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Have you ever found a book online about your favorite subject, but didn’t buy it right then because you weren’t sure what was inside? You may have gotten in the car and driven to the nearest bookstore to check it out before you made your decision … and bought it online later for less.

What about the book you’ve written? Can your audience look inside it online to help them make up their minds about it? How many more people do you think would buy your book if they could look inside and make a decision to buy on the spot?

You can now have your readers browse the inside of your book. Amazon and Google have started scanning the interiors of books so that their search engines would be able to retrieve and organize information from inside printed books as well. A few days ago Microsoft launched a similar program called […]

The third way the Library of Congress may be involved in your book is through the U.S. Copyright Office, which is located within the Library of Congress. In the previous two posts about the Library of Congress we discussed the LCCN and the CIP data.

Copyright Registration

Registering your book with the copyright office has nothing to do with the LCCN, the CIP data, or with cataloging your book. Therefore, getting an LCCN or CIP data for your book from the Library of Congress does not amount to copyright registration with the U.S. Copyright Office. If you so choose, Wheatmark can secure copyright registration for your book, or you can apply for one yourself directly.

Keep in mind that registering your work with the U.S. Copyright Office does not establishyour copyright for your book; rather, it confirms it. Your work is already under copyright protection whether you register it or not. Once you […]

We have been discussing the Library of Congress’s role in the publication of your book. Today we will discuss the CIP data.

Cataloging-in-Publication (CIP) Data

Because current cataloging data will not be available by the time your book is released, the Library of Congress provides a shortened, barebones cataloging copy to publishers so that they could print that in the book in advance. CIP data, a bibliographic record based on the subject and content of your book, allows libraries to easily catalog your book. This way when librarians receive your newly published book, there will be already enough information in the book for them, even though the Library of Congress hasn’t yet created the definitive cataloging data.

When you publish your book with Wheatmark, we can provide cataloging-in-publication data for your book and include it on the copyright page. Your CIP data will be prepared by professional catalogers.

Finally, the Library of Congress provides […]

“Will you send my book to the Library of Congress?”

This is a question we often hear from our authors. The answer is yes – unless we misunderstood your question.

Let me explain.

The Library of Congress may be involved in several different aspects of your book’s publication. The first one is the LCCN.

LCCN — The Library of Congress Control Number

Local librarians want to be able to shelve a new book correctly as soon as they receive it. They do not have the time to catalog every single book upon receipt, so they turn to the Library of Congress (LOC) for help. They connect to the library’s database and download the cataloging data that has been prepared by the LOC’s catalogers. To find the data, they use the LCCN that’s printed in your book.

Thus, before your book is published, Wheatmark applies for an LCCN from the Library of Congress. This number is then […]

If you’re just beginning your research into publishing companies, don’t be surprised if you stumble across a number of unfamiliar words or concepts.

Initially, you may be put off by these terms. But, please – for the sake of your book – don’t be!

Now that writers have become self-publishers, it’s important to learn some of the vocabulary of traditional publishers.

Today’s publishing word? Returnability. What does it mean? And why should you care?

In layman’s terms, returnability means “whether or not a bookstore can return books to a publisher that they cannot sell.”

Now, let’s pretend for a moment that instead of writing books, you sell books in a lovely little neighborhood bookshop. Every writer in your town dreams of walking into your store and finding her book inside.

Needless to say, you’re inundated on a daily basis with requests from publishers to stock their writers’ books.

How do you, the bookstore owner, decide which books […]