How to Use Your ISBN
Everything you need to do with your ISBN is on this page. You won’t need it all at once; the steps happen at different points, from before your book goes to print to a month after it’s published. Bookmark this page and come back to it as you go.
First: check what we sent you
Your order email contains:
- Your ISBN number(s) — 13 digits, one per format ordered
- Your barcode image(s), if you ordered them, attached in several file formats so you can use whichever suits your designer or software
- A registration form — the list of book details we need in order to register your book on Nielsen. Registration is included in every membership package; it’s up to you whether you use it.
Nothing arrived? Check your spam or junk folder first, then email us and we’ll resend it.
Your checklist
Straight away
- Return your registration form — or decide not to register
Before your book goes to print
- Add the barcode image to the back cover (printed books only)
- Add the ISBN and your contact details to the front matter
- Add a copyright notice, if you want one (optional)
When you list the book for sale
- Enter “Independent Publishing Network” as the imprint or publisher
- Enter your ISBN without dashes
Within one month of publication
- Send one free copy to the British Library
Step 1: Decide whether to register
Registration is included in every membership package. Whether you use it is your choice.
To register, send us back the completed form we emailed you, and we’ll add your ISBN and publication details to the Nielsen Book Database. This is the step that makes your book visible to UK bookshops, libraries and distributors. Until it’s done, they have no way of knowing your book exists.
Two things to note while you’re filling the form in:
- We appear as the distributor by default, but you can change this, and we’d encourage you to. Unless you’ve appointed a distributor, you are the person a bookshop will contact to order copies, so put your own details on the form.
- Registration usually results in an Amazon listing. That’s what most authors want, but not everyone.
If you’d rather not be registered, simply don’t complete the form, and your ISBN remains yours to use as normal. It’s worth understanding what you’re giving up first: without registration, your book won’t appear on Amazon, but it also won’t show in any bookshop or library ordering system, so nobody in the trade will be able to find or order it.
More about Nielsen registration.
Step 2: Put the ISBN on your book
If your book is being printed
Add the barcode image to the back cover before it goes to press.
- Place it in the bottom right corner
- Keep it at least 30mm wide × 20mm high
- That measurement includes the white margins on either side of the bars and the ISBN number printed below them. Both are part of the barcode. Cropping can stop it from being scanned at the till.
- Resize proportionally. Stretching the image in one direction will make it unreliable.
Send the file to your printer in the format they request. If they’re unsure, PDF or SVG are safest for print because they stay sharp at any size.
Already had your book printed? You don’t need to reprint. Order a roll of self-adhesive ISBN barcode labels and apply them to the back cover.
If your book is an e-book
You don’t need a barcode image. Barcodes exist to be scanned at a till, and nothing physical is being scanned. You still need the ISBN on the copyright page of the file, exactly as it would appear in a printed book.
Both: add the ISBN to your front matter
The front matter is the copyright page near the start of the book. This matters more than it looks: it’s how a reader who already has a copy works out where to get another, and how a bookshop knows who to contact.
If you’re handling orders yourself (“Author” can be your real name or a pen name):
Publisher: Independent Publishing Network
Publication date:
ISBN: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Author: [Name]
Email: [Author's email address]
Address: [Author's postal address]
Website: [Author's website, if applicable]
Please direct all enquiries to the author.If a distributor handles orders, use their details instead of yours, or list both:
Publisher: Independent Publishing Network
Publication date:
ISBN: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Author: [Name]
Distributor: [Distributor's name], [website or contact details]
Please direct all book orders or enquiries to the distributor.Optional: a copyright notice
In the UK, you get copyright automatically as soon as you create original work, including illustrations and photographs. Adding a notice doesn’t increase that protection, but plenty of authors like to include one. See gov.uk/copyright.
Copyright © [year] [Author Name]
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage
and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher,
except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.
ISBN __________________
Printed in [country]Step 3: Listing your book for sale
Whichever retailer or platform you use, two answers stay the same every time.
Imprint / Publisher / Manufacturer’s name:
Independent Publishing Network
Your ISBN: enter all 13 digits without dashes or hyphens, e.g., 9781234567891.
A few platform-specific points:
- Amazon — “Independent Publishing Network” goes in the Manufacturer’s name field. Full instructions for listing on Amazon.
- Barnes & Noble Press — they add the barcode themselves during the build, so remove any barcode image from your cover file before uploading, or you may end up with two. They also check that your imprint matches what’s on file for the ISBN with Nielsen, so enter it exactly as written above.
- Kindle Direct Publishing — enter your own ISBN rather than accepting their free one. Theirs is registered to the imprint “Independently published” and only works on KDP.
Step 4: Legal deposit
Send one free copy of your book to the British Library within one month of publication. This is a legal requirement for every UK publication, whether or not it has an ISBN, and it applies to electronic publications as well as printed ones.
Expect a request for five more. Five other UK legal deposit libraries are served by the Agency for Legal Deposit Libraries (ALDL) in Edinburgh. They aren’t sent copies automatically — they have to request them, within 12 months of publication — but in practice most registered books do receive a request. If one is made, you’re legally required to supply five free copies, and they go to a single address in Edinburgh rather than to the British Library.
The request will come from us, not from the ALDL. We will email you to confirm which of your titles has been requested, provide the delivery address, and point you to anything else you may need. So there’s nothing to do until you hear from us.
It’s worth setting six copies aside when your print run arrives, rather than being caught short months later.
Different rules apply if you’re publishing in Northern Ireland.
Optional: smartphone barcode apps
Phone scanning apps don’t read the Nielsen database, so your book won’t necessarily come up if someone scans the cover with their phone. If you’d like, you can add your details to additional online barcode databases through International Barcodes. This is separate from your Nielsen registration and entirely optional.
Note that some apps only search online shops such as Amazon, so they’ll return nothing if your book isn’t listed there. More thorough apps like Zebra check multiple databases and shops.
Questions that come up at this stage
A shop scanned my barcode, and no book details appeared. Is something wrong? No, that’s normal the first time. The ISBN appears on the retailer’s screen with nothing attached, and staff type in the title, author, format, and price themselves, linking it to your number. After that, scanning brings up your book. Because each shop does this in its own system, it controls the price associated with your ISBN and can change it at will.
Do I need another ISBN? Yes, for each format: paperback, hardback, e-book, and audiobook, there are four separate products. Yes, for each translation. And yes for a new or revised edition, meaning substantial change: significant new content such as a preface, appendix, extra chapters or images; changes big enough that a reader might feel it wasn’t the book they expected; a redesign; or a new title.
No, for a reprint (more copies with no substantial changes). Minor corrections and grammatical fixes still count as a reprint.
My book is already printed and has no barcode. Self-adhesive barcode labels solve this without a reprint.
Can I reuse an ISBN from a book I’ve withdrawn? No. Once an ISBN has been assigned to a publication, it stays with it permanently and can’t be reassigned.
I’ve lost my order email. Contact us, and we’ll resend your numbers and barcode images.
Anything else
Working out printing, pricing, bookshops or e-book platforms? Read our guide to self-publishing.
Still stuck? Read our FAQs or get in touch; we’re happy to help.