Inspect every finished format
Inspect the finished book
The moment a finished copy arrives, go through a fixed list: barcode scans, price matches, spine reads correctly, copyright page is right, index points to the right pages, and any printed links work.
Why it matters
A barcode that doesn't scan can't be sold at a register. A spine that reads the wrong way looks amateurish on a shelf. An index with wrong page numbers frustrates exactly the readers who bought the book to use it. These are the visible failures, the ones readers and booksellers notice first, and every one of them is on this list because it has happened.
Your part
- What you do
- Verify. Someone else may do it. Inspect the result yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Author and Publisher. Author inspects and reports; publisher corrects
- When
- Immediately upon receiving a finished copy, and again for each new format or printing (Inspect every finished format: as soon as finished copies and final files exist, before launch week)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
This is the inspection. A finished copy in hand, a list, and twenty minutes. The list exists because each item on it has gone wrong on real books and each is cheap to catch now and expensive to catch after a bookstore does.
Barcode: scan it with a phone app. It should decode to the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) of this format, and if a price add-on is printed, to the right price. Price: the printed price, if any, matches the metadata and the retail listing. Spine: title, author, and imprint read correctly and in the right direction, and the spine text is not wrapping onto the covers. Copyright page: notice, ISBNs for every format, Library of Congress data if any, edition and printing statements, credits. Index: for nonfiction, spot-check a dozen entries against the pages they cite, since page numbers shift late in production. Links: any web addresses printed in the book resolve to the right page.
Report anything wrong to whoever can fix it, right away: the editor or production contact at a publisher, or yourself if you are the publisher. Some issues can wait for the next printing; a barcode that doesn't scan is urgent. Keep a record of what you found either way, and do not approve a reprint until the copy in your hands passes the list.
Record the result of the inspection, with photographs of any problem, alongside the correction log.
Common mistakes
- Flipping through the copy admiringly and calling that an inspection.
- Not scanning the barcode because it looks fine.
- Skipping the index because it was checked in proofs, when pagination changed afterward.
- Reporting problems a month later, after the reprint has already been ordered.
- Checking the hardcover and assuming the paperback matches.
Identifiers for Inspect the finished book
Set a status on any record and it joins this step. All book identifiers.
| My status | Identifier | Why this matters | Yours |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISBN The International Standard Book Number, printed above the barcode. Most formats sold through the book trade get their own. | Every retailer, wholesaler, and library orders and lists your book by this number, and the title, contributors, format, price, and publication date attached to it are what those systems display, so one wrong detail shows up in many places at once. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally receive the numbers from the publisher and check what is attached to each one. If you publish the book yourself, you buy the numbers and assign them, and you are the one who decides whether your imprint or a platform is recorded as the publisher. Keep one list of every ISBN beside the edition and format it identifies so you can check listings against it. | Add your ISBN-13 |
What done looks like
- Barcode scanned and decoding to the correct ISBN (and price, if encoded).
- Printed price matching the metadata and retail listings.
- Spine text correct, correctly oriented, and fully on the spine.
- Copyright page checked line by line against the approved proof: notice, ISBNs, Library of Congress data, edition statement, credits.
- Index spot-checked against at least a dozen entries.
- Every printed web address tested.
- Problems photographed, reported, and logged the same day.
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