Cover, editing... and the ISBN question

Current version of title page.

This week, I worked on three areas of publishing:

1) More editing. I did two more chapters. Three to go. (Yes, I counted wrong last week.) I also went through and corrected the widows and orphans. The only ones I think are problems are the very short lines ending a paragraph at the top of a page, so those are what I fixed. In most cases I was able to tighten some phrasing on the previous page to save a line, which took the orphan back down to the bottom of the previous page. Occasionally I added stuff to create an extra line on the previous page, so the orphan was no longer an orphan. If the orphan line was long enough, say half the line, I let it stand. And of course, all this will last only until I do any more editing or change the font size or something, which would totally mess it all up again. Really, I should have left this until after the editing and formatting were totally done. Oh well, next time...

2) More preliminary work on the cover. I am using Microsoft PowerPoint to do some front cover and whole cover layouts, using the watermarked free comp of the photo I'm considering buying (blown up way too much), just to get a feel for it. (Since I haven't bought the cover photo yet, I don't want to upload the layout here, but the fonts you see in the title page above are the ones I'm currently using.) Naturally, playing with the cover is a lot more fun than editing, which is why I still have three chapters left to edit.

3) To buy my own ISBN, or not to buy my own ISBN? That is the question... My book will have to have an International Standard Book Number, that's not the question. How to get it is.

Ideally, an ISBN would be free, portable (allow me to publish the book with another printer without having to get a different number), personal (allow me to be my own publishing company for the book), and widespread (allow for the widest possible distribution, including being listed in the Baker & Taylor catalog, which libraries and institutions use. Ask me--in my job I've helped place Baker & Taylor orders. On the other hand, libraries also order through other sources, too.)
    
Well, ha ha. None of CreateSpace's options fulfill all four requirements. Here's how it breaks down:

• Option 1: Free and widespread, but not portable or personal. These books have CreateSpace listed as the publisher on their Amazon pages.
• Option 2: Almost free and personal, but not portable or widespread. In other words, you can create your own publishing company name and they're very inexpensive, but they aren't listed in the Baker and Taylor catalog (why? why?) and you can't take them with you.
• Option 3: Portable and personal, but spendy and not widespread. 
• Option 4: Portable, personal, and widespread, but even spendier. 

Option 5, which is a possibility not listed by CreateSpace, is to buy a block of ten ISBNs from the American supplier (Bowker), which puts the cost per ISBN down to a reasonable rate, and would allow one to use Option 4 without being so spendy. But we are talking $250 upfront now, and that's real money.

What to do? What are my own priorities: cost, personalization, portability, or widespread distribution? Portability comes last. Cost is near the top. But which is more important, personalization or distribution? I go back and forth on that one. To be "Green Gnome Books" (or whatever), or to be in the Baker and Taylor catalog? If I were wealthy, I'd go for Option 5. Or I could move to Canada or South Africa, where ISBNs are free. Decisions, decisions.

Coming up this week: finish editing. Really. Work on front and back material (title page, copyright page, author bio, dedication, and acknowledgments). Stay tuned...