Self-Publishing Your Book. A Concise Training Course. Part 3 of 9, Your Publishing Imprint, Book Title, ISBN and Barcodes

Your Publishing Imprint

• Establish your imprint. if you're working on your first self-published book, create a name for your publishing project - to become your publisher's imprint.
• Make sure your preferred imprint name is not already taken. Carry out some basic research to make sure that you don't use the name of any existing publisher.
• What not to use for your imprint. To maintain credibility, don't use your own name for your publisher's imprint. Why? Just doesn't seem to quite work when we see an author's name on the front cover, then discover that the "publisher" is also the same party.

Your Book Title

• Consider a title for your book. Titles are incredibly important. Sometimes, a title can make or break a book. Think of catchy, memorable words and phrases. In your title, certainly provide a clue as to what your book is about.
• For novels, often short one- two- or three-word titles work best for modern fiction.
• For "How to ..." books, a longer more explicit title can work better.
• Decide whether a Sub-Title is required. In many instances, a single, carefully considered title is sufficient. However, sometimes, the title you choose may not fully portray the topic of your book, therefore, you can include a subtitle to give more "meat" to you main title.

ISBN

• Do you want an ISBN? Decide whether you'll need an International Standard Book Number (ISBN). You can learn the key details about ISBNs in this website: just use our Search tool to find relevant articles and information or check out the "Related Items" links at the bottom of the page. We'll provide a later article that explains the basics about ISBNs.

Barcodes

• What is a barcode? A barcode is a series of vertical bars of variable width usually printed on the back cover of a book and other consumer product packages. When scanned by a laser and fed into a computer, the barcode contains identification and price information for the book and so allows publishers and retailers to manage their inventory of stock.
• How to determine if your book needs a barcode. If you're hoping to sell your book to conventional bookshops and online retailers, you're going to need a bar-code for your book.
• Why include a bar-code? Retailers use bar-codes to help process payments and track book sales. Also, a barcode makes a self-published book look more professional and credible as a publication. A book that doesn't have a barcode can be seen as "amateurish."
• How do you get a barcode? Your printer can generate a barcode for the back cover of your book that matches the ISBN number of your book (see previous item above).