The ISBN mistakes that keep coming up
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R. S. Breed Founder
ISBNs are boring right up until one causes a problem, and then it's often a problem you can't easily undo. These are the ones that come up most.
One ISBN for everything. Each format needs its own. Paperback, hardcover and ebook are three different ISBNs, and a large print edition is another. If you're buying your own, budget for several per title.
Taking the free one without reading the strings. KDP will give you a free ISBN for your paperback. It only works on KDP, and your imprint shows as "Independently published". That's fine if Amazon is the only place you'll ever print. If you later want the same book in bookshops through another printer, you'll need a different ISBN, which as far as the catalogue is concerned makes it a different edition. Other services offer free ISBNs too. Check what they're tied to before you accept one.
Buying from a reseller. Cheap ISBNs from third-party sellers exist, and the catch is that the reseller becomes the publisher of record, not you. KDP also checks the imprint name you enter against the ISBN record and rejects a mismatch, and it's fussy about capitals and spaces. "Bluegum Press" and "BlueGum Press" are different imprints as far as it's concerned.
Buying one you don't need. Ebooks on KDP don't need an ISBN; Amazon gives them an ASIN. Libraries and some other retailers do want one, so if your ebook is going wide, check each platform rather than assuming.
Keeping the old number on a rewritten book. Fixing typos doesn't need a new ISBN. A substantially revised edition does.
Paying more than you have to. Where you buy depends on where you live, and prices vary a lot. Bowker's US pricing is reported at US$125 for one, $295 for ten and $575 for a hundred, which is why nobody in the US should be buying singles. Nielsen in the UK sells singles too, but a block of ten costs well under twice the price of one, so the same logic applies. Canadian authors get them free through Library and Archives Canada. Australians buy through Thorpe-Bowker. I haven't seen a recent price I'd trust, so check their site rather than an old blog post.
Buy them in your own name or your imprint's, keep a simple spreadsheet of which number went on which format, and you'll dodge most of this.