ISBNs and BarCodes

Did you know that "old" publishers like Baby Hearts Press bought 10-digit ISBNs? Baby Hearts Press was established in 1996. At that time, ISBNs were 10 digits long. Our very first ISBN was assigned to Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: A Handbook for Parents. 

On January 1, 2007, ISBNs were changed from 10 digits to 13 digits. What does that mean for all of those 10-digit ISBNs? Have you ever seen a book on Amazon that has both a 10-digit and a 13-digit ISBN? Amazon converted the 10-digit ISBN into the proper 13-digit ISBN that is used now.

You can do that yourself with a little help from an online website. Go to ​ISBN.org to convert your 10-digit ISBN into a proper 13-digit ISBN. 

We had to do that for our upcoming book, The Heart of a Heart Warrior. The book number we wanted to assign was 0-9652508-0-6. For literary geeks who want to know -- the 9652508 is a unique number that is assigned to Baby Hearts Press. By going to ISBN.org, we converted that 10-digit ISBN into a 13-digit ISBN. Our new number is 978-0-9652508-0-1. The 978 prefix is added to the ISBN but you'll note that the last two digits are not the same. That's because there is an algorithm that is used to generate the ISBNs.

​We needed a barcode for our book, too. Did you know that there is a site that will help you generate the barcode for free? You can visit Free Barcode Generator to create a barcode that is uniquely yours! It's easy and very fast. This website even allows you to generate a barcode that has a transparent background or a white one and it lets you download the barcode in a variety of formats including jpg, pdf, and png. Just make sure that you enter your ISBN using the proper format. We had to enter our ISBN as: 978-0-965250801 in order to generate the proper barcode.

There are so many things to learn when publishing a book! Learning about ISBNs and barcodes can be fun and doesn't have to cost you a fortune. In fact, if you publish with some companies (like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or Barnes and Noble Press) you will receive a free barcode, but be aware -- that ISBN is associated with Amazon or B & N, not YOUR publishing company. If you choose to work with The Writer's Doula and you select the Standard Package, the ISBN you have assigned to you will be associated with Baby Hearts Press, a company which has been serving the congenital heart defect community since 1996. If you choose to work with The Writer's Doula and want to establish your own publishing company, we can provide you with assistance on that task. Simply choose the Administrative Services help from the A La Carte menu.

By the time your project is ready to have an ISBN assigned and you have to have a barcode generated, you very well might feel exhilarated! Your book is almost ready to publish! Congratulations and good luck!

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