Get an ISBN

If you want to sell your book, you’ll need to get an ISBN. The ISBN is a federally-registered number that allows you to sell your book, in stores and online, and for it to be distributed in libraries. Ebooks don’t currently need an ISBN.

There are several options for you to get an ISBN:

Get your own ISBN:

• You can make an account with ISBN Canada and request an ISBN prefix with them
• This is a good option if you are planning on publishing more than one book and want to be fully independent
• Here, you can update the book’s status, from forthcoming when you first register it, then to active after the book is printed

Use Fortress Books and Web’s ISBN prefix

• If you only plan on publishing a single book, or don’t want the hassle of setting up your own account, we can get the ISBN for you
• Using our ISBN prefix and account, we will set this up and send you the assigned ISBN. You won’t lose any copyright to the book if we do this for you

Making an ISBN barcode

• Once you have your ISBN, it will need a barcode on the back of the book, allowing it to be scanned when someone buys it in a store
• You can use an online barcode generator. There are a variety of options, almost all are free, but most will want you to give them your email address before you can download the barcode
• The barcode goes on the back cover, bottom right corner of your book – learn more about cover design here
• Just the ISBN, no barcode, goes on your copyright page – learn more about your copyright page here