Lupus Obsidian Publishing, Est. 2020

I finally decided on a name for my publishing imprint, Behold, Lupus Obsidian Publishing! There are a lot of different options for indies when it comes to their imprint, and this decision invariably also brings up if they want to own an ISBN or use a free one from Amazon or Ingram Spark.

What is an ISBN exactly?

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number… The International Standard Book Number is a numeric commercial book identifier. Each ISBN is unique! Publishers—which I am a self-publisher so read as me— purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and variation of a publication. So my e-book and paper back will each have their own ISBN. Published books the world over all have ISBN’s! Pretty neat!

So… what is an imprint then?

The publisher’s imprint is basically a trade name under which the publisher works. I am self-published so technically Tina Capricorn Inc is my publisher. But the imprint or trade name I am using is Lupus Obsidian Publishing.

Fun fact: A single publishing company may have multiple imprints, often using the different names as brands to market works to various demographic consumer segments.

Lupus Obsidian was chosen as a reference to the ship in my debut novel The Anchor of Time and to commemorate it as the vehicle I am taking to the next phase of my career—self published indie author!

Ultimately I decided that I wanted my own imprint and ISBN to have complete brand and content control over the books I am publishing. Even though I am self publishing, I am not going to be exclusive with Amazon. TAOT will have a wider distribution than just a Amazon. My book will be available on Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and hopefully a few local booksellers too!

Super nerdy fact: if I had used an ISBN from Ingram Spark, the imprint would belabeled Indy Pub. On Amazon indie books receive a 10 digit ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) instead of an ISBN if they are exclusive to Amazon. Each ASIN is unique to the eBook, and is an identification number for the Kindle Books on Amazon.