PCN: Why you Want One

Indie Publishing Secrets Series


On the title page of books published traditionally, you will see something like this-

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012932337
Hogan, Cindy M.
Protected/Cindy M. Hogan.-1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: When terrorists find Christy, she must enter the Witness Protection Program and become someone totally new while abandoning everything she has ever known.

You want this in your book, too and you can!

A PCN is a preassigned control number for print books only. The book must also be printed in the US and you must get the number before it is printed for the first time.

What is it exactly?


A Library of Congress catalog control number is a unique identification number that the Library of Congress assigns to the catalog record created for each book in its cataloged collections. Librarians use it to locate a specific Library of Congress catalog record in the national databases and to order catalog cards from the Library of Congress or from commercial suppliers. 


Why do you want one?


The purpose of the Preassigned Control Number (PCN) program is to enable the Library of Congress to assign control numbers in advance of publication to those titles that may be added to the Library's collections. The publisher prints the control number in the book and thereby facilitates cataloging and other book processing activities. The PCN links the book to any record which the Library of Congress, other libraries, bibliographic utilitites, or book vendors may create.

Are you eligible?

Only U.S. book publishers are eligible to participate in the PCN program. These publishers must list a U.S. place of publication on the title page or copyright page of their books and maintain an editorial office in the U.S. capable of answering substantive bibliographic questions.

When you get a PCN, you are assigned a particular person to take care of your needs. Find yours under Liaisons

How to get yours

It is a two-step process.

First you must complete an application to participate here.

 **Note-You must be a publisher to get this number. You are the publisher of your book if you are an indie publisher. You should get a license (doing business as license) and make it official.

Next, when the application has been approved, you, as the publisher, will be sent an account number and password. Then you can log-in and fill out the Preassigned Control Number Application Form to get your number.

Then you print it on the title page of your book.

Easy Peasy! Go get yours today! Don't let your title page be bare.

Are you convinced? Are you going to get a PCN for your awesome book?

Go here to see the cover reveal of Protected  Watched Series: Book 2

I'm so excited to share it with you. Release date: March 24th. Yahoo!

Indie Publishing Secret #14- Getting an LCCN

Hopefully, the article I posted here last week got you curious about all the information that's out there on indie publishing. If you Google or Bing "indie publishing", you could take the rest of your life reading articles and posts about it. Stay on top of it, but don't let it bog you down. You need to be actively working toward getting your book out, not just reading about other people doing it.

Alright...

You know when you look on the title page of books and they have an LCCN Number and words after it?

This number is for cataloguing with the Library of Congress.

You want this number in your book.

Check out all your books by traditional publishers. They have this number. You should, too. (use the links in the text below to get you to the right places.)

You have to apply for that number and it takes a while to go through the process. It is a two step process and it's free.

1. You are the publisher, so fill out the publisher's form. This is the application to start the process.
2. You will receive an email with your account number and password to log onto the site and apply for your number.

Once they've reviewed your application, they will send you your number and you can print it in your book. (You will have to send them a copy of the book as soon as you print it.)

A word of caution. If you publish your book before getting this number, you will not be able to get one. You will need to start over with a new ISBN. Don't make that mistake.

You do need very specific information about your book when applying for the number. If you haven't uploaded your interior text file to Createspace yet. You will need to do that before filling out the second form to get your number.

Go ahead and fill out the publisher form and check back next week about final clean up on your interior file.

You will want to read next Tuesdays post before you submit the file and order your proof copy.
Get a jump on your application process this week, though. Don't wait.

By next week you'll have everything in order to answer all the questions on the second application form that gets you your number.

Happy Applicationing. Hee Hee.