Make sure every system is talking about the same book.

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.

Your copyright exists the moment the book is fixed in tangible form, so registering is not what gives you ownership; it is the public record of the claim and the step that unlocks certain legal remedies in the United States. Traditional and hybrid contracts vary, in that many commit the publisher to register in the author's name and some do not mention it at all, so normally you read the agreement and then ask in writing who files and in whose name. If you publish the book yourself, or the contract leaves it to you, filing is yours to do once the book is in final form. Record the registration number and date with the rest of the book's records.

The publisher name attached to an ISBN prefix is set when the block is bought and follows every number in that block, so it is the name recorded as your book's publisher of record. If your publisher bought the ISBNs, that account is theirs; normally you ask for each number and check that the publisher of record is the imprint you expect and that the title details are right. If you bought your own, the record is yours to keep correct, and accepting a free platform-supplied number instead lists the platform as the publisher. Record each number beside its format and confirm that the publisher name, price, and publication date match the finished book.

A number printed in the book makes it easier for a library cataloger to match your book to a catalog record, and that is the whole benefit. It is worth being clear about what it isn't: having one doesn't mean the Library of Congress holds your book, it doesn't oblige any library to buy or catalog it, and it isn't copyright registration. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask whether a number was requested, often as part of the publisher's Cataloging in Publication request, and record it when it arrives; a United States self-publisher who meets the program's rules normally applies through the Author Portal before the book is printed. Record the number, print it in the form the Library specifies, and send the required finished copy after publication.

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.

The record is distributed to libraries before your book exists, so it shapes how the book is described in catalogs around the country, and a misspelled name or title in it is much harder to fix once the book is printed. Traditionally published authors normally read the data block when it arrives, check the spelling of their name and title, and confirm the printed copyright page matches it; a hybrid author normally has to ask first, because some hybrid publishers take part and some don't. If you publish the book yourself, this is not available to you under the program's current rules, and the Preassigned Control Number route is where to look instead. Review the data block early enough to raise a correction before the copyright page is final.

This is the form, not the program, so it matters only once you have decided you need a Library of Congress Control Number. If your book has a publisher you will not use it; normally you ask which program they submitted your title through and what number or data came back. If you publish the book yourself in the United States and meet the program's rules, the Author Portal is your entrance, the Publisher Portal is not, and the request has to go in before the book is published. Keep access to the right portal and record the number issued for the book.

This matters mainly if your book will be sold outside the United States and Canada, because a book carrying only North American subject codes may be poorly categorized, or not categorized at all, in a market whose retailers read this scheme instead. If you sell only at home, there is nothing here for you to do. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask whether Thema codes are assigned and what they are; if you publish the book yourself, you check whether your platform offers a Thema field, and some do not, in which case there is nothing to fill in. Find out whether Thema codes are assigned and review them if they are.

Because Google's web search draws on it, a wrong record here is visible to readers and librarians and gets cited in other databases, and an old edition or an advance file left previewable is the version people will read. Corrections go to whoever holds the partner account for the title rather than to the search result: traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask the publisher or its distributor, once they have established which of the two holds it. If you publish the book yourself, you may hold the account, in which case the fix is yours to make. Search every edition by ISBN, check the core facts, and make sure any preview shows the current file.

Whoever holds this account controls the details, preview percentage, and price for your title, and nobody else can edit them, including you when the account belongs to your publisher. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask whether the book is in a partner account, whose it is, and what preview percentage is set, and normally will not be given a login. If you publish the book yourself and want to reach Google Books and Google Play, you can open an account or reach Google through an aggregator, but opening a second account for a title that already lives in someone else's creates duplicate records that are tedious to untangle. Find out who holds the account so the first correction goes to someone who can act on it.

Catalogers reuse records from here, so an error in one record tends to spread, and a missing record, a duplicate, or one record that mixes two formats makes your book harder for a library to order correctly. No author on any route can edit a record. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally send the correction to the publisher's metadata team or distributor, and a self-published author normally goes to their platform, or to a library that holds the book and can report the problem. Record the OCLC number for each edition, note any error, and remember that public holdings counts are incomplete and delayed.

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.

If your subtitle is wrong at one retailer, that is one mistake; if it is wrong at a retailer, in a library catalog, and on Google Books, that is usually not three mistakes but one, in the feed, copied three times. It also explains why correcting it in one store often does not stick, because the next feed writes the old value back over your correction. Nobody acts on the feed directly: traditionally and hybrid published authors normally find out who owns it, which is the publisher's metadata or operations team and sometimes a separate distributor, and send corrections there, while a self-published book's feed is generated by the platform from the fields you filled in on its dashboard. Find the person or team that owns the book's feed so a correction goes to the source that can keep it fixed.

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.

This matters for scholarly, professional, and course-adoptable books, and for most trade fiction it does not, so you can stop here if your book is the second kind. For a book that does fit, being missing from the platform, or profiled under the wrong subject, is easy for academic libraries to overlook, because many of their selections come through it. Authors don't get accounts, so on every route the move is normally to ask rather than to act: a traditionally published academic author normally finds the publisher has this covered, while a hybrid or self-published author has to raise it with whoever handles distribution and may be told the book won't appear. Get a clear answer on whether the book is listed and whether library ebook licenses are available there.

This decides who can read your book before it is out and how early, and feedback posted through it frequently reappears as reviews on Goodreads and retailers around publication. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask whether the book will be listed, when the listing goes live, how long it stays up, and who approves requests, and a hybrid author should confirm who is paying. If you publish the book yourself, this is a real expense you choose, and it needs an approval plan, a plan for reading the feedback, and enough lead time, typically three to six months before publication, to be worth anything. Record the listing dates and check that the description and review file match the book you intend people to read.

Buyers deciding what to stock and librarians deciding what to buy often see your book here first, so the description, the author biography, and the comparison titles in that listing do their work long before anyone has read the book. It displays what the publisher's feed and catalog team supply, so it is a downstream view rather than a source, and a mistake in it came from upstream. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask which catalog the book sits in and to see the listing before buyers do, and a hybrid author should confirm the publisher has an account at all; a self-published book appears only if a distributor lists it, and titles published through IngramSpark don't appear automatically. Check the listing against your own record, especially the description, biography, comparison titles, and publication date.