BISAC Subject Headings

These codes decide which category paths your book lands in on retailer sites and, in a physical store, often which section it is shelved in, so a wrong or retired code can leave readers unable to find it by browsing. The codes travel inside the metadata feed, so one choice reaches many channels at once. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask which codes were assigned and raise a concern if the book has landed somewhere wrong; if you publish the book yourself, you choose them in your platform's category fields. Record the current codes assigned to the book and check that they describe what the book honestly is.

BISAC Subject Headings are the United States standard list of subject categories for books, maintained by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG). Each heading has a code (for example FIC022000 for Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General) and a hierarchical label. A new edition is published each year; the 2025 edition was current when this record was checked.

Publishers assign one or more BISAC codes to each title in their metadata. Retailers, wholesalers, and many library vendors use those codes to decide where a book appears in browse categories and, for physical stores, where it is shelved.

The category paths a book lands in on retailer sites and in wholesaler catalogs, and often the section a bookstore shelves it in. The codes travel inside the ONIX for Books metadata feed, so the same choices reach many channels at once. Amazon and other retailers map BISAC codes to their own browse categories, sometimes imperfectly.

Ask the publisher which BISAC codes are assigned to your book and check them against the list on the BISG site. The full list is free to browse online for one-at-a-time look-ups; the downloadable files are licensed. Pick the most specific headings that honestly describe the book, usually up to three, with the primary code first. A code chosen because its category looks less crowded will mislead readers and can be reversed by a retailer.

Self-publishers choose codes directly in the publishing platform. Use the current edition; retired codes are periodically replaced and a stale code can leave the book uncategorized.

1. Open the BISAC Subject Headings list on the BISG site and confirm each code the publisher assigned still exists in the current edition.
2. On Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org, look at the categories shown on the book's listing and note whether they reflect the assigned codes.
3. If a retailer shows an unrelated category, ask the feed owner to check the codes in the ONIX record rather than requesting a change at the retailer.
4. Record the final codes on your book identity sheet.

BISAC codes are not keywords, and they are not the Library of Congress Subject Headings that appear in library catalog records or Cataloging in Publication data. They are also distinct from Thema, the international scheme used outside North America. Amazon's browse categories are derived from BISAC but are not the same list.