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| What is an ISBN? Why do I need one? Can I get my OWN? |
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The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a number applied to every published book in the
world. This number is a unique identifier that is used by all parts of the book trade for managing and
reporting sales, inventory control, and ordering. Last year, over a million ISBNs were assigned – for
just English-language books!
The ISBN is a unique and permanent number that identifies one single book – and more specifically
one format or edition of the title (a paperback and a hardcover of the same title would have different
ISBNs) - produced by one publisher. Dog Ear Publishing has a unique number assigned in which the
first six digits identify the publisher as Dog Ear, the next three identify the book title within one of the
blocks of ISBNs allotted to Dog Ear, and the final digit is a algorithmic check digit.
You do not HAVE to get an ISBN for your book – but you will be unable to sell your book through
bookstores or distributors, and will not be able to register a copyright at the Library of Congress.
You can secure your own ISBN, but at this point in time it will cost around $300.
All publishers' contact information is kept at a “registrar” source (in the US it is R.R. Bowker's
Books-In-Print) so that bookstores and librarians worldwide can quickly find where to purchase each
book. The ISBN identifies a "publisher," rather than the author, since people in the book trade expect
to order from the publisher. YOU retain all rights to your work, and you are "self-publishing", but for
the sake of simplicity, the book industry considers Dog Ear to be the "publisher" for ISBN purposes.
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| Barcodes |
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A barcode is simply a “graphic” picture of your ISBN that allows the scanners in stores to identify
your book. It is different from the standard UPC code. We create a barcode for the back cover of each
book. You may request that we NOT place the barcode on your cover, but you will be unable to sell
your books through stores or distributors.
If your are confident that the retail price will not change, you
may ask that we create your ISBN barcode with a price suffix – the
additional lines on the right that “code” your price. Occasionally,
you may want to price your books differently for different markets,
or may be unsure of what price you can get for your book - in that
case, we recommend that your books do NOT show a price (though we
will need to know a 'retail' before we can load it to our distribution
systems. In most cases, since our books receive wider attention,
it is best to include the price in the barcode. |
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