Bowker MyIdentifiers

The publisher name attached to an ISBN prefix is set when the block is bought and follows every number in that block, so it is the name recorded as your book's publisher of record. If your publisher bought the ISBNs, that account is theirs; normally you ask for each number and check that the publisher of record is the imprint you expect and that the title details are right. If you bought your own, the record is yours to keep correct, and accepting a free platform-supplied number instead lists the platform as the publisher. Record each number beside its format and confirm that the publisher name, price, and publication date match the finished book.

MyIdentifiers is the online store and title-management service run by R.R. Bowker, the United States ISBN Agency. It is where a U.S. publisher, including a self-publisher acting as their own publisher, buys International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs), buys barcodes, and enters the title information that feeds Bowker's Books In Print database.

It is a commercial storefront as much as a registry. Alongside ISBNs it sells copyright filing help, cover design, editing, review services, and marketing packages. You only need the ISBN part.

Who is recorded as the publisher of record for each ISBN, and the title data Bowker holds for that ISBN in Books In Print. The publisher name attached to an ISBN prefix is set at purchase and follows every number in that block. Retailer and library records are fed separately, so fixing a title in MyIdentifiers does not by itself fix Amazon or WorldCat.

If you are traditionally or hybrid published, you will normally never log in here. The publisher owns the ISBN prefix and manages the records. Your job is to ask for each ISBN and confirm the publisher of record is the imprint you expect.

If you publish the book yourself and want to be listed as the publisher, buy your ISBNs here rather than accepting a free platform-supplied number, because a platform-supplied ISBN lists the platform as publisher. Buy one number per format you plan to release (hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook), register each title with complete, final metadata once the details are locked, and keep the login details with your book records. A block of ten costs much less per number than a single ISBN, so if you expect more than two formats, do the arithmetic before you buy one at a time. The current prices, and the day we read them, are on this page under Price.

Authors outside the United States should use their own national ISBN agency instead.

1. Sign in at myidentifiers.com (opens in a new tab) and open My Identifiers, then the ISBN list.
2. Confirm each ISBN is assigned to the correct title, format, and edition, and that the publisher name matches what appears on the copyright page.
3. Check that the title record status is complete, with final price, publication date, and description.
4. Search the ISBN on a retailer or on WorldCat to see whether downstream records agree, and log any mismatch in your correction log.

MyIdentifiers is a place to buy and manage ISBNs; it is not the ISBN standard itself, which is governed internationally through the International ISBN Agency and represented in the U.S. by Bowker. Buying an ISBN is not copyright registration, does not create a Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN), and does not put the book in stores. The bundled marketing and review products are optional purchases, not steps in the identifier process.