ISBN Add-On for different countries

Question

I want to publish my book in the UK, US, CA and AU. Now the prices and currencies are different for each of these countries. Barnes & Noble says that they require a barcode with a price in it (EAN 5) on the backside of the cover.

What should I do right now? Do I need 4 different covers with 4 different EAN 5 price barcodes, or is it ok if the barcode price is just in one currency, let's say in £, and the other currencies and prices are in readable form next to it?

Do bookshops like B&N accept this?

Btw: I'm distributing the book via Ingram Lightning Source.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

In the UK, at least, it's rare for a price to be embedded in a book's barcode. Prices would certainly not be read from it for sale purposes as the point of sale price can vary anyway.

It's also common in some sectors not to print a price of the book at all, as it lets you reprice without reprinting or having the book stickered by the distributor.

I think it's likely that you can do two covers -- one for the US with a priced barcode, and one for the rest of world without. The distributor knows the currency and price for each territory, and will be letting retailers, wholesalers and metadata distributors know what it is via metadata dissemination (EDI/ONIX) anyway.

Answer 2

You will need country-specific barcodes and prices, especially when distributing an imprint book. Book stores use the barcode to read the book price automatically, via barcode readers connected to their POS (Point of Sale) equipment. So, a barcode with the price in $US is mostly useless in CA, UK and AU.