: If I get a free ISBN through Amazon's CreateSpace now, will that impact any decisions about getting my own ISBN later? I am preparing my book for print-on-demand through Amazon's CreateSpace

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In answer to your question, the ISBN from CreateSpace is a real ISBN, but some people don't like it because it is under the "CreateSpace" name. So for example if you don't want to have your book listed on Amazon with the publisher name "CreateSpace", then you might consider alternative options.

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I arrived at your question from my query: should I use a CreateSpace ISBN? so my answer is not so much answering if having a CreateSpace ISBN will impact decisions about getting another ISBN, but it does shed light on another important consideration for allowing an entity other than yourself to contol the ISBN: metadata.

Metadata is how people will find your book while searching for it.

This mediashift article has a handy screenshot of the metadata you can enter on Bowker.

You will have the opportunity to insert gobs of data here — title,
author, description, number of pages, size, language, currency,
copyright year, date of publication, contributors, category, title
status (out of print, active, etc.) price, currency, and a photo of
your book cover.

The article goes on to state:

The ability to control and edit the metadata for your book whenever
necessary is a key reason you need to buy your own ISBN direct from
Bowker and to not let an author services company buy it for you.

mediashift.org/2010/10/a-self-publishers-guide-to-metadata-for-books285/
Over the past 90 minutes of searching that I've done trying to educate myself, I haven't been able to find the definitive answer on the metadata you do control if you use CreateSpace's free ISBN. I'll have to report back, when I go through the process.

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The original question:
"If I get a free ISBN through Amazon's CreateSpace now, will that impact any decisions about getting my own ISBN later?"

No.

But I would add to what others have written above. Amazon CreateSpace (not including KindleSelect) does not restrict you from selling your book elsewhere. You just cant use their ISBN to publish the book elsewhere. They say:
"This ISBN can only be used with the CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform."
That doesnt restrict you from selling your book anywhere. Its just got to be done through Amazon. Thats why the ISBN is free. If you later want to publish the book yourself through a fake publisher or your name, or through a real publisher, then a new ISBN will have to be assigned. And it can. Amazon cant stop you (unless you signed up for one of their special Kindle packages that might restrict that for a few months).

But personally, I wouldnt use the free Amazon ISBN. The main reason is in the imprint, it still has them listed as publisher. And thats going to not be as accepted into bookstores and libraries, mainly because its a print on demand book (ie lower quality than offset). Also, if you get your own ISBN now, you can not only use it at Amazon (with some distribution channel sales restrictions) but use it to print your own books and sell them. And some online retailers might also be willing to buy your books as the publisher you now are, because you have a real ISBN with a real publisher.

Thats my advice.....of course of you cant afford to buy the ISBN's thats another story.

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You should check into the requirements to get an ISBN in your own country. In many countries you can get one for free, which will then be your own that you can use as you like.

For my first book, the publisher gave me an ISBN of theirs. For my second book, I bought a block of 10 ISBNs from Bowkers, the American distributor of ISBNs. I think it cost me 0 for 10, which, if I do the intense calculation, comes to each. I've only used one so far, but when I finally get my next book out -- so many distractions and procrastination! -- I'll have another available. I may not get through all 10 in my lifetime, but hey, maybe when I retire from my day job I can get serious about writing.

I think Dale Emery went through Create Space's options nicely so I won't repeat his material.

Note that if you were to start out self-publishing a book, and then managed to convince a mainstream publisher to pick it up, they're going to use an ISBN of their own, not one you bought and not one from Create Space. So that's pretty much a non-issue.

If you get a Create Space ISBN and then sell the book door to door or from your own web site, I don't think there's anything that would stop you from selling the book with the Create Space ISBN, as long as the copies you sell are still printed by Create Space. If you went to another printer, then there might be issues with using a Create Space ISBN.

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CreateSpace ISBNs are real, legitimate ISBNs. You can use them to distribute your book anywhere in the world.

The key limitation is this: If your book has a CreateSpace ISBN, you must buy your copies from CreateSpace. That is, you can't use another printer to print books with an ISBN you got from CreateSpace.

You can find the "details" here: www.createspace.com/Products/Book/ISBNs.jsp
I put "details" in scare quotes because it is not obvious (to me, at least) what some of the terminology means.

CreateSpace Free ISBNs.
For the free ones, you have to use CreateSpace's imprint (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform). That has the disadvantage of making it obvious that your book is self-published. Some bookstores frown on stocking books with the CreateSpace imprint.

CreateSpace Custom ISBN.
CreateSpace offers a Custom ISBN, and you can use whatever name you want for the imprint. If you use that, CreateSpace will distribute your book to bookstores. They will not distribute it to libraries and academic institutions. This Custom ISBN is a ton cheaper than the Bowker price for a single ISBN. (And I think Bowker's price is going up by 50% in a few weeks, though maybe that's only for batches of 1000 ISBNs.)

Your own ISBN.
If you use your own ISBN (as I do), you can put your own imprint on the book. CreateSpace will handle the distribution through the channels you choose (with some limits), and will print the books for those channels. You can distribute the book yourself through other channels, and you can get them printed wherever you like (CreateSpace or elsewhere).

CreateSpace Custom Universal ISBN.
I'm not clear on the benefits and limitations of this one.
It looks like it has all the benefits of an ISBN you obtain from a registrar,
but at a slight discount from Bowker's single-ISBN price.
I'm not confident that I understand this option fully.

One ISBN per edition.
No matter where you obtain your ISBN, you may use it only for one edition of the book. If you publish multiple editions (audio, ebook, another trim size, a significant change of content), and you want ISBNs on those, you will have to obtain a distinct ISBN for each.

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