Create and connect the book's identity
Record publisher, imprint, distributor, and sales territory
Know exactly which company publishes the book, under which imprint, who distributes it, and where it may be sold.
Authors often hire help with this: metadata or distribution.
Why it matters
When a bookstore or library can't find your book, the first question is "who distributes it?" When a foreign retailer won't list it, the answer is usually territory. When two records disagree about the publisher name, it is often imprint versus company. Having the four facts written down lets you answer in seconds instead of starting an email chain.
Your part
- What you do
- Verify. Someone else may do it. Inspect the result yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Publisher and Author. Publisher provides; author records and verifies against listings
- When
- Six to nine months before publication, before you need to answer retailer or library questions (Create and connect the book's identity: twelve to six months before publication, and kept current after that)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Four facts decide how the book reaches shelves: the publisher (the company that owns the International Standard Book Number and is legally responsible for the book), the imprint (the brand name printed on the spine, which may differ from the company name), the distributor or wholesaler (who physically supplies retailers and libraries), and the sales territory (the countries where this edition may be sold, set by the rights in your contract).
Ask for all four in writing. At a publisher they are set by the company and the contract: large houses have many imprints and distribute their own books, while small presses often use a distributor such as Ingram Publisher Services, and that distributor's name is what a bookstore sees when ordering. On a hybrid contract, confirm who the publisher of record is on the ISBN and which distributor the press actually uses, because "available everywhere" is a marketing phrase, not a distributor name. If you are the publisher, all four are yours: your imprint is the name you registered the ISBN under, your distributor is the platform or aggregator you upload to, and your territory is usually worldwide unless you restrict it.
Record all four in the Book Identity Sheet, per format if they differ.
Common mistakes
- Recording the imprint as the publisher, or the reverse, and then filing a form under the wrong name.
- Not knowing the distributor, so bookstores are told "just order it" with no account to order from.
- Promoting a North America only edition to readers in the United Kingdom, where a different publisher may hold the rights.
- Assuming a self-publishing platform is a distributor to every retailer when it may only serve its own store.
Identifiers for Record publisher, imprint, distributor, and sales territory
Set a status on any record and it joins this step. All book identifiers.
| My status | Identifier | Why this matters | Yours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ingram The wholesale catalog most bookstores and libraries order from, plus IngramSpark, the self-publishing platform that feeds into it. | This decides whether a bookstore or library can order your book through the channel most of them use, and on what terms, so when a shop says it cannot order your book this is usually where the answer sits. Ingram's data also reaches many retailers and library vendors, so an error in the record can surface in several places. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask whether the title is in Ingram wholesale, at what wholesale discount, and whether it is returnable, since those are the two terms a bookseller checks before ordering; if you publish the book yourself, you set the discount and the return policy in IngramSpark, and both have real money attached. Get the discount and return terms in writing, then check that the title record matches the other major listings. | Nothing to record | |
| Baker & Taylor (closed) A former U.S. library wholesaler that closed in January 2026; this record is kept for history, not as a route to libraries. | Older advice tells authors to get their book into Baker & Taylor, and following it now costs you time for nothing. The live question is which wholesaler each library uses today and whether your book is orderable there. Ask the library which wholesaler it uses now. Common current routes include Ingram, Brodart, and Bookazine, but the library's own answer controls. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask the publisher or distributor which library wholesalers now carry the book. A self-publisher normally checks that Ingram availability is in place, since that is the usual route into library wholesale. The useful answer now is the name of a wholesaler through which a library can actually order your book. | Nothing to record |
What done looks like
- Publisher legal name, imprint name, distributor or wholesaler, and sales territory recorded per format.
- The publisher name matching what is registered to the ISBN.
- A note of whether the book is returnable and at what trade discount, if the publisher will share it.
- Territory restrictions noted so you do not promote the book where it cannot be sold.
Ask your publisher
Copy this into an email. Replace the bracketed parts with your details.
Sources and last checked
- Official source
- No single official page for this step.
- Last checked
- Not checked against its source yet.
- How confident we are
- Verified