Every published book must have an International Standard Book Number (ISBN). This identifier distinguishes each format of individual books. It's required to offer a book for sale and to register a book with the Library of Congress.

Securing ISBNs is a simple process but can be opaque to first-time authors. How to get ISBN numbers is a frequently asked question among our authors. In this post we'll cover the how many ISBNs you need, where to buy ISBNs, and how much ISBNs cost.

Indie authors have two options for securing ISBNs for their work:​

Choosing to self-publish your book is a big decision. By publishing independently, you take on the responsibilities of the author and the publisher. So it's important to approach the process with an understanding of what's entailed.

Self-publishing for the right reasons will help you make the commitment to producing and promoting an exceptional book. Before we dig into the process and great reasons to self-publish, let's look at a few poor reasons to choose independent publication.
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Choosing appropriate and specific keywords ensures that the right readers find your book. Although the process is often overlooked, taking a few minutes to research keywords can make a big difference in your book's visibility and sales.

In this post and the video below, we'll walk through a simple method for identifying and selecting keywords.
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​Independent authors have two primary options for self-publishing: Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and IngramSpark. Each of these options has benefits and drawbacks.

In this post, we'll cover the basics of KDP and IngramSpark to help you make an informed decision about where to place your book.

One of our jobs here at Blue Pen is helping first-time authors understand the industry. If you're publishing a book for the first time, you don't know what you don't know. And that leaves you open to getting caught in a scam—or just going down the wrong path for your goals.

In this post, we'll go over some common terminology and the different types of folks offering self-publishing services. Hopefully this helps you feel more prepared and confident as you take on your self-publishing process.

During line editing, ambiguity is one of the most important things to identify and eliminate. You should be looking for ambiguity during your self-editing process, and your professional editor will also root out instances that invite misreadings. Let's explore a few common causes of ambiguity and how you can fix them.

​High school writing classes teach us many lessons. We develop foundational skills that we apply for the rest of our lives—and sometimes that's not such a great thing. Fiction writers, particularly, spend time un-learning lessons from high school.

Here are a few tendencies you may have picked up while learning how to write the perfect college admission essay.

​One of the first questions to ask when you're considering professional editing is What type of editing do I need?

Not only are there a plethora of options, but terminology is not completely standardized throughout the industry. Depending on who you're speaking with, publishing professionals may use different terms for the same type of editing. Specifically, professionals who work directly with authors (like us at Blue Pen) often use different terminology than in-house editors.