#BarcodesforBooks

Every book that is available in the retail market requires a bar code. Ideally, the bar code format for publishing is the Bookland EAN (European Article Number) symbol because it includes the book's ISBN (International Standard Book Number), and it reads the book's price. Retailers access valuable information from the bar code, and it helps them with inventory tracking.

The bar code includes your book's ISBN number preceded by 978 which indicates that the item is a book or a book related item. The last digits of the bar code indicate the country of origin of the item and the price. There is no getting around it - if you want to sell books you need to have them bar coded.

My advice is that you find a printer who is familiar with printing books and have them generate the bar code as part of their service. Why stress yourself needlessly? Leave it to the professionals.

However, you will need to provide the ISBN number to the printer. In some countries, such as Canada, the government provides ISBNs free of charge but you must apply. In other countries, such as the United States, you are required to purchase your ISBN. The service is provided by R.R. Bowker, but there are alternative companies so do your research, a.k.a. an internet search.

Having the ISBN (which you can obtain or purchase in blocks of numbers) and the bar code added correctly to your book's back cover will remove one road block to being accepted in the retail world. It's a small effort for a good result.

Denise

www.inktreemarketing.com
www.publishacookbook.com