How to Use Your ISBN

If you ordered an ISBN and ISBN barcode images from us, they will be emailed to you immediately.

Instructions for how to use your ISBN are below.

Please also see our video explaining these steps.

1. Print the ISBN Barcode onto your Book

The ISBN barcode images will be emailed to you in several formats, such as PDF and JPEG. Please use whichever format you prefer.

Insert the ISBN barcode image into the bottom right corner of the back cover before your book goes to print, and resize it if necessary. The image size should be at least 30mm wide x 20mm high (including the white margins on the left and right sides of the barcode and the ISBN number below the bars).

If your book has already been printed, then you can purchase a roll of sticky ISBN Barcode labels from us here: https://bookisbn.org.uk/isbn-barcode-labels/

2. Front Matter of Book

If you are self-distributing the book, the front matter could look like the example below (“Author” can either be your personal name or your pen name):

Publisher: Independent Publishing Network.
Publication date: 
ISBN: xxxxxxxx
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 you are distributing your book through a third party, you could replace the author’s contact details with the distributor’s contact details (or include both) e.g:

Publisher: Independent Publishing Network.
Publication date: 
ISBN: xxxxxxxx
Author: [Name]
Distributor: [Distributor's name], [Distributor's website or contact details]
Please direct all book orders or enquiries to the distributor.

3. Copyright

You automatically get copyright protection in the UK whenever you create original literary and artistic work, including illustration and photography. For more information, please see https://www.gov.uk/copyright.

You may want to mark your work with the copyright symbol, your name, and the year of creation (e.g. the example below). Marking your work in this way is completely optional and doesn’t affect the level of protection you have.

Copyright © year Author Name(s)

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___

4. Imprint (or Publisher Name)

The Imprint (or Publisher Name) is “Independent Publishing Network”. Some websites, such as Amazon and CreateSpace, ask for an “Imprint” (or publisher) name. If you are asked for this, please type “Independent Publishing Network”.  If you are listing your book on any of the Amazon sites, please enter your ISBN number without the dashes (e.g. 97812345678912).

5. Listing your Book on Amazon

If you are selling your book on Amazon.co.uk (or one of the other Amazon sites), please put “Independent Publishing Network” in the ‘Manufacturer’s name’ section. For information on how to list your book on Amazon, please see our How to List your Book on Amazon page. 

6. Selling your Book in Retail Stores

When a retailer first receives your book, they will scan the ISBN barcode image (with their barcode scanner). The first time they do that, the ISBN number will appear on their Point of Sale (POS) screen, but no book details will appear. The retailer will then enter the book details manually into their system (the title, author, format, price, and reordering details) and connect these details to the ISBN number. The next time they scan your ISBN barcode, the correct book details and the price will appear on their POS screen.

Each retailer has to enter your book details, price, and ISBN number manually into their own system. This gives the retailer a lot of control over what information and price they want to enter – and they can change the details/price linked to your ISBN number whenever they want to.

7. Legal Deposit Requirements

You MUST send one copy of your printed publication to the British Library (to the address below) within one month of publication.

This is a legal requirement for ALL publications in the UK, whether they have an ISBN number or not.

In addition, five other UK libraries are also entitled to free copies of your publication if they request them within 12 months of publication (if this request is made, it will come via us, and we’ll forward it to you by email – these five copies need to sent to a different address to the one above).

If your book is being published in Northern Ireland, please note that there are different Legal Deposit requirements that you need to comply with.

Please see https://bookisbn.org.uk/legal-deposit/ for more information.

8. Each Format/Edition Needs a Different ISBN Number

You need a different ISBN number for each different format of your book (paperback, e-book, hard copy). You also need a different ISBN number for each different language/translation of your book or a new or revised edition.

A ‘new edition’ or ‘revised edition’ means that there has been substantial change – e.g. content has been changed in a way that might make a customer complain that this was not the product they expected, or text has been changed to add substantial new content (e.g. the addition of a preface or appendix, or other new content, chapters, or pictures). A new ISBN number is also needed if the book has been redesigned or the title has changed.

A simple reprint does not require a new ISBN number. A ‘reprint’ means more copies are being printed with no substantial changes (the reprint may have small insignificant changes – e.g. minor corrections or grammatical changes).

9. Registration on Nielsen’s Book Database

If you have purchased an ISBN number with registration from us, we will send you an email with a list of the information we need about your publication. When we receive your response, we’ll register your ISBN number and publication details on Nielsen’s Book Database. Please see here for more information about registration on the Nielsen Book database.

10. Registration on Other Barcode Databases

 If you want to register your ISBN number and book details on several other online barcode/product databases (including https://barcodesdatabase.org/), then please purchase barcode registration from: https://internationalbarcodes.com/barcode-registration/. This is optional.

If you register your ISBN number and book details into these databases, your book details will appear when your ISBN barcode is scanned by the best smartphone barcode apps (such as the ‘Zebra’ app).

Please note that some apps only search for your ISBN number in online stores (such as Amazon). Therefore, if your book is not listed for sale in those online stores, those apps may not display any results when your barcode is scanned. This is why we recommend the most comprehensive barcode scanner apps (such as the ‘Zebra’ app) because they scan multiple online barcode databases as well as multiple online stores.