Everything you need to know about ISBN numbers
What are they, how to get one, and how can they help make your book a success!
So first of all, what the heck is an ISBN? An ISBN is an international standard book number. An ISBN is basically a product number that is used by publishers, booksellers and libraries to order, list and control holdings. It allows them to identify a specific book, their book, among the millions that are in circulation at any given time.
If you are a publisher… and you are a publisher if you plan to publish only one book… then you are entitled to take advantage (yes, take advantage) of the ISBN system. That is, as long as what you are publishing can be described as a book, manual, or report that will be sold to the public. (Regular publications like magazines and newsletters don’t have ISBNs, they do have ISSNs.)
There is strictly no legal requirement (at least in the UK or Republic of Ireland) to have an ISBN. It is an optional system. And the ISBN system is not an official book registry as such. But there are plenty of good reasons to get an ISBN for your book, even if you anticipate that it will only be a fairly small project initially.
So how can having an ISBN increase your book sales? Well, if you want to sell your publication through bookstores like WH Smith or Waterstones or whatever, or internet bookstores like Amazon, they’ll need you to have an ISBN so your book can be handled by their internal processing and ordering systems. The ISBN also provides access to book databases, such as BookFind Online, which are organized by ISBN. These databases are used by booksellers and libraries to help them find books for their customers. So let’s say you’ve published a great book on using and choosing ecommerce shopping cart systems and a customer comes in and asks for a book on shopping cart systems. Chances are high that your book will be located and ordered. It could mean hundreds or thousands of additional sales just for the small effort of getting an ISBN!
Why not give it a try and see how smart it is? Go to any online bookstore such as Amazon.co.uk and tap on this number in the search box: 978-0-9554865-0-0. Ready! You should see the sales page for my own Live BIG book. Think WIDE. Act SENSITIVELY. In the same way, people from all over the world could also order your book!
So how do you get an ISBN? ISBNs are assigned to publishers in the country where the publisher is located. This is regardless of the language of publication or the intended market for the book, so you can still sell your book worldwide with a UK assigned number. The ISBN Agency is the national agency for the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. You can download an application form from their website.
These are the contact details you need:
ISBN Agency, 3rd Floor, Midas House, 62 Goldsworth Road, Woking, Surrey GU21 6LQ Tel. 0870 777 8712 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.isbn.nielsenbook.co.uk/ controller.php?page=123
Some technical details you need to know: It takes about 10 business days to obtain an ISBN. Ideally, you need the number well before the publication begins, and you should have decided on the title, price, and format first (although it is possible to change this later). So plan ahead. And unfortunately, getting an ISBN isn’t free. Right now it’s £98.70 for a lot of 10 numbers. This is the minimum order. It’s actually not that expensive: just a handful of additional orders will more than cover the cost. Also, prior to 2007 the ISBN was a 10-digit number. But to increase the capacity of the system, it has now been changed to a 13-digit number, like this: 978-0-9554865-0-0. (If you want to know what all the different numbers mean, the ISBN Agency website has details.)
One last important thing. Look at any book and, like most products these days, you’ll find that it has (or should have) a barcode printed on it. This makes it easier to manage throughout the distribution and sales process. With books, the barcode shows the ISBN number. You will need a barcode on your book, as most booksellers won’t be able to sell it if you don’t. But the ISBN Agency does not provide you with a barcode when they send you your ISBN numbers. Therefore, you will need to obtain a barcode film supplier to create the very precise barcode design your printer needs to print the barcode on your book. There are a few different companies that can do this for you. One to take a look at is Axicon at axicon.co.uk Tel. 0800 834 937.
If you use a POD editor, it will probably be able to get the ISBN numbers and barcode layout for you. But, very important, check that the ISBN numbers will be registered in your name and not theirs.
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