I’m assuming that any Indies reading this post will have gone through the same frustrations that I did, so I’ll jump straight into the how-to part of the post. Once that’s done, I’ll talk about barcodes in general and discuss why you might want one. Let’s do it!
There are only TWO things you need to create your own, free barcode:
- an ISBN for your book
- a free online barcode generator
In Canada you can get an ISBN for free. In the US and Australia, you can buy an ISBN from a company called Bowker. The web address for the Australian company is:
https://www.myidentifiers.com.au/
If you want to know where to buy an ISBN for your own country, go to the website of the International ISBN Agency:
https://www.isbn-international.org/agencies
You should be looking at a screen like this:
Click the small down arrow [circled in red] to display a drop down list of countries. Scroll down to your country and click it. You should now see a detailed contact screen for the ISBN agency in your country. In the example shown below, I clicked on ‘United Kingdom and Ireland’:
Once you have your ISBN, you can go to the following website to use the free, barcode generator [you do not have to register first]:
https://www.bookow.com/index.php
On the Home page, select ‘Free ISBN-13 Bookland Barcode Generator’ as shown below:
You should now be looking at a page like this:
- From the top of the page, type in your 13 digit ISBN, including the hyphens [or cut and paste it in].
- Next, type 90000 in the Price textbox. This ensures that the scanner checks the bookshop’s own database for pricing.
- Type your email address, twice.
- Click inside the ‘Consent to email’ checkbox.
- Leave the DPI at the default [300].
- Now you have a choice of getting the barcode as a PDF file or as a PNG file. I find the PNG file easier to work with but the choice is yours. Either way you’ll end up with a picture of the barcode that’s been generated from your ISBN.
- Save the barcode to your computer.
- Insert the barcode into the back page of your book cover graphic.
Done. π
Now for some of the explanatory stuff. Firstly, there are basically two kinds of barcodes [gross over simplification but work with me]. The first is for ‘things’ such as soap, toothpaste, butter etc. To get barcodes for these products, you have to register with GS1. This process is quite involved, but luckily it does not apply to books. π
Books are covered by a completely different barcode that requires only an ISBN and a second, smaller code that simply tells the bookshop scanner where to look for the pricing information. If you want to get technical about it, this is a Bookland EAN-13 + 5-digit add-on type barcode. The one I created for my print book of Vokhtah looks like this:
The ISBN is displayed [in writing] twice, once at the top and once at the bottom. The 90000 barcode is added to the right of the main barcode.
Now, why would you need a barcode?
If you are using Print-On-Demand [POD] via CreateSpace or Amazon KDP, you will not have to worry about a barcode at all. If you get a free ISBN from either company, they will automatically generate a barcode from that ISBN and insert it into the cover for you. If you use your own, private ISBN, CreateSpace and Amazon KDP will also generate a barcode and insert it into the cover for you. But. Not all POD printers provide free ISBNs or barcodes, so if your chosen printer says you have to provide your own barcode, you now know how to do it…for FREE! Well, except for the ISBN but you have to pay for that anyway.Β π
cheers
Meeks
August 10th, 2018 at 6:16 am
Very helpful for future reference.
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August 10th, 2018 at 9:23 am
Glad I could help. π
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June 17th, 2018 at 8:10 pm
[…] https://acflory.wordpress.com/2018/06/05/barcodes-for-indie-authors/ […]
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June 13th, 2018 at 4:19 am
Two bits of advice that I will add.
1-If you choose to buy your own ISBN number spring for the block of 10 or more. It is significantly cheaper to to buy in bulk and even a single publication will often require 3 ISBN numbers as a new number should be assigned for each specific format. This means your print books is one ISBN, your EPUB file a second (assuming you do an ebook) and if you do a mobi file for Kindle that is a third. So don’t worry that you might buy too many and never use them. If you do 3 books you will likely use a block of 10 and especially when you consider any material updates require a new ISBN number.
2nd bit-Passing this on from something I learned at DFWCON this weekend. If you want to give your Print on Demand book a mirrored look to those you find in a bookstore, be sure to add the ISBN bar code with a price. This will give your book a higher end look especially if you sell books at social events, book signings and so forth.
Great Post!!!! If anyone has questions about the items above feel free to hit me up. -Best MKorman
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June 13th, 2018 at 2:02 pm
Hi Marie, and welcome! You’re not related to Candy Korman by any chance, are you?
And yes, you’re absolutely right about the ISBNs and the barcode. I’m on to my second bundle of 10 ISBNs already. Here in Australia a bundle of 10 costs about $88 AUD. By contrast, one single ISBN costs $40 odd dollars.
Thanks so much for those tips and I hope you come back again. π
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June 9th, 2018 at 3:41 am
I’m bookmarking this for the future. Thanks, Andrea. You always have such good information!
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June 9th, 2018 at 9:45 am
Welcome as always, Diana. I love sharing the new stuff I learn. π
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June 7th, 2018 at 10:18 pm
Reblogged this on Yorgos KC.
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June 7th, 2018 at 10:30 pm
Thanks Yorgos! -hugs-
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June 17th, 2018 at 11:08 pm
My pleasure! Once again, thank you for sharing the info! β€ππ
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June 19th, 2018 at 7:34 pm
lol – nada. π
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June 6th, 2018 at 11:18 pm
Reblogged this on π¦Pizzazz Book Promotions.
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June 7th, 2018 at 9:50 pm
Thank you. π
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June 6th, 2018 at 11:00 pm
Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady.
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June 7th, 2018 at 9:50 pm
Thanks, Viv. π
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June 6th, 2018 at 3:41 pm
That answers the, ‘why a barcode’ question very neatly! Bravo. π
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June 6th, 2018 at 4:14 pm
lol – thank you!
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June 6th, 2018 at 10:56 am
Thanks for this great post, Meeks. It’s very helpful β€οΈ
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June 6th, 2018 at 11:41 am
Happy to help!
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June 6th, 2018 at 7:10 am
Reblogged this on Martha L Shaw – Poet, Writer, Artist.
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June 6th, 2018 at 8:25 am
Much appreciated, Martha!
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June 6th, 2018 at 6:59 am
Reblogged this on Cage Dunn: Writer, Author, Teller-of-tall-tales and commented:
Important information for indie authors …
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June 6th, 2018 at 8:26 am
Thanks, Cage!
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June 6th, 2018 at 9:29 am
Thank you – the info is great!
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June 6th, 2018 at 11:41 am
π
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June 7th, 2018 at 10:15 pm
Ok! Stupid person here! Didn’t know one can reblog an article π
Thanks for this info, as well! π
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June 7th, 2018 at 10:31 pm
lmao – a long way from stupid. :p
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June 17th, 2018 at 11:09 pm
β€β€β€β€
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June 19th, 2018 at 7:33 pm
-hugs-
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June 6th, 2018 at 2:16 am
Nice, informative post. ππ’ Do you happen to know what you need to do if you’re in UK, out of interest?
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June 6th, 2018 at 8:37 am
Hi Rosetta. The barcode process is exactly the same the world over. The only difference would be /where/ you bought your ISBN. Um…
Okay! I just found the international agency for ISBNs:
https://www.isbn-international.org/agencies
Click the down arrow next to ‘Find an Agency’, scroll down to the UK. Click it and you’ll get the full name and contact details for the agency. For the UK it’s Nielson.
I’ll add this bit of info to the original post. Thanks for letting me know about this gap. π
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June 9th, 2018 at 4:46 am
Thanks, AC. That’s very helpful. Whenever anyone has any questions about barcodes, I’ll point them here to read up about them. π
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June 9th, 2018 at 9:44 am
You’re welcome and…thank you!
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June 6th, 2018 at 1:36 am
the perk with bar codes too, is that one can scan it and then lookfor a vendor, or add it to a shopping list π
Interesting, even for a non writing person!
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June 6th, 2018 at 11:44 am
Yeah, barcodes are actually a lot more useful than I thought. π
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June 6th, 2018 at 1:23 am
Thank you!
That was very helpful!!!
And especially liked the ability it has to set a price since I strongly need it to be 0β¬ for Gregory Kirk.
π€π
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June 6th, 2018 at 11:45 am
Depending on how you want to sell your book, and where, you may not need the price part at all.
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June 6th, 2018 at 7:06 pm
Yeap! I got that.
But for this one, I need it, because I want it to be free. It’s written inside the book, too, but having it outside as well, would be even better π
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June 7th, 2018 at 9:52 pm
Ah, okay. π
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June 6th, 2018 at 12:41 am
Great information. Thank you.
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June 6th, 2018 at 11:45 am
Very welcome. π
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June 6th, 2018 at 12:21 am
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
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June 6th, 2018 at 11:46 am
Thanks Chris!
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June 6th, 2018 at 6:02 pm
Welcome, Meeks π
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June 5th, 2018 at 8:49 pm
Great post, very helpful. For those in USA, here is the Bowker link to purchase the needed ISBN unless you buy one through the printer used. Thanks for sharing this info Meeks.
http://www.bowker.com/products/ISBN-US.html
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June 5th, 2018 at 9:15 pm
Thanks for the link, Elisabeth! I’ve had so much help from other Indies, I’m always looking to pay it back a little. π
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