The material on this page is drawn from the Thorpe-Bowker web site with the permission of Thorpe-Bowker. See the bottom of the page for more information on Thorpe-Bowker.
The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a 13-digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products published internationally. Each number identifies a unique edition of a publication, from one specific publisher, allowing for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers and distributors.
ISBNs are assigned by ISBN group agencies in 166 countries, coordinated by the International ISBN Agency in London. The Australian ISBN Agency (managed by Thorpe-Bowker) assigns ISBNs in Australia exclusively.
If you are involved in self-publishing, you may be interested to know that Thorpe-Bowker, the organisation that supplies ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers), which all books should have, is now issuing a regular newsletter, designed to help the rapidly growing army of people who are choosing to self-publish their books. They have a website, https://australianselfpublisher.com, which has a significant amount of news and useful resources, as well as links to their monthly newsletter which you can subscribe to. We've found it quite useful, and wanted to be sure our customers are aware of it.
Click here to download the Complete Manual for ISBN Users
To obtain an ISBN number, you need to fill out the appropriate form online.
Thorpe-Bowker have completely changed the process for obtaining an ISBN. Click here to go to the starting point in the process for applying for an ISBN.
Publisher Details
Publisher: The person or organisation that is responsible for producing the publication — it is normally NOT the printer.
Address: Please supply a postal address, and a street address if separate.
Contact name: This is the person who will be responsible for receiving notification of the ISBN/s. If you are applying for a block, it is the person who will be responsible for the allocation of ISBNs to publications and for notifying the ISBN Agency of these allocations.
Title details:To be completed by those publishers who require a single ISBN. As some details may change between issuing the ISBN and publication, amendments can be made at any time after the ISBN is issued.
Subtitle (if any): a secondary title that appears after the title and usually is of an explanatory nature. In the following example, the subtitle is after the colon.
Olympic Fever: A Study of the Australian Mood in the Year 2000.
Contributors: We can only list up to two of each type (e.g., authors, illustrators); if there are more than two of each type (e.g., 3 authors), one will be listed along with the term ‘Others’. Editors should only be listed if they are mentioned on the imprint page; for example, in an anthology.
Multi-volume works/editions: see Frequently Asked Questions
Number of pages: The number of actually numbered pages; eg, a book has 83 bound pages, with an introduction paginated in roman numerals, and only 60 numbered pages from 1 to 60. The number of pages in this case is 60.
Illustrations: does not include the cover.
Price: recommended retail price, including GST
Envisaged date of publication: an estimated time (month & year) for when the publication will be made available.
Self-publishers should also be aware that the arrangements for a Cataloguing in Publication entry (the other more or less essential identifying element that should appear on the Copyright page of a book) changed recently. Applications are now processed instantly, eliminating the old ten day timeframe. A cataloguing statement has replaced CiP entries for publishers to print in the their books. You can read more about the changes and benefits at http://www.nla.gov.au/content/changes-to-the-cip-service.
Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC, is Australia ’s leading bibliographic information provider for book professionals. Founded in Australia as D W Thorpe in 1921 and becoming part of the international Bowker business in 2001. Thorpe-Bowker collects, aggregates and publishes information about the Australian and international book industries in a range of formats, including online and in print.
Thorpe-Bowker's core product range includes the Global Books In Print bibliographic database, Australian Books In Print, Bookseller+Publisher magazine and its supplements, the Weekly Book Newsletter, Syndetic Solutions and the recently acquired Australian Library News.
Thorpe-Bowker has been successfully operating the ISBN Agency in Australia since 1997.