Just like all of us have different identities and personalities, our books have their own different identities – well except the book cover, titles, and stories; it is called an ISBN number.
You must have noticed a small bar code and a number above at the back cover of the book i.e., ISBN number.
ISBN is International Standard Book Number which is a 13 digit number. It is a unique serial number which helps us identify the book. Each book has a different ISBN, even if you want to change the name of the author, title, sub-title – a new ISBN will be applied and assigned to the book.
For eg: “Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone” even though are the same books but are with different titles therefore will have two different ISBN.
What is an ISBN number?
There are in total five parts in an ISBN number namely Prefix Elements, Registration Group Elements, Registrant Element, Publication Element, and Check digit.
Prefix element is of three digits and it is the starting of the ISBN number.
Registration Group Element helps us know that which language or region the book belongs to. This can be of one to five. Registrant Element lets us know who is the publisher or the publication house and this is upto seven digits.
Publication Element is to identify the special edition of any book and goes up to six digits.
Check Digit is the last digit of an ISBN number which validates the other digits of the ISBN.
What is the use of ISBN number and how to apply?
ISBN number helps Book Publishers, Book Sellers, Libraries, and Internet Book Suppliers to track the records and identify the product – how many sales have come, how much are in storage, etc.
Pointers to keep in mind about ISBN number–
- ISBN number was founded by David Whitaker in 1967.
- ISBN takes at least 20-30 days to get allotted as it is a government procedure. Also they don’t expire so you don’t need to worry about reapplying for it ever.
Process to apply for ISBN –
- The applicant should register first on the ISBN portal in order to apply for an ISBN number.
- After the submission of the registration form, you will receive an email for the username i.e. your email address and the password for the online system.
You only need one ISBN number worldwide as it is an International Standard Book Number.
If you want to publish your book in different format – you will need different ISBN as they are different version of your books.
