- BISAC codes are an important part
of getting your book set up for success
as a self-publishing author,
but maybe you don't know what the heck they are
or how you figure it out?
Well, good news, then.
This video is for you.
(upbeat music)
Hey there, I'm Julie the Book Broad,
an award-winning author
and founder of a fabulous self-publishing services company
called Book Launchers.
We help you write, publish, and sell
a high-quality non-fiction book
that will help you grow your business, build your brand,
and become the name people know in your industry.
At Bok Launchers, we have a lot of superpowers,
but our biggest one is that we care about our authors,
more than anybody else.
We care about your book being the absolute best it can be,
and we care about getting it into the hands of readers.
That means we have to spend time getting every detail right
and one of those details is the BISAC code.
What am I talking about?
Might not even be pronouncing it right,
but it's B-I-S-A-C, the BISAC code,
and it's essentially the code that tells the retails,
sellers, buyers, search engines, libraries, et cetera,
what genre your book falls into.
It's a way to categorize your book,
so you can see why that's pretty important, right?
Let's say you're Marc Megna,
and you wrote this incredibly inspiring book,
Dream Big, Never Quit.
You are totally fine with being number one
in football biographies, which he was.
Nice work, Marc.
But you don't wanna end up in sports fiction
or with personal finance books.
The people looking for those books aren't interested
in your inspirational football story.
BISAC codes are part of the metadata for your book,
which I'm sure you've heard about before.
So how do you select the right code?
First, you should know that when you upload to a system
like IngramSpark or KDP Print,
only one BISAC code is required,
but you're better off to select three.
It's unlikely your book is only about one thing,
and you can definitely appeal to people
in more than one category,
but the first one you put in should be the most accurate,
and ideally the most specific.
The latest BISAC codes can be found here.
I'll link to it in the description below.
You would go to this list and start with
what your book is most closely associated with.
For a book like Rob Berger's Retire Before Mom & Dad,
you'd go to Business & Economics.
Then, you would look for what is most closely
the next category.
Well, it could fall under Finance and Wealth Management
or a few others.
The first and most important category
is going to be Personal Finance,
so scroll on down, and voila, here is Personal Finance.
Which one is next?
Well, this is about retiring before mom and dad,
so it would be Retirement Planning.
Now, you're gonna repeat that process,
starting at the top, and working your way down
for the next two closest categories.
A quick note about Amazon.
Amazon's category list doesn't match
with any industry standard categorization,
'cause why would they do that?
And if you're using amazon.ca or amazon.uk,
these are different than amazon.com.
The BISAC codes are still important,
because Amazon accepts the first two BISAC codes you set,
and uses them to determine
the most closely-matching Amazon category.
Additionally, they also use the keywords you set
to put your book into the most accurate browse category,
so if you ever wonder why your book landed
in some funky, way-off category,
then you need to look back at these areas
to see why Amazon maybe thought your book was a fit.
Here's a couple of tips, though.
Select categories that apply to your book as a whole,
not just a chapter.
Try not to ever, ever, ever use the general category,
as it's, well, general. (laughs)
Be consistent with your BISAC codes across different formats
so the BISAC code for your print book
is the same as your ebook, is the same as our audio book.
Make sure your readers can find you
and the retailers know where to put you
by choosing the best BISAC codes for your book.
Do you wanna talk about BISAC codes? (laughs)
I mean, who wouldn't?
Share that in the comments below.
I always respond to every comment,
but especially active on the day a video is posted,
and when you comment the day a video is released,
you'll be entered to win some sweet #noboringbooks swag.
Like this tip?
Smash that thumbs-up button.
Go ahead, try it.
It feels so good, and makes me happy, too.
And make sure you (bell ringing) subscribe to the channel
and turn those notifications on,
so we can hang out every Tuesday and Friday
when new videos come out.
I've had such a good time hanging out with you today,
and I really don't want our time to end,
so why don't you head on over to
this fantastic brand-new video so we can keep hanging out,
or maybe you should check out this video right here
that YouTube thinks you are really gonna love.
So go ahead, click on one of these videos,
and I will see you there.
I can't wait. (claps hands)
(upbeat music)