articles

the new 13-digit ISBN and your book

All books produced are assigned an ISBN, or International Standard Book Number, which uniquely identifies them from any other title or edition of a title, from one specific publisher.

The standard 10-digit ISBN has been in use for over 30 years. As the book industry expands with the recent popularity of self-publishing, there is an increasing demand for ISBNs. So as not to run out of 10-digit numbers, as of January 2007, the ISBN will be changed to 13-digits. How will this affect books already printed and future titles?

10-Digit vs 13-Digit

First let's look at the different components of the ISBNs themselves to understand the change a little better:

ISBN-10
The 10-digit ISBN (or ISBN-10) is composed of 4 parts:

Sample: 0-111111-22-X

"0" = Identifies the country in which the ISBN is assigned
"1111111" = Identifies the publisher
"22" = identifies the title
"X" = the check digit which ensures that the ISBN is valid (an X means 10)

ISBN-13
The 13-digit ISBN (or ISBN-13) is composed of 5 parts and is called Bookland EAN:

Sample: 978-0-111111-22-X

"978" = means that this is a book product (can also use 979)
"0" = Identifies the country in which the ISBN is assigned
"1111111" = Identifies the publisher
"22" = identifies the title
"X" = the check digit which ensures that the ISBN is valid (an X means 10)

Book Printed Before 2007

If you plan on printing a book before the 2007 cutoff point and will most likely continue to distribute and sell it well after 2007, you should think about transitioning now.

Although many booksellers cannot handle the new 13-digit ISBN yet, you can ensure that you will be ready for 2007 by including both human-readable ISBN-10s and ISBN-13s on the following pages:

copyright page
back cover
...and on any promotional material

13-Digit ISBNS and Copyright

You cannot take your ISBN-10 and just add the "978" prefix to make it into an ISBN-13 as the number is put together using a mathematical algorithm. In order to support dual ISBNs, you will need to apply for an additional 13-digit ISBN, based on your existing ISBN-10, with either the US Library of Congress or Library and Archives Canada.

Once you have both numbers, you can add them to your copyright page and create dual scannable barcodes for your covers.

What About The Books I've Already Printed?

Although the 10-digit ISBN is being phased out by 2007, booksellers and publishers will be expected to still use them beyond that date as all books to date have been published with this system. If you print updated editions of your book in the future, plan to update to the new 13-digit ISBN and phase out your old ISBN at that time by contacting the appropriate government agency.

↑ back to top