Tips and Hints
Do you need help with your writing? Then start here with some useful tips to help you improve your craft.Book Publishing
What do all those terms mean?
by Colleen Parker, FAW NSW Hon. Secretary
ISBN
ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number.
ISBNs are book identifiers worldwide. They were a 10-digit number in
earlier days, but are now 13 digits. The National Library once supplied
these identifiers but in their wisdom put them up for sale on the open
market. DW Thorpe Pty Ltd (now Thorpe-Bowker in Melbourne) was the
successful business to commercialise the supply of ISBNs. Your FAW
Management committee in 1996, in particular the late George Thompson,
can be thanked for the foresight in obtaining a bundle of numbers for
our membership. These are supplied free of charge to our members
yet can cost in the vicinity of $50 to an individual through commercial
means.
The first digit identifies the originator’s country – for Australia this
is zero, which in our case ties us to Britain. The next set of
numbers identifies the publisher. The final set is to identify the
particular book.
The current set of numbers that FAW has, identifies them directly to FAW
– just like Trade Publishers have their own set of numbers. The FAW set
is 0 909497; the numbers which follow those are related to the actual
book. A good example for you to check out is our FAW publication Dream
at a Graveside – its number is 0 909497 51 6. You will notice that this
only has 10 digits. There is conversion software available to any
members who log into the Thorpe-Bowker website where you can convert
your 10-digit allocated number to the updated 13-digit format.
If you publish a new edition of your book, usually through new
information becoming available, you will need a new ISBN if there is
more than 5% of your book updated or changed. Even if it is less than 5%
but a change within is important, it makes sense to issue a new ISBN
anyway because otherwise you take the risk of someone wanting the latest
edition, but the ISBN will still relate to the previous edition, so a
bookseller would have to be forgiven if they sell the old one.
LEGAL DEPOSIT
Along with the issue of an ISBN comes a legal obligation to donate 4
copies of your book to the Nation (if you live in NSW). The obligation
officially is that publishers or self-publishers must deposit a copy to
the National Library in Canberra and another to the State Library in the
state where the author resides. BUT, New South Wales publishers are also
obligated to deposit one copy to the NSW Parliamentary library and one
to the Sydney University library for study. Contact details can be found
on the FAW website
Of course it also makes sense to donate a copy to your local library
too, but this is not an obligation.
BARCODE
The barcode is a digitised version of the ISBN and is the system that
translates the ISBN to a bookshop register or a library checkout
register. The attendant scans the barcode and the ISBN immediately links
to the software in the register and allows the system to locate the book
title and author for the sale, or the borrower in the case of the
library, as well as the Recommended Retail Price for the bookstore.
The barcode is also supplied by DW Thorpe as a template that goes direct
to the printer. The printer includes the barcode on the back cover of
the book. The printer has the information as to just where the placement
of the barcode can be – ie. the acceptable distance away from the spine
and base of the finished cover. If a barcode is required after the
book has been printed and delivered, DW Thorpe can also supply the
barcode for a sticker that can be applied to the book when required.
There is a separate fee for the barcode, which was in the vicinity of
$60 the last time I applied for one.
CiP
CiP stands for Cataloguing-in-Publication.
CiP data is the information used for cataloguing books. To do
this, an application form is obtained from the National Library in
Canberra. A simple request for these can be made per phone, fax or
email. The form asks you to fill in the various specifications of your
book and to include a few short sentences summarising the content.
From the information they receive the National Library will issue you a
number of categories which your book might assist readers to locate it
based on the subject matter. They also issue a special number called a
‘Dewey number’. These categories and numbers should be given to your
typesetter to include on the Imprint page exactly as they are supplied.
This cataloguing data assists librarians and booksellers to file and
display your book on the correct shelf in its category.
Abiding by these guidelines will give you every chance of having your
book ‘found’ in an online search, located in a store and browsed by
potential readers.