How to Get an ISBN Number

From my understanding every book published in any format needs an ISBN number. An ISBN number is an International Standard Book Number. It's a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering code. Each part of the number represents a different piece of publishing information i.e.: group, publisher, title and check digit. This system allows every book published to be easily found and accessed. With this number a barcode is supplied allowing your book to be sold through retail. There are different ways to get an ISBN.

If you are published by a publishing company they will take care of the ISBN for you.

If you are self publishing a lot of self publishing companies give you a free ISBN number. However any ISBN you receive without paying the normal rate of $50-$250 usually is registered with the companies name under publisher. i.e. if you receive one through publishing with CreateSpace.  It will be registered through them. I don’t think this limits your possibilities in any way and I don’t know what CreateSpace gain by having lots of books registered with them. I think maybe they just do it as a marketing ploy to get more people to publish with them. It works for me, I would rather go with a publisher who offers me a free one than go through the process of buying one myself.

If you are printing books on your own without any kind of publishing service you will need to purchase one. The site that seems to be recommended everywhere is www.isbn.org however I think you may have to buy them in bulk as it is aimed at publishers who buy them in sets of ten.

It is recommended to have a different ISBN for each format you publish your book in. So if you publish your book as both an eBook and print book each should have their own ISBN.

Different Types of Children's Books

There are a lot of different types of children's books and it pays to be familiar with them all before you start to write your own. I would recommend figuring out the type of book you are trying to create before you start writing or coming up with ideas.

Firstly here are the broad reading levels:

Picture books
Usually for children up to the age of 8 years old and have limited text and lots of illustrations.

Young readers
5-8 years olds

Middle readers
9-11 year olds

Young adults
Teens 12-13 and older

Within these groups there are also more specific reading levels but a lot of publishing companies have their own variations on this. This is just a guide but it is important to know where your story fits so you can target your exact age group.

Fiction
These are stories that are simply imagined. Fantasy, adventure, concept, science fiction and the list goes on.

Non Fiction
These are stories written about actual true events and facts. They can be about a real time and place in history or present. These stories are written with a lot of accuracy and very specific illustrations.

If you are going to write nonfiction children's books you must do your research and make sure everything is accurately portrayed. This is a very specific way of writing one which many publishing companies have a shortage of. There is a great market for this type of material however you need to be able to prove the accuracy of your work.

Subjects/genres
These subjects can be useful when figuring out where you fit within the publishing industries. You can use these categories to not only target your marketing better but also get published in the first place. Many publishers will specialise in a specific subject/genre. A great resource I found was 2011 Children's Writer's And Illustrator's Market . It has a list of every publishing company in each category so you can easily figure out which companies will be more likely to publish your book.

Activity
Adventure
Animal
Anthology
Arts and crafts
Biography
Careers
Concept
Contemporary
Cooking
Dance
Fantasy
Folktales
Geography
Health
History
Hobbies
Humour
Multicultural
Music
Nature environment
Poetry
Problem novels
Reference
Religious
Romance
Science
Science fiction
Self help
Special needs
Sports
Suspense/mystery
Text books