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LCCN, PCN or CIP? How to Catalog Your Self-Published book

Catalog options mentioned here are available only to United States (US) publishers with offices and staff in the US who are available to answer bibliographic questions about their books. The Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) Catalog in Publication (CIP) are two well known catalog systems. The CIP provides free distribution of prepublished
and further distribution of completely published books to libraries and book vendors world-wide. The PCN provides an abbreviated record but is not further disseminated to libraries on the same scale as the CIP.

Here is a secret. This book is primarily written for nonfiction authors who want to self-publish a professional book available to specialized organizations or professionals. It will most likely be available through Amazon.com and other on-line bookstores and distributors. This is the widest distribution effort and your best marketing source. You will most likely use print on demand and rely on word of mouth, social networking, non-traditional marketing and advertising and key words for search engines to let others know about your books. Once you develop your publishing company, you might only publish your books and until you are ready to jump in full time, probably will not be publishing titles of other authors.

Additionally, if your book is well written and marketed it will be successful and launch other books and products. However, according to the Library of Congress (LOC), the self-publishing model will make your initial books ineligible for the CIP and possibly the Preassigned Control Number (PCN).

The good news? Many of my favorite books do not have CIPs. Some do not even have a PCN. Their copyright page just contains publisher and copyright data. Most readers will not even know these numbers as they are provided for mainstream distribution and not alternative publishing channels. The only reason they are necessary is to aid US Libraries
and book vendors with a recording system. So, though the CIP is highly desired, the record is not necessary for a book to be successful. The LCCN/PCN may be available to you, but if not, you shouldn’t be too concerned. Chances are, because of the niche subject matter, your book may not be eligible or desired for world-wide library distribution. If you would like to have catalog information, but are ineligible for LOC, you can always have a professional librarian research and provide catalog information for the copyright page. 


Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP is the owner of Red Bike Publishing Red Bike Publishing . Jeff is an accomplished writer of non-fiction books, novels and periodicals. He also owns Red bike Publishing. Published books include: "Get Rich in a Niche-Insider's Guide to Self Publishing in a Specialized Industry" and "Commitment-A Novel".Jeff is an expert in security and has written many security books including: "Insider's Guide to Security Clearances" and "DoD Security Clearances and Contracts Guidebook", "ISP Certification-The Industrial Security Professional Exam Manual", and NISPOM/FSO Training"See Red Bike Publishing for print copies of:Army Leadership,The Ranger Handbook,The Army Physical Readiness Manual,Drill and Ceremonies,The ITAR,and The NISPOM

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