ISBN stands for "International Standard Book Number". This is a unique, numerical identifier for the books. Each ISBN represents a particular edition of a book.
No. Publishers assign ISBN to the book published by them. Since Pothi.com is not a publisher, it does not assign an ISBN to any book. However that is not much of an issue because
Please note that if you are selling pre-printed books through us, it needs to have an ISBN.
While there are companies that assign ISBN to self-published books, this is not the correct use of ISBN. ISBNs are supposed to be assigned by the publisher. For a self-published book, the author is the publisher. So, someone else should not be assigning an ISBN to a self-published book. In some countries, there are resellers for ISBN, who can legitimately give you an ISBN that you own and hence can use for your self-published book. But there are no resellers in India. There is only one government agency, which is in charge of assigning ISBNs. So, the best thing to do is to apply to the agency and get one for yourself. And it's not difficult. It can be obtained from the ISBN agency for free with a simple application. Check out the application format and other details in this article on ISBN.
A simple application needs to be sent to the ISBN agency for assignment of ISBN to self published books. The details are available in this article on ISBN.
ISBN and copyright are separated and unrelated concepts. ISBN is only an attempt to catalog all published books. Having or not having an ISBN does not affect your copyright.
ISBN and copyright have no relations whatsoever. ISBN is only an attempt to catalog all the published books. It makes no statement about the copyrights. Having or not having an ISBN does not affect your copyright.
No. An ISBN identifies one particular edition of a book. Even in print, hardcover and softcover versions should have a separate ISBN. Even a new edition of the same book needs a separate ISBN. So, if you are using ISBN at all, make sure you get a separate one for each edition and format of your book.
Reusing ISBN can create problems in listing with retailers. DO NOT reuse ISBN.
No. Different editions of the book should have different ISBNs. If you are unable to procure a separate ISBN for the Indian edition, please do not use an ISBN at all. Reusing of ISBNs creates listing problems when the book goes into distribution.
No. The publisher or self-publishing company owns that ISBN. You should not use it on Pothi.com. If you do not have a separate ISBN that you own, it is better to publish without an ISBN.
The only exception is if you are not printing the books with Pothi.com, rather getting it from the company which owns the ISBN and only selling it through us.
No. You do not need an ISBN to publish or distribute through Pothi.com.