Self-publishing 101: How to apply ISBN for your self-published books from NLP online?
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Do you want to sell your books through a physical bookstore just like me?
As a self-published author, one of my dreams is to see my books in the shelves of many physical bookstores which seems like a pie in the sky for me before the boom of internet age. Right now, I can see light and hope for that dream. There are a lot of ways to make it possible and I am hoping and praying it will work.
But first, I needed that ISBN. So I did get it for my new book and good news just recently, I got approved of ISBNs for the book I have written entitled The Restless Mind. I got the ISBNs for ebook and print version and I did online.
The National Library of the Philippines (NLP) is the repository of the printed and recorded cultural heritage of the country and other intellectual, literary resources and information sources.MissionThe National Library of the Philippines is an ISO certified national repository of printed and recorded cultural heritage in the country that acquires, organizes, conserves, and preserves Filipiniana resources and provides equitable access to information resources on various platforms.VisionPremier national repository and gateway of knowledge, culture and innovation empowering Philippine society.
How to get ISBNs for your self-published books from NLP online?
1. First thing first, register as an author/writer with NBDB and here is how I did it:
Self-publishing 101: How to register as an Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB?
and you can do it too, just click the link.
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| The confirmation email I received from NBDB. |
2. Create an account on this website: https://web.nlp.gov.ph/isbn/
3. Prepare a document that contains the full book cover of the book/s and copyright page. Remember, make sure you follow the prescribed format of the NLP or else they will reject it, but you can still revise your application.
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| The proof of work I submitted for the ISBN application. |
4. Submit a request by clicking ISBN Application tab and filling out all the necessary information about your book and uploading the document.
You will receive an email verifying your application and it may take up to two business days to evaluate your application.
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| This is the email I received when my ISBN application has approved. |
I hope for your success in your ISBN application.
Self-publishing 101: How to register as an Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB?
Thursday, April 24, 2025
As a self-published author, I had a little desire of registering with NBDB. I thought the process was tedious so I decided to forego the idea of being a registered author despite free online registration the agency was offering. I thought I could not squeeze it in my busy schedule.
But these past few months, I got no more excuses not to consolidate documents required to be registered as an author in the date base National Book Development Board or NBDB. The best part is the whole registration process can be done online. Tada! Isn't that good news?
Another reason to pursue this author registration is for me to be able to apply for ISBNs of my books, since I also plan to sell my books in bookstores and they require ISBN on books to be sold at their store. There is going to be a separate blogpost on how to get ISBN for books, once I got my author registration certificate.
The enactment of Republic Act 8047, also known as the Book Publishing Industry Development Act, was a clear demonstration of the government's attention to the important role of books in nation building. The law created the National Book Development Board (NBDB) which is tasked primarily to formulate and implement a National Book Policy with a corresponding National Book Development Plan geared towards the development of the book publishing industry. The birth of the NBDB was a long struggle that started in 1998 in the halls of Congress by men who shared a vision and the desire to see the growth of the book publishing industry in the Philippines. That remarkable struggle ended on June 7, 1995 when His Excellency, President Fidel V. Ramos, signed into law Republic Act No. 8047, otherwise known as the Book Publishing Industry Development Act which created the National Book Development Board. RA 8047 repealed Executive Order 492, series of 1991, as amended, the law which created the Instructional Materials Development Center, under the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS).
How to register as an Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB? What are the requirements? How many days will it take to receive the author registration certificate? These were the same questions I had where started thinking about the process of the application.
Here is list the documents or requirements I needed to prepare:
1. One (1) valid government-issued ID. I submitted a copy of my passport.
2. Bionote. I limited my bionote to five (5) sentences, but I am sure you can write more than that. Here is a sample of my bionote for your referece.
3. List of Published and/or Unpublished Titles. There is a downloadable prescribed template by the NBDB that I had to fill out diligently and it looks like this:
4. Proof of Work. I consolidated the book covers and copyright of all my published books in Word document file. For my unpublished titles, I also put them together in a Word document file and most of my unpublished manuscript do not even reach twenty (20) pages, so I just put whatever I have. I saved the documents for my proof of work as PDF.
After I finalized all the requirements, I sent them to this email: registration@books.gov.ph. All the documents will undergo evaluation by the NBDB and it may take up to seven (7) days.
Please feel free to comment or send me a message if you have any clarification. This link will give you the full details of the registration process: NBDB E-Registration
Be a registered Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB and start your application now!
Good day y’all!
Good news, I just released a book for my birthday. I’ve been self-publishing for almost ten years. I am happy doing that, and I find purpose in all the books I write. I hope you’re having fun, too, doing your purpose!
Here’s the full cover for the print copies of my latest book, The Restless Mind:
The Advance Reader’s E-book Copy is now available for reviews and interested readers. Please feel free to message me or comment on my posts, so I can send you a copy of The Restless Mind. You may add the book to your Goodreads account.
Please don’t hesitate to post your honest review of the book on Goodreads:
If you’re interested, please send me a message via Messenger, comment on this post, or e-mail me: arlenemanocot@gmail.com. I will send you an e-book version of the book for review.
Your time and interest are highly appreciated. Thank you and have a nice day! 🙏🤗
As you all know, I am about to release another collection of poems. It is a collection of my written thoughts and feelings in the most creative way I can. It is also my way of releasing overwhelming or underwhelming positive and negative emotions.
The title of the new book to be released is The Restless Mind. You can know more about it from the article that I posted on this website. You may click this link to read more about the book: https://www.arlenemanocot.com/2025/04/new-book-reveal-restless-mind.html?m=1
So going back to the question, where to publish or to print book? This inquiry was sent to me privately by a Facebook friend and I was thinking maybe aside from him there are others who might want to know something about self-publishing.
In my ten (10) years of experience in self-publishing, I would consider that there are different parts of publishing: writing, editing, formatting, and publishing. I had to ask that friend of mine what specific part of publishing and it turned out, he wanted to print his own collection of poems.
There are two printing company where I can get print books for my self-published books, one in the Philippines and the other is in the US.
1. PH prints
I submit my soft copy and all the details of the books to JMD Prints. They have Facebook page, but personally I like to message Ate Joy on her Messenger account for every transaction I have with JMD Prints. They will ask you send the digital materials via e-mail. Here’s the link for their FB page if you want to get in touch with them and planning to print in the Philippines. In my experience they got the most affordable and high quality output.
JMD Prints Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/share/1C8RBXWX2A/?mibextid=wwXIfr
2. US Prints
This is the first time I am going to try printing in the US and also using Ingram Spark. I inquired to one printing company, but their rate was a little pricey. I have created an account on their website starting to format my latest book according to their requirements. Here’s the link Ingram Spark website for to explore and decide if it is the best option for you.
Ingram Spark: https://www.ingramspark.com/
I hope this article helps you to get an idea about book printing. Please don’t hesitate to send me a question about self-publishing or anything maybe hehe. Have a nice day!
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