Copyright, ISBN, CIP, and Barcodes

About Copyright

Copyright is the legal protection of your original intellectual property. You cannot copyright ideas or book titles, only content such as books, stories, poetry, music and movies. According to law, your material becomes protected as soon as it is created and available for viewing.

A procedure not involving registration and still used by some authors is to send it by registered mail to yourself, and never open the package. If anyone were to try to steal your ideas in the future, the postmarked package of your book would show that you thought of it first.

Whenever you ask someone for a testimonial or you wish to quote from another author’s words, you will need their signed permission before you can legally publish those words in your ebooks, marketing materials or web site. Otherwise, the person can sue you for infringement.

Although registering a copyright for certain types of books may be recommended, legally, copyright exists from the moment your work is created. Registering with the U.S. Copyright Office is necessary, however, if you wish to sue someone for infringement of your material. Cost for registering a copyright is $30 per book.

If you wish to register, registration in Canada or the U.S. is fairly straightforward. Visit the  Canadian Copyright Office or the U.S. Copyright Office for registration information, forms and fees.

For information on how copyright and other issues affect you from a legal standing, see
http://www.copylaw.com  or the U.S. Copyright Office
Another excellent site with free reports on publishing law is
ivanhoffman.com.

Copyright Page Content

The copyright page is the page that follows your main title page and is where you display the legal part of your book. Be sure to check several books in your category and see what they are using on their copyright page and determine what is best for yours. Also be sure to check with your legal representative for correct use etc.

The examples below are for suggestion only.

Here is a sample of the basics of what your copyright page should contain:

Other items you might include:

1. Disclaimer for legal purposes for coaches, doctors etc.
2. Special credits for use of quoted work or other…
3. Other forms of publication ISBNs. (CDs, paperback, hardcover, audio book, etc.)

Several Alernatives to above:

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, scanning, or otherwise excetp as permitted (under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act), without either the prior written permission of the Publisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the _______(your company or distributor info) _______, or on the web at _____(your website)_____. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department______(your info here)______.

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No Part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any for form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted (under Section 107c or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act), without either the prior written permission of the Author/Publisher. Requests to the Author/Publisher for permission should be addressed to ———(fill in your info here) ————-

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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss or profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support please contact —–(your info here)——————

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Disclaimer

Disclaimer: This publication is designed to provide accurate and personal experience information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the author, contributors, publisher are not engaged in rendering counseling or other professional services. If counseling advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought out.

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Medical Disclaimer:
The information contained in this book is not intended to serve as a replacement for professional medical advice. Any use of the information in this book is at the reader’s discretion. The author and publisher specifically disclaim any and all liability arising directly or indirectly from the use or application of any information contained in this book. A health care professional should be consulted regarding your specific situation.

Copyright Date

by John Kremer

The date of publication on your copyright page can be your off-press date, your shipping date, or your publication date. It is your choice what date of publication you put on that copyright form. For legal purposes, the earliest date is probably the best if you want maximum copyright protection. But there is one situation where you would want to have a later copyright date. If your book comes off the press in November, you might still want to set a copyright date for January so your books doesn’t look dated in two months. People (reviewers, booksellers, rights buyers) do pay attention to the copyright date in a book. If they receive a book in January 2002 with a 2001 copyright date, the book will appear as if it were already a year old. Not good.

Don’t set an artificial publication date just for the benefit of Publishers Weekly and other big guns. Set a publication date that actually makes sense for your book. The publication date should be that date when your book should receive its major national publicity, advertising, and distribution in bookstores. If you want publicity in major monthly magazines, you’ll have to set a publication date that is at least six months from the time you send them review copies (or, better yet, galley copies).

Ideally, bookstores nationwide should get a book about 10 days to two weeks before publication date. Some bigger publishers, of course, have a nationwide laydown date for major books, but smaller publishers shouldn’t worry about trying to coordinate such a one-day laydown. The main reason you don’t want your book in bookstores too early is that some bookstores return books if they don’t sell within six weeks to three months.

Setting a national publication date six months out doesn’t mean you can’t do local author events, sell through local bookstores, or do direct mail campaigns to targeted groups beforehand. In many cases, I would recommend that you do some local events before publication date to help get your author into the swing of things (i.e., get them experience answering media questions and doing bookstore events).

While your publication date is, in some sense, fiction, don’t think of it that way. Use your publication date as a focal point for all your efforts in giving your book a good launch. Then, after that, ignore the publication date and continue to do promotion for years to come. The books that have become bestsellers for smaller publishers have primarily made the lists because of on-going promotional efforts from their authors and publishers and good word of mouth. And most have done so months or years after the publication date.

ISBN

Look on the back cover or open any paper bound book to the second or third page, often referred to as the copyright page, and you will usually find an ISBN (International Standard Book Number). An ISBN is required if you plan to sell paper books or CD’s to bookstores, libraries, and many specialty retailers.

ISBN numbers are legally yours only if you obtain your block of 10 yourself. If someone else provides you with one number, you must make sure that they also provide you with a statement relinquishing their rights to the number. You would then also have to contact the Library of Congress (or Library and Archives Canada) to have the number ownership transferred. It’s best to get the number yourself. As the publisher, you will have rights to the ISBN that you obtain.

Some companies (eg Amazon KDP) will provide a single “universal” ISBN for around $100.  You would be the registered owner, just as you would if you obtained the block of 10 ISBNs yourself. This might be a good option if you think you will never need more that 2 or three ISBNs.

If you intend to sell only e-books and not paper bound books, you may be able to get by without including an ISBN number. However, you may run into resellers who insist that even your e-books have an ISBN.

Each format that you publish your book through will require its own ISBN. In other words, the soft cover book will have one ISBN, the hardcover another, the e-book another, and the CD yet another. Do not use the same ISBN assigned to your paper books when marketing your e-books. Otherwise you will end up with some confused and unhappy customers.

Technically you not only need ISBNs for your print books, but you need a different ISBN for each format your ebook is being offered in. If you are offering your book as a mobi, epub and a PDF, you need three different ISBNs.
In reality, if you are making your eBook available on Amazon Kindle only (mobi), you don’t need any for your Kindle e-book. Amazon is the only place that uses a mobi file… Amazon has their own numbering system…therefore your mobi file does not need a separate ISBN.
If you are offering your book as a PDF or epub, you need a different ISBN for each.

Cost for ISBN prefixes in the United States purchased from Bowker is currently around $290. In Canada it is free. The agencies which handle ISBN registration are:

R.R. Bowker (U.S.A.)

Library and Archives Canada

Revised Books

If you correct only typographical errors, and don’t make any substantial changes to the text, you don’t need a new ISBN because it’s considered a reprint. A new edition would contain substantially new material, a major revision, or the addition of completely new elements. Anything that makes it a new book is likely to create a new edition and, therefore, need a new ISBN.
If you change only your cover, you can continue to use the same ISBN, since the text has not changed.

When Does a Publication Need a New ISBN?

A new ISBN is needed for

• Revised editions
• New type settings
• New format or binding
• New title
• Revised contents
• Enlarged editions
• Inclusion in a series
• New publisher
• New language editions

No new ISBN is needed for

• Changes in price
• Change of printing year
• Correction of misprints
• New cover picture
• Change of printer

A separate ISBN shall be assigned to each separate monographic publication or separate edition of a monographic publication issued by a publisher. Different product forms of a publication (for example, hardback, paperback, Braille, online electronic publication) require separate ISBNs. Where electronic publications are made available in different formats (e.g., PDF, HTML, RTF ), each separately available format shall be assigned a unique ISBN.

A change to the price, printing year or the correction of misprints does not require a separate ISBN. A new ISBN is needed for a new title, revised contents, new format or binding, new publisher, enlarged editions, new typesettings and inclusion in a series. A separate ISBN shall be assigned to a facsimile reprint when it is produced by another publisher or republished under the imprint of a different publisher. A separate ISBN shall be assigned to each different language edition of a monographic publication.

Does Your Ebook Need Its Own ISBN?

by Sue Collier

When I talk to authors about ISBNs and ebooks, they usually have two questions: The first is do they need an ISBN if they are publishing an ebook. The second is whether they can use the same ISBN for their ebook that they used for the paper version of the book. The short answer to the first question is—it depends. And the short answer to the second question is simply—no.

Before we get into it, let’s backtrack a bit and talk about what an ISBN actually is. It’s your ID number in the book world. An ISBN—which stands for International Standard Book Number—is to a book what your Social Security number is to you. The ISBN is a mandatory sales tool if you intend to make your book available in bookstores, as it provides the basis for identifying books in all industry-wide systems. Bookstores, wholesalers, and distributors keep track of books solely by their ISBNs.

The answer to the first question, then, is that whether or not you need an ISBN for your ebook depends on your distribution plans. If you are distributing your ebook only through your website via download, you probably don’t need an ISBN. But if you plan to sell your ebook through other resellers, you’ll have to find out what each website requires.

Amazon.com does not require an ISBN if you are publishing content with Kindle. The website says, “An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is not required to publish content with Kindle Direct Publishing. Once your content is published on the KDP web site, Amazon.com will assign it a 10-digit ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number), which is unique to the eBook, and is an identification number for the Kindle Book on Amazon.com. If you already have an ISBN for your eBook, you’ll be able to enter it during the publishing process. Do *not* use an ISBN for the print book edition.”

BN’s new PubIt! service takes a similar stance: “You do NOT need an ISBN to sell your eBook through PubIt!. If you don’t have an ISBN, just tell us that you don’t have one by answering No when prompted. In that case, Barnes & Noble will assign an internal 13-digit identifier to your title for you when you submit the title to go on sale.”

Apple’s iBookstore, however, does require that you have an ISBN for each title you intend to sell.

Other sites, such as SmashWords, Sony, and others, all have their own requirements. If you plan to distribute through any of them, you’ll have to check each site for instructions.

The International ISBN Agency “recommends” that publishers assign ISBNs to each ebook format separately available. Which leads us to the answer to the second question introduced at the beginning of this post: Each format through which you publish your book requires its own ISBN because this thirteen-digit numeral unmistakably identifies the title, edition, binding, and publisher of a given work. So your paper book will have its own ISBN, the audiobook will have its own ISBN, and the ebookits own ISBN.

Legal Deposit

In the United States, any copyrighted work that is published must be submitted in two copies to the United States Copyright Office at the Library of Congress. This mandatory deposit is not required to possess copyright of unpublished works, but a copyright registration can give an author enhanced remedies in case of a copyright violation.

In Canada, the Library and Archives of Canada Act specifies that up to two copies of any published material must be deposited with Library and Archives Canada. Materials deposited in the archives are catalogued; the catalogs are available as part of the Library and Archives Canada website.

CIP

A Cataloguing in Publication record (aka CIP data) is a bibliographic record for a book that has not yet been published. When the book is published, the publisher includes the CIP data on the copyright page thereby facilitating book processing for libraries and book dealers.

The purpose of the Cataloguing in Publication (CIP) program is to serve libraries by cataloguing books in advance of publication. It is not a requirement for your book, but worthwhile if you want libraries to be notified of it’s existence.

For more information and application forms for CIP data see:

CIP (U.S.A.)

CIP (Canada)

Library of Congress (LCC) number (USA)

A Library of Congress Control (also called PCN – Preassigned Control Number)  number is not necessary to market your e-books. Having LCC numbers for paper bound books was once thought to help increase sales to libraries. Many publishers say it won’t make much difference. Cost of acquiring an LCC is free, so the effort of getting one may be worth it. For services available to publishers in getting an LCC number or in relation to the Library of Congress, visit: Library of Congress

 Barcodes

On the back cover of every book or CD available through bookstores or libraries are barcodes. Although downloadable ebooks will not require a barcode, CD’s and printed books will. Barcode labels are electronically scanned at the checkout counters as a way of saving time from punching in numbers. There are several types of barcoding formats. For selling to bookstores, the EAN – Bookland format is used.

I will produce a barcode from your ISBN number (and your book price) as part of the book cover production job.

Barcode Information

The first three digits of the Bookland EAN, 978, are given to every ISBN to uniquely identify the barcode as a book or book related product. The next nine digits of the EAN consist of the ISBN (minus the check digit). Finally, a new check digit will be calculated for your EAN, which is based on the first 12 digits of the EAN number. The ISBN is printed above the barcode so that it can be manually entered, if needed. 

Price Code: The five digit add-on encodes the suggested retail price of your book into the barcode. In the United States, the first digit of the add-on is the number 5, which indicates U.S. dollars. A number 6 would indicate Canadian dollars. The remaining 4 digits encode the price without decimals. If the price is greater than $99.99, the add-on should remain as 59999. If there is not a set price, a code of 90000 tells the computer that there is no suggested retail price associated with the EAN code.

The price add on bar is not absolutely necessary, but most bookstores prefer to see one.

Price add on with price of $10.95
Your book’s ISBN is 0-123456-47-9 and retails for $10.95
Your EAN will be 9780123456472 with a 5 digit price add on code of 51095
The first digit represents the country (5=USA, 6=Canada)

Price add on with no set price
Your books ISBN is 0-123456-47-9 and does not have a set price
Your EAN will be 9780123456472 with a price add on code of 90000