ISBN ownership, transfers and re-use

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When creating your book, you can choose to use a free Blurb-provided ISBN, or you can purchase your own ISBN to use in your book. Regardless of which path you choose, there are some nuances about ownership, transfers, and re-use you should bear in mind.

Blurb-provided ISBNs

You cannot transfer Blurb-provided ISBN to your name.

The benefit of a Blurb-provided ISBN is that it's free. However, Blurb-provided ISBNs are registered under Blurb's name and you cannot transfer this free ISBN to your name. See more information in the isbn.org ownership FAQs and in our Distribution Agreement, specifically section 1.10.

You continue to own your content.

One question we get a lot is about whether you own your content if you use a Blurb-provided ISBN. Yes, your book content remains your own; using a Blurb-provided ISBN does not change that. Please see section 8 of our Terms and Conditions.

Use your own ISBN

If you have an ISBN you purchased and used in an earlier version of your book, but that you want to move to an updated version, please read this article. We will determine whether or not it's possible to reassign that ISBN.

More information on ISBNs and content changes is available at isbn.org.

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