Publish and distribute
ISBN registration and copyright for Australian authors
ISBNs registered to you as the publisher, your imprint set up as you want it recorded, legal deposit lodged, and a plain explanation of what copyright does and does not need.
What you receive
What registration involves
Six administrative things that decide how your book exists in the record.
An ISBN identifies one format of one edition of one book, from one publisher. A paperback, an ebook and an audiobook therefore need three, and a second edition with substantial changes needs another. Australian publishers buy them from Thorpe-Bowker, the national agency, and whoever buys them is recorded as the publisher.
That last point is the one worth caring about. Some services register ISBNs to themselves and list your book under their imprint, which makes moving your title later genuinely difficult. We register to you. There is a fuller walkthrough in how to get an ISBN in Australia, and the registration step sits inside our self-publishing service.
- 01
ISBNs in your name
Bought and registered with you or your imprint as the publisher of record, so the book is yours in the national bibliographic database.
- 02
One per format
Separate ISBNs for paperback, hardback, ebook and audiobook, as the standard requires, each attached to the right product.
- 03
Imprint setup
Your own imprint name registered and recorded consistently, so every edition appears under the publisher name you chose.
- 04
The bibliographic record
Title, contributors, subject codes, format, price and publication date lodged correctly, which is what libraries and retailers read.
- 05
Legal deposit lodged
A copy to the National Library of Australia and a copy to your state or territory deposit library, as the Copyright Act requires.
- 06
A copyright page that is right
The imprint page set out properly: copyright notice, ISBN, edition statement, moral rights assertion and cataloguing details.
The facts that surprise most first-time authors
- ISBN per format
1
ISBN per format
Paperback, ebook and audiobook each need their own. A reprint does not.
- Legal deposit copies
2
Legal deposit copies
One to the National Library of Australia, one to your state deposit library.
- To own copyright
$0
To own copyright
In Australia copyright exists on creation. There is no register and no fee.
- Renewal fees on an ISBN
0
Renewal fees on an ISBN
An ISBN is bought once. Nothing recurring keeps your title listed.
How it works
How registration runs
Four stages, about a week, usually alongside typesetting.
- 01
Imprint decision
Day 1Whether to publish under your own name or an imprint you invent, and what that imprint is called. It appears on every edition, so it is worth ten minutes of thought.
Your part: Choose the name. We will check nothing obvious clashes.
- 02
ISBNs bought and assigned
Days 2–3Purchased from the Australian agency in your name, then assigned one per format, with the barcode generated for the print cover.
Your part: Confirm which formats you are publishing.
- 03
Bibliographic record lodged
Days 3–5Title, contributors, subject codes, format, price and publication date submitted, which is the record libraries and retailers draw on.
Your part: Approve the record before it is lodged.
- 04
Copyright page and legal deposit
On publicationThe imprint page typeset correctly, then deposit copies lodged with the National Library and your state library once the book is printed.
Your part: Two copies and the postage. We tell you exactly where they go.
Portfolio
Books we have registered and produced
Production work from author projects, each shown with its real title and author.
Small Repairs
Anna Reith
Ash and Ochre
Tom Varela
Return of the Martial Messiah
ToraAKR
The Mage's Heir
Wolfe Locke
The Drowning Lesson
Caleb Ruiz
Thirty-Six Winters
Ruth Carmody
Related services
What usually comes next
Packages
Where registration sits in our packages
ISBN registration and legal deposit are included in the Publish and Publish and launch packages. Standalone, you pay the agency cost for the ISBNs plus a small setup fee — we do not mark the ISBNs up.
Manuscript
Get the writing right before you spend anything on design.
for a 60,000-word manuscript
- Written manuscript assessment
- One round of structural editing
- Line edit and final proofread
- Australian spelling and style sheet
- A call with your editor at each stage
Publish
Everything needed to turn a finished manuscript into a book on sale.
for a 60,000-word manuscript
- Everything in Manuscript
- Original cover design, print and ebook
- Typeset interior for paperback and ebook
- ISBN registration and legal deposit
- Retailer and print-on-demand setup
- A printed proof copy before you sign off
- You keep the rights and the royalties
Publish and launch
For authors who want readers to find the book in its first month.
for a 60,000-word manuscript
- Everything in Publish
- A launch plan with dates and owners
- Author website with an email sign-up
- Retailer advertising for the first 90 days
- Review and bookshop outreach
- Monthly sales reporting for six months
Every quote is confirmed after we read your manuscript. Prices in Australian dollars and include GST. Longer books and illustrated books cost more, and we will say so before you commit.
Questions authors ask
ISBN and copyright: questions authors ask
No. Copyright exists automatically the moment a work is created in a material form, and Australia has no copyright register and no fee. Anyone offering to register your copyright here is selling you something you already have. What is worth doing is asserting it properly on the imprint page and keeping dated drafts.
One for each format you publish: paperback, hardback, ebook and audiobook are four separate ISBNs. A reprint of the same format does not need a new one. A second edition with substantial changes does. If you are unsure, tell us the formats and we will work out the count.
You can, and it costs nothing, but the platform is then recorded as your publisher and the ISBN is tied to that platform. Moving the book elsewhere later means a new ISBN and a new bibliographic record. For a single ebook that may not matter; for a book you intend to keep selling, buy your own.
Either your own name or an imprint you invent, and both are legitimate. An imprint looks more conventional on a copyright page and in a library record, costs nothing to create, and lets you publish several titles under one identity. What matters is that it is yours and not your service provider’s.
It is a legal requirement under the Copyright Act, so skipping it puts you in breach, although the practical consequence is usually just a reminder. The better reason to do it is that deposit puts your book permanently into the national and state collections, where it stays findable long after it goes out of print.
None. The ISBN is in your name, the imprint is yours, the copyright never leaves you, and nothing in our agreement gives us a claim on your work or your royalties. We will ask permission to show the cover in our portfolio, and you are free to refuse.
Still have a question? A real publisher will answer it.
Start your publishing journeyA conversation about your book
Get your ISBNs registered properly
Tell us which formats you are publishing and what you want the publisher name to be. We will register everything in your name and lodge the record.
Your manuscript. Your rights. Your next chapter.