What Is A Bar Code

A bar code is a symbol that allows an optical scanning tool to identify the title, International Standard Book Number (ISBN), and price for an individual product. In the case of music or film products, the bar code will identify the Universal Product Code (UPC).

You can get a bar code for your product at any step in the manufacturing or printing process. In fact, once you’ve applied for and received an ISBN or UPC, the hard part is over.

Different bar code systems exist for different uses.

The complete name for this bar code format is: Bookland EAN Bar Code with 5-digit Add-on Code (or Price Code).

There are really two bar codes in this picture. The larger bar code on the left is where the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is encoded. Note that the ISBN is printed above the bar code, so the ISBN could be manually entered.

The numbers below the bar code are referred to as the Bookland EAN code; those numbers, translated into the language of the bar code, are what the scanning machine reads. The first three digits, 978, are given to every ISBN when it’s turned into a bar code. This tells the scanner that the item is a book or a book-related product. Then come the first nine digits of the ISBN, then a check digit–in this case 2–that allows the scanner to verify that it has read the bar code correctly. Those numbers, when fed into a computer, can tell us exactly which title it is. It’s easy to figure out, based on the ISBN, what the EAN will be, but most bar code production companies and software will figure that out for you.

The smaller bar code on the right is called the EAN-5. It is also referred to as the price code or the 5-digit add-on code. Most often you’ll find the item’s price encoded there. In this case the item is $10.95; the 5 that precedes the price indicates U.S. dollars. This bar code can be useful, but is not required. A code of 90000 tells the computer that there is no price data encoded in the EAN-5.

A word of warning for book publishers: There are different bar code formats used for encoding information. Several software programs available via the Internet allow you to instantly create bar codes for low or no cost. Before you spend time creating and printing these bar codes, confirm that the format is EAN Bookland; anything else is unacceptable for ISBNs. If you choose to print these yourself, it is advised that you have a bar code producer verify that your bar codes are accurate.

The UPC bar code is, like the ISBN bar code, a translation of an identification number into bar code format:

In this case the base number is the item’s UPC. The numbers below the bar code are a human-readable version of the bar code itself. The first digit, in this case 7, is the Uniform Code Council (UCC) prefix. In general, the next five numbers are the UCC company prefix, and the next five identify the specific product. There are exceptions to this rule. The UCC has issued company prefixes of six or seven digits. In this case the product number is reduced to three or four digits. Though the number of digits in the UCC company prefix may vary, the total number of numeric characters needed is 11 plus the check digit.

At the end is a check digit, which allows the scanner to verify that the item has scanned properly. The UPC-A bar code is also known as a UCC-12: altogether there are 12 digits in the bar code.

Bar code costs: bar codes are inexpensive and easy to obtain

You can obtain a bar code anytime during or after the manufacturing or printing process.

Pre-production: Ideally, bar codes should be integrated into the design of your item. If your product has not been manufactured, you can obtain a film master or EPS file from bar code production companies. In most cases this film master or EPS file is then integrated into the design of the product’s back cover.

Post-production: If your product has already been manufactured or printed, bar code labels can be produced after printing and applied to the back cover of each book with labels. If you desire labels that can be removed by the customer, please ask your bar code manufacturer.

Prices vary depending on the number of labels and the number of unique bar codes. Most manufacturers will provide significant discounts for large orders. Even small print runs need not be expensive. The vendors listed below all provide packages specially designed for small publishers. The cost of a small print run of 200 total labels for 10 unique books can often be recovered in proceeds from selling 3 additional copies of your title.

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