What is an Imprint?

Your Imprint is your professional publishing name (trade name) and it becomes your "brand"

"An imprint of a publisher is a trade name under which it publishes a work. A single publishing company may have multiple imprints, often using the different names as brands to market works to various demographic consumer segments." - Wikipedia.

Is an imprint necessary? No. You could simply use your name.

Is it helpful? Yes! Your imprint can make you stand apart and look more professional than using your name.

If you plan on publishing multiple books, establishing an imprint could help play a part or contribute to the branding of the books. 

Here's how it works:

When you purchase ISBN(s), you, or the imprint you use, becomes the "Publisher of Record," and it becomes your brand. And when you upload your book into Amazon, you'll be asked to include your imprint. 

Want to see examples of different imprints?

Look at the books on your bookshelf and open up to the copyright page. Use those to brainstorm and/or use as a template. You can even use the "Look inside" feature on Amazon to see what a book's copyright page says. 

Examples of an imprint include:

• Penguin Books
• Curl Up Press
• Globalnet Publishing
• Redwood Publishing
• Odyssey Press
• Author Academy Elite
• Authority Publishing

Important Note: A big thank you goes to Eric Van Der Hope for being a huge support to the students at Self-Publishing School, and for providing the content of this Help Center article!