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Month: January 2021

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BISAC subject codes

BISAC Subject Codes

BISAC Categories: Help your reader find your book!

When it comes to self publishing, properly categorizing your book is critical when it comes making sure your reader can find it. To assign specific subject codes to your book you'll use the BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications) subject codes. These are codes that the whole book industry, from bookstores to libraries, use to understand where your book fits on their shelves so that readers can easily find it.
These codes are updated periodically and the most recent list was published in December of 2020. According to the BISG.org blog, "This year’s update added 155 codes and modified 123 literals, with two inactivations across more than half of the 54 top-level sections. A total of 23 sections had at least one addition to the code list."
You can assign BISAC subject codes to your book in several places including in your ISBN setup, IngramSpark and KDP. There are literally hundreds of BISAC codes and it's important to get as specific as possible. For example, if you're writing a business book for nonprofits, you have these options for categorizing your book:
  • BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Nonprofit Organizations & Charities / General
  • BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Nonprofit Organizations & Charities / Finance & Accounting
  • BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Nonprofit Organizations & Charities / Fundraising & Grants
  • BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Nonprofit Organizations & Charities / Management & Leadership
  • BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Nonprofit Organizations & Charities / Marketing & Communications

Pro Tip: Did you know that BISAC categories are different than Amazon Categories?

When you make your category choices in KDP, those are BISAC categories and Amazon uses those to decide which Amazon category to put your book in. In this initial set up you can only choose two categories, however you can easily request that Amazon increase the number of categories that they place you in by simply contacting them through your Author Central account.

Choosing the right BISAC categories is very important. Your choice factors into everything from appearing in keyword searches to where your book sits on the shelf. Visit the Book Industry Study Group website to view the full list of subject codes.

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