How to get your ISBN bar code
March 12th, 2008 at 6:45 am (The Biz)
Now that you have gotten your ISBN block from Bowker you are ready to get a bar code. You will have to have the bar code if you plan on selling your book to retail stores or to Amazon.com.
You have several options when it comes to getting a bar code.
There is a free online bar code generator that you can use. If you have never done a bar code before or have no way to test it out, you might want to skip this. The last thing you need is 3,000 books printed with a non-working bar code.
You can pay Bowker to create your bar codes. Prices start at $25 each.
Or you can do what I did. Get your bar code for only $10 at CreateBarCodes.com. You get a nice high quality EPS file that you can add to your cover.
Just remember not to resize the image of the bar code as that will make it not scan in stores.
More info on bar codes: Bar Code Graphics (they manage the Create Bar Codes site)