ISBN barcodes for independent publishers, explained

An ISBN is a number. A book barcode is an EAN-13 that happens to encode that number. Confusing the two is the most common mistake first-time publishers make.

From ISBN-10 to ISBN-13 Books published before 2007 carry a ten-digit ISBN with a mod-11 check digit that can be the letter X. To print a modern barcode you prefix 978, drop the old check digit and recompute a GS1 mod-10 check digit.

Bookland EAN The 978 and 979 prefixes are reserved for books, which is why the barcode is sometimes called Bookland EAN. It is a standard EAN-13 symbol — no special scanner support is required.

The price add-on The small five-digit block to the right encodes currency and price. A leading 5 means US dollars, 6 means Canadian dollars, and 90000 means "no price supplied". Many retailers require it; most print-on-demand services add it automatically.

Practical advice - Buy your own ISBN if you want to be listed as the publisher of record - Assign a distinct ISBN to every format: hardback, paperback, ebook, audiobook - Never reuse an ISBN across editions with different content - Verify the printed symbol before signing off on a print run