Categories

It is always helpful for you to tell a bookstore where you want your book to be placed in their store. And you should do that right on the book cover. When you go into a typical bookseller’s, you will find a “business” section, a “children’s” section, and many more. Bookstores will place your book in the right section or category and then alphabetize it by the author’s last name within that category.

To assist an author in getting proper placement, The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) has created the Book Industry Standards and Communication (BISAC) committee, which has designated both category and subcategory listings. The category name or names appears on the back cover of a soft cover book, usually on the top left.

On the BISG web site, click on the main category to get to a listing of subcategories, and then list the main and subcategory on your book that you think most fits the content. Don’t list the numbers you find in front of the category name.

It is hard for bookstores to accurately place your book based on the title alone, so the more information you can give them, the better they can locate the book where your likely readers will find it.

Tanyab 08:31, 5 December 2008 (UTC) | www.publishing-store.com