this after you submit your manuscript for editing. It is also helpful if you already have a title for your book. In order to generate your barcode you will need to determine the pricing for your paperback or hardcover book. Once the barcode is generated, you cannot change the price, so ensure you are set on the price you want before generating the barcode. If you decide later you want the price to change, then you will have to purchase a new barcode.
Go to Bowker website: https://www.myidentifiers.com/identify-protect-your-book/isbn/buy-isbn
You will be taken to the Bowker website.
Once you are on this website, scroll to the bottom and you will see the options to purchase barcodes and your ISBN separately or together. I recommend buying them together for $150.
Once you have selected this, you will be asked to create an account. Once you have added this to your cart and paid for it, you can go back to your main page (make sure you are signed in) and there will be several things you can do on this website.
At the top of the screen you will see a drop down under My Account. You will see the following options:
If you click on my identifiers, it will take you to the page where your ISBN and Barcode are located. Here you will see the status of your ISBN. You will need to enter information about your book and once all of the required information is entered, the status will update to Pending. Once everything has been approved, the status will update to Assigned. After that is completed, scroll to the right and you will see the header Barcode. This is where you will populate the information for your book, including the price. Once that is completed, you will be able to send the barcode to yourself in multiple formats. Save all of these in your email so you can give the barcode file to your cover designer when the time comes.
There are other areas of the website you can check out as well, but this is the main thing that you need to get your ISBN and Barcode. I hope this helps anyone who has been struggling with this!
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