What is an ISBN?
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a 13-digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products, such as audiobooks.
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What is the purpose of an ISBN?
The purpose of the ISBN is to establish and identify one title or edition of a title from one specific publisher and is unique to that edition, allowing for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers and distributors.
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Does the ISBN-13 have any meaning imbedded in the numbers?
The five parts of an ISBN are as follows:
- The current ISBN-13 will be prefixed by "978";
- Group or country identifier which identifies a national or geographic grouping of publishers;
- Publisher identifier which identifies a particular publisher within a group;
- Title identifier which identifies a particular title or edition of a title;
- Check digit is the single digit at the end of the ISBN which validates the ISBN.
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Where does an ISBN get placed on a book?
An ISBN gets placed on the copyright page and, if there is no bar code, on the back cover.
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What is the difference between a bar code and an ISBN?
An ISBN is a number. A bar code is the graphic with vertical lines that encodes numerical information for scanning purposes. An ISBN and a bar code are two different things.
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Does it matter where a book is printed?
No, books can be printed anywhere. ISBNs are assigned based on the geographical location of the publisher, not the printing company.
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If a publisher is selling their books on their own and are not trying to place them in stores or libraries or with wholesalers, is an ISBN required?
No, an ISBN is not required.
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Do ISBNs have to be assigned to books that are not being sold?
No, they do not have to be assigned, but they can be.
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Are different ISBNs used if a book appears in different languages?
Yes. Each language version is a different product.
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Are custom publications assigned ISBNs?
No, custom publications are not assigned ISBNs unless such assignment is necessary for a publisher’s back office systems, such as finance, since there is only one customer in such arrangements.
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