Abiding Books Publishing

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What Do All Those Acronyms Mean?

ISBN
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is the ten-digit number on the back of a book that identifies the publisher and title of your book. Booksellers use this number to order, price, and keep track of inventory. If you plan to distribute your book through major bookstores and franchised retail shops, you must include an ISBN and bar code on your book. Most major bookstores will not carry a book unless it contains both. The first six digits identify the publisher, rather than the author, since people in the book trade expect to order from the publisher.

LCCN
Upon application, the Library of Congress will pre-assign your book a Library of Congress Catalog Card Number (LCCN). A self published book can not get a LCCN- and must apply for a PCN. The number they issue you is referred to as the Pre-assigned Card Number (PCN) and is used by libraries to look up Library of Congress classification and categorization information on your title in the catalog card service available to every library free of charge. This number allows you to market your book to libraries. A LCCN is highly perferred and is assigned to all Abiding Books published.

CIP
The PCN is the first step to being included in the Library of Congress’s Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) process. The application for the CIP goes through a rigorous review and takes some time to be approved. Self-publishers are ineligible for the Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data program because it does not catalog works subsidized by self-publishing authors. However, you can qualify as part of the Abiding Books publishing program.

Copyright
A copyright assertion statement is placed on the reverse side of the title page along with Abiding Book’s contact information and the statement: “All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.” In order to publish under the Abiding Books imprint, you must guarantee that you have clear copyright to the contents and that the manuscript is free of illegal material that is slanderous, libelous, likely to be deemed hate literature, pornographic, or inciting unlawful activities. For Abiding Books to file your copyright, we will need two copies of your book to deposit in the Library of Congress.

EAN
An EAN bar code is your ISBN transferred into an OCR (optical character readable) scannable image. If you plan to distribute your book through smaller bookstores and local retail shops, you're usually safe with only an ISBN, but a bar code is necessary if you plan to sell through major bookstores and retailers. Not only are barcode scanners widely used at retail checkout counters, but inventory and production quality controls rely heavily on identifying items by barcode.

UPC
Some retailers use the UPC (Universal Product Code) bar code. Depending on your marketing plan, your book may require both EAN and UPC bar codes. Because more than half of all book sales are not made in bookstores, you should have a UPC barcode on your book's cover if you plan to sell it through retailers other than bookstores.

SAN
The SAN number is a Standard Address Number. It is not necessary, but it is extremely helpful, as it is used by wholesalers, retailers, and distributors to ensure that communications, orders, shipping instructions, and invoicing are all sent to the correct address.

ABI
A required part of the application process for an ISBN number is filling out the Advance Book Information Form (ABI). It is returned with the ISBN number and then completed and sent to the Data Collection Center at R.R. Bowker’s. This form is how your book gets included Bowker’s Forthcoming Books in Print, which is published twice a year. In future years your book will be listed in Books in Print and in Bowker's specialized directories as appropriate.