Free ISBN numbers for all

In which borough should your idea take place? Manhattan

Do you have a specific neighborhood(s) in mind?

New York

Which audience(s) does your idea help? Select as many as apply.

Youth

Parents

Justice impacted individuals

Limited English proficient individuals

Veterans

Low income individuals

Black, Indigenous, and POC

Older adults

Unemployed individuals

LGBTQ+ community

Immigrants and/or migrants

Public housing residents

People with disabilities

Describe the challenge you want to address:

The challenge that I would like to address is having to pay a minimum of $125 for an ISBN. This presents a barrier for writing and publishing for low income authors and publishers; especially if they want to publish multiple formats of their work because you need a different ISBN for each format. Since writing has no age limits or discrimination having or not having access to ISBN’s can have an impact on the entire community.

Describe your idea and approach to address the challenge:

Canada currently gives their citizens free ISBN’s. I think that’s an excellent idea and New York should offer all New Yorkers access to their own free ISBN’s that they don’t have to obtain through other companies which can cause a lot of issues and confusion. I think all writers and publishers should have access to free ISBN’s from the age of 16 and older.

Write the zipcode that best represents your New York City community:

10027