Here is a friendly reminder than you can publish your book on Amazon, Barnes and nobles, and Ingramsparks without having to buy a ISBN number. Each company provides their own free ISBN as an option. But. For example if you wanted to do Amazon's kdp program, you can not have your book on a digital ebook format anywhere else for sale during the 90 day period. If you just do the ebook kindle version without kdp unlimited then you can say go through Barnes and nobles for rook, and ebook through Ingramsparks. You need 1 ISBN for each paperback and hardcover edition. All three of the companies provide isbns for you. But the benefit of going through a authorized provider for an ISBN, which in the USA the one one is Bowker, is that you can use that same number no matter who you publish for. Versus having different ISBN for Amazon books, Barnes and nobles books, Ingramsparks ECT. Now, isbns do get cheaper when you buy in bulk through bowker so that is also an option to reduce their expensive cost. I think it's like 95 or 98 for one, and a significant discount when purchasing ten or more.

Welcome to Authors United! My goal is simple- create a reliable information community from indie authors, for indie authors. From beginner to veteran. Tips, advice, tricks ect in the self publishing world. What kinds of things to avoid, what's a good idea, so on and so forth. There are so many corrupt, scammy services out there that prey on indie authors and their neivety, that I hope I can build something that gives hope to those lost, confused, and unsure with how to handle x,y or z. I can't do that alone! It will take all of us to create this, and I know we can do it. So welcome, I'm still learning my way around this platform, but together we can grow. Share this group far and wide, promote it on your socials, anyone is welcome that seeks to publish their work.

So, you just finished your manuscript, congratulations! That is a milestone worthy of celebrating! Now what happens? Now you probably post on social media, using hashtags and everything else. You're excited, thrilled, exhausted and maybe even nervous with anticipation. When you post about your work on social media, be prepared for people coming out of left field, nowheresvill to message you offering some kind of services, or solicitations. They may not all be scammers, but a vast majority of them are. What I mean by that is simply the majority of them have social media accounts on discord, what's app, and other media platforms that were made usually within days or months of them reaching out to you. Their comments usually start with endless praise for your work, whether it's true genuine praise or not. Then it quickly devolves into something similar to "I believe it has great potential and would love to help get ur work translated into comics, webtoons, and other forms of media," and then followed up with an offer to reach out and then their socials and other ways to reach them. My advice is to simply block these posts and comments. It is nothing more than an attempt to prey on the new and naive authors who don't know any better. That leads me into more organized vanity publisher. Now what is a vanity publisher? They are companies that insist you have to pay them, and they will push your work out in select fields, obscure magazines, and just enough to not be labeled an official scam. ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS. PAYMENT FLOWS TO THE AUTHOR. Any genuine traditional publisher will almost never reach out cold call style. Nearly all publishing companies require an author to have an agent as the middle man. But that is a topic for another day. If any so called publisher promises instant success, or the moon and the offer seems so golden, and they refuse to listen to you or take your concerns to heart, and insist you have to pay them, then instant block. They will take your money and you will end up angry, upset and hurt over the waste.