Part of self publishing is making sure your new masterpiece can be identified and found by retailers and libraries around the world. This is where the all important global books in print (GBIP for short) comes in.
When you self publish your print book you’ll want to submit your book’s ‘metadata’ to the global book database. This Global Books In Print database is used by libraries, retailers and catalogs around the world. Whenever a representative does a search on a new title, much of the book’s information is derived from this database.
You may be familiar with this through some information you receive when purchasing your ISBN, which the first stage of acquiring identification for your book.
Getting started using Global Books In Print
1. To begin, you’ll want to simply register a Bowker account if you don’t already have one.
2. Simply click the ‘Add Title‘ tab at the top, where you’ll be presented with the following screen. This is the first of two screens you’ll fill out.
Everything with a ‘*‘ is mandatory, but fill out all the information you can.
3. Once you’ve completed the first page, click the ‘Additional Title Information‘ link at the bottom of the page and you’ll be taken to the second page. See below.
Be sure to click the ‘Annotation‘ field as indicated on the image, to include a 250 word description for your book. If you have a non-fiction title this will include keywords and the benefit your book offers. For fiction, you can include information about your book along with the blurb.
When should you enter your book metadata to Bowker
Below you’ll see a checklist of the information you’ll need for these two pages. As soon as you have all the information, add your title to the database, before your book is widely available.
- ISBN
- Title
- Subtitle (if have one)
- Page count
- Illustration count
- Book binding type (such as paperback)
- Subject x 2 (categories)
- Contributors names (such as Author and Illustrator)
- Length, Width and Height (eg: 6 x 9 x .4)
- Year of copyright (often same as publication year)
- Year of publication
- Library of Congress Number (US authors)
- Book description (for the annotation section)
- Country available
- Imprint (your publishing name)
- Title status
- Price
- Price type
- Currency
- Target market and age range
Remember, if any changes are made to the book, such as a new edition or change of book size, be sure to return and update your book’s details. If you haven’t submitted your book yet, do it now!
Here’s to book’s being found!
Anthony
