So, I’m self-publishing this book I’m working on. September 1 is the date. Apparently, when you publish a book you need an ISBN to go along with it. Stands for International Standard Book Number.

I bought a pack of 10 ISBNs from Bowker. It was a deal if you buy a bunch at once. I guess you need an ISBN for every medium your book goes into (e-book, paperback, hardback). When you buy ISBNs through Bowker you have to assign an imprint to them them. So, I had to create an imprint name. That took a while of thinking about it. Google Gemini (which is advising me through this process of self-publishing) suggested I create a dba for the imprint I came up with. That cost money. I decided to attach the dba to an old LLC I had, that I didn’t really use anymore. Turns out the LLC had been administratively dissolved. So, I had to pay a fee to get that reinstated. Then, Google Gemini recommended I buy the domain name for the press – just in case I ever wanted to use it for something.

So, it all ended up getting expensive fast.

COST BREAKDOWN:
10 ISBNs: $295
Domain: $18
dba: $20
LLC: $100
total: $433

Though, I guess the only cost that goes directly to the one e-book I’m trying to self-publish is $29.50 for a single ISBN. Everything else is overhead costs. Administrative costs. So, depending on how you do your job costing, this book is either already put me out $433, or only $29.50 – in which it’s basically free.