The Importance of an ISBN and Barcode

A necessary requirement for selling physical books through booksellers, wholesalers, and distributors is the assignment of unique ISBN numbers for each title and a corresponding barcode symbol on the back cover ISBN identification is a global standard to uniquely identify individual titles and formats. Proper identification yields benefits efficient payment and supply chain processing. Each country has a designated ISBN agency to manage assignments and promote the standards. Publisher Services is an authorized agent of the US ISBN agency www. isbn-us.com.

Physical books (paperback, hardcover, etc.) require a barcode rendition of the ISBN assignment to allow the book to be tracked though the supply chain and point-of-sale. In order for booksellers to automatically capture an ISBN, it must be converted into a scannable barcode. The Bookland EAN symbol is the barcode of choice in the book industry worldwide, because it allows for encodation of ISBN’s.

Larger book retailers, as well as many book wholesalers, require that the books they handle be marked with the Bookland EAN barcode. With this machine-readable code on the book, the retailer can scan the symbol and identify the book easily and electronically by its ISBN. When a retail clerk scans the Bookland EAN barcode at the point of sale, the barcode identifies the book so that the price and other information about the book can be retrieved from the bookseller’s database. The computer then automatically reports the price to the cash register and the book buyer pays the correct price for the book.

Bookland EAN Barcodes

In the United States, most retail products are marked with a UPC symbol. The corresponding barcode symbol in use in every other country aside from the United States is the European Article Number (EAN). Every EAN begins with a 2 or 3 digit prefix, which indicates the country of origin. EAN’s for companies registered in France, for example, might begin with the prefix 34; Japan’s prefix is 49. Since the book industry produces so many products, it has been designated as a country unto itself and has been assigned its own EAN prefix. That prefix is 978 and it signifies Bookland, that wonderful, fictitious country from where all books come.

An EAN which begins with the Bookland prefix 978 is called a Bookland EAN code and is used on books and book related products internationally. The Bookland symbol is the barcode of choice in the book industry because it allows for encodation of ISBNs (the numbers publishers use to identify their products).

Two Barcodes in One

The Bookland EAN barcode is actually two barcodes side by side. The larger barcode to the left is the EAN derived from the ISBN. The smaller barcode to the right is a 5-digit add-on where various information might be encoded. Most often the add-on is used to encode the retail price of the publication. A Bookland EAN code which has the price encoded in the add-on is called an EAN/5. It gets its name from the first digit of the add-on, which is the currency indicator. Five is the designation for U.S. dollars. An add-on of 51095 encodes the price $10.95. A book priced at $3.00 would have the add-on 50300. For books with prices above $99.00, there are specific coding guidelines. (Click here for information)

The larger book retailers prefer the use of EAN/5. When the publisher chooses not to include the price, however, the add-on is 90000 (EAN/9), which is a null code indicating that there is no data encoded. Scanners in bookstores In the U.S. cannot read the Bookland EAN code without its 5-digit add-on. Thus, the use of either the EAN/5 or the EAN/9 is required. There has been a dramatic increase in the usage of Bookland EAN symbols, since companies are investing millions of dollars in computer systems and scanning equipment to take advantage of automatic data collection. The foundation of these systems is contingent on barcode print quality. When symbols can not be read or decode incorrectly, the efficiency of these systems is brought to a halt. Consequently, many retailers and wholesalers are severely penalizing consumer goods manufacturers who furnish substandard symbols.

JUST SAY NO TO FAKE BOOK REVIEWS AND TO BULK REVIEWERS

The ethics involved in the “book review” industry has been a constant hot topic in the reading and writing worlds.  There are many internet reviewing services which offer to “bulk up” a book’s online presence with quantities of guaranteed, positve fake book reviews.  Self-publishers need to take a common sense approach when deciding how to best promote their work. There are a lot of ethical issues involved in this expedient process:

• Bulk reviews stand out – but for all the wrong reasons.  Stock bulk reviews may appear verbatim for a variety of books – without any changes made to add specifics unique to the book.  These reviews do not show any indication that the book has been actually read.  One service even states that their reviewers base their reviews on the sample pages provided by Amazon.  These types of reviews are immediately dismissed by readers as fake and actually tarnish both the book and the author.
• Bulk reviews cuase controversy.  The book reviewing process has been under a lot of debate in recent years, but what all responsible readers and writers can easily agree on is that mass-produced, falsely postive reviews destroy the integrity no only of that of the reviewer but also reflects poorly on the writing industry as a whole – for both established and new authors.
• Bulk reviews water down the star rating.  Star-rating-inflaction from bulk reviews causes readers to doubt the authenticity of any book that receives blanketed positive reviews.  This detracts from the inherent integrity of the reviewing process.
• Bulk reviewers are unethical.  Bulk reviews are not very different from bribes. Paying someone to like your work isn’t honest nor unbiased.  
• Bulk reviews are anonymous.  It is hard to be worried about your reputation when you are guaranteed to be anonymous. There isn’t even a way to be guaranteed a bulk reviewer is a real person.  In order for a review to be legitimate and respected, it has to come from a real reader with a supporting body of work.

UNBIASED BOOK REVIEWS ONLY $149 – www.YourFirstReview.com 

ISBNs are used to identify books and book-like products (i.e. audiobook or calendar) for each specific format and edition.  The purpose of ISBN identification for each format/edition of every title is that it enables efficient supply chain processing and marketing for book products by booksellers, wholesalers, distributors,  libraries, and universities.

For example, a title which is available as a paperback and hardcover would need two different ISBNs. Booksellers utilize the unique ISBNs to distinguish which title-format is being sold and so they can track and consequently reorder replacements. Ebook identification can be a bit more complex since many publishers assign unique ISBNs for each format (MOBI, EPUB,  PDF).

Common scenarios:

• Single ISBN – New self-publisher who is providing their first title in only a single format, such as a paperback.
• Five ISBNs – Publisher providing title in variety for formats to reach the largest audience. Five ISBNs would enable identification of paperback, hardcover, EPUB, MOBI and PDF formats.
• Ten ISBNs – Most Popular Selection –  Many of our clients purchase a block of 10 ISBNs to enable them to identify current and future books.  Due to the substantial cost savings, it is more economical ($280 for 10 ISBN & barcodes = $28 each).

Book discoverability is a necessary element for readers to find your book.  As we have previously written in other posts, book marketing is by far the most difficult task self-publishers must master to become successful.  There are wonderful online resources available to self-publishers to enable new readers to discover their books.  We have worked with the following companies to help our clients kick off their book promotion.

Goodreads  is largest site for readers and book recommendations and now has over 30 million members

 NoiseTrade Books helps authors & publishers meaningfully connect with readers through the exchange of free ebooks & audiobooks for email addresses & postal codes.

 
Bublish  is a publishing technology company that offers cloud-based tools, metrics and resources to equip today’s business-savvy authors for success.

 It is important to realize that effective book marketing is complex and should include a wide array of strategies.  We currently working on a new promotional service for our clients which should be launching in August.

One of the services that Publisher Services provides complimentary to our book printing customers is a Pre-Flight check of printer-ready PDF files that have been provided to print book covers and interiors. What exactly is a Pre-Flight check? Pre-Flight is checking your book’s files to make sure they are good to print. Without carefully going over your files and approving them for the printer, there is a greater likelihood that something could go wrong and mistakes will be missed. A Pre-Flight check is just the kind of pre-printing look your files need before they go to print.

•  The trim size specifications match the print order. For example, if you’re ordering a 6×9 books, the page size shouldn’t be set up for 5×8.
• The cover file (and the interior file, if necessary) is properly set up with the proper bleed. If the pages and/or cover are not set up correctly, images or text could get cut off when trimming the book to size.
• Files do not have the fonts, graphics, and other inserted elements, properly embedded into the PDF. If we receive a file that contains fonts we don’t have here, the book may not print correctly, for example.
• Color elements are not saved in CMYK color mode. Most graphical programs have the RGB setting as the default. Printing is a four-color (full-color) process. Make sure you’re using CMYK.

After we check your book, we will do the following free of charge:

•  Convert to PDF from MS Word. While this will ensure that your fonts are embedded, we may not have custom or purchased fonts. If this is the case, we’ll let you know.
• Convert the cover and inside pages to CMYK if needed.
• Add your bar code to your back cover.
• Crop your pages down to the proper trim size. If your margins aren’t set for the right page size, though, we may not be able to crop. We’ll let you know if we can’t do this.

• All editing should have been checked, double-checked, and corrected before submission. One thing that tends to help is to print your manuscript and look at it that way instead of on your screen. You might catch things you didn’t see before. We also provide a printed proof copy prior to completing your full print run. You’ll have a final chance to check your printed proof for any last minute and missed errors, but you really should be confident that the editorial integrity is wholly intact.
• Page numbers match the Table of Contents. Changing up more than a few sentences inside the book can throw off whole paragraphs and pages. Check them over and correct them before submitting your files for printing.
• Images are matched to their appropriate captions, figure titles, etc.Another step that should be completed before submitting files for printing.