Julie Broad walks through how self-publishers get their books into the Library of Congress using the PCN program. You need a U.S. address and place of publication, apply at least three months before release, and send two copies within three months after. The catalog record takes three to six months.
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Somewhere along the lines, it seems, authors started to think that if they aren't in the Library of Congress, their book won't be in libraries. And that's not true. But the Library of Congress listing is an important step for a lot of authors, and there's a lot of confusion about it. So if you're curious, concerned or confused about the Library of Congress and your self published book, stick around. This video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the Book Broad, founder of Book Launchers, creator behind Author Launch Kit, and author of four books now. Library of Congress Listing. Specifically, having your book cataloged in the Library of Congress and receiving a Library of Congress control number, or LCCN is important for many authors, especially in the US but its importance depends on your goals, publishing path, and target audience. Being in the Library of Congress collection signals that your book meets professional standards. It's the world's largest library, and inclusion gives your book a permanent place in the national bibliography. Many reviewers, booksellers, librarians and academics view an LCCN as a mark of a real published book versus purely self published ones that skip this step. This can make it faster for libraries to catalog your book, but if they have demand for your book and it doesn't have an lccn, many will still carry it. The catalog or at the library just has to work a little harder. Now, the key here is that you need to have a book in demand. If it's selling and people are asking for it, the library will go to the effort to carry it most of the time. But if you're counting on the library to be the thing that gets your book going, well, an LCCN and a CIP block will be very useful to you. I'll come to a CIP block in a second. Why does all of this matter? Well, the LCCN creates an official permanent record of your book's existence tied to that national bibliography. But it's not to be confused with copyright registration, which is different and separate from this. To get your book listed in the Library of Congress loc, you need to secure the LCCN through the pcn. Yeah, the Library of Congress control number through the pre Assigned Control Number program for publishers. And to do that, you submit copies for mandatory deposit under copyright law when you are listed. This primarily means that you have an LCCN and a catalog record in the Library of Congress's database. Here is that step by step process if you want it. So step one, get that pcn, the pre assigned control number. The LCCN is assigned before publication and printed inside the book. It's only for US Publishers, individuals or companies who are regularly publishing in the US Self publishers qualify if they publish multiple titles or plan to and books must be published and distributed in the US and have a US Place of publication. Now. Now the question that came up in this was does publishing with IngramSpark cover this because they print in the US and they have print locations. But that doesn't meet the qualification of US place of publication. IngramSpark offers print on demand facilities in the US like in Tennessee, which satisfies the distributed in the US part. Your book will be printed, stored and shipped domestically when ordered through the US Channels, making it widely available to libraries and bookstores via Ingram's network. That that is a plus for eligibility and practical for library sales. However, that criteria does not meet the place of publication, which is specific to your address or your publishing imprint's address, not the printer. As a self publisher using IngramSpark, you are the publisher. So you have to have a U.S. address, home or business address on the copyright page. So to do this, you have to list your US City as the publication place published by your imprint. Name your city, comma, state. Ingramspark does not act as your publisher. They're a printer or distributor. I know this gets a little confusing for people, but if you're outside the U.S. you do need a U.S. based address to qualify. Some authors use a U.S. p.O. Box or virtual office, but the library requires a U.S. phone number as well. Okay, so there's a few other steps. You apply@the loc.gov for I'll put the link below. You create an account in the PCN system which is free. Fill out the application. So you're going to need your title, your name, hope you know that your ISBN, your format which is print, audiobook, ebook, publication date, proof of U.S. publication. So your imprint page with the U.S. address, and then you have to submit all of this at least three months before publication. Yeah, you can start to see why some self published authors don't do this. You have to wait for this one, but the Library of Congress emails you the lccn. Then you're going to put that LCCN in your book, usually on the copyright page. That's your Library of Congress control number. Ebooks are eligible only if they are also available in print and publicly distributed. Okay, so once all that's done, publish the book with the LCCN on the copyright page. Send at least two high quality copies for deposit and those copies have to be submitted within three Months of publication. All right, you'll get instructions on what to include. But just so you know in advance, you want to include a cover letter that basically says that you're submitting these copies to comply with section 407 of the US Copyright Act. For Library of Congress deposit and then include your lccn. This step is required by law even without the pcn. But having the PCN insures cataloging. All right, remember that CIP I mentioned at the beginning and I said I'd get to it. That is cataloging in publication and it's optional. Self publishers usually can't get it, but you can pay somebody to create a cip. Generally speaking, you don't need it, but it helps with cataloging. After deposit, the LOC does create a catalog record and you can search for it at the catalog lock. Now, it takes time. Don't submit it and then check a week later. It's going to take three to six months. All right, so in summary, there's a lot of myths that some people believe, including I need to register with the Library of Congress to get into libraries or to register copyright. No, the deposit is separate and so is the Library of Congress registration. And some people think self published books can't get the lccn, and that's also false. You can via the PCN that we just talked about. Ebooks alone qualify and the answer is no, they don't. They have to be in print as well. All right, I've got a handful of useful links like the PCN program, the mandatory deposit link, the Library of Congress catalog. I'm going to put all of those down below because if you ask me a bunch of questions on this, I'm just going to have to send you to the links to get your answers. If you've skipped this step, you're not out of luck with libraries and bookstores. It's a step that helps your process and makes you look a little more professional. Taking it might be worth it for you, but it is not something you have to do. All right, like this. Tell me in the comments after you've subscribed to the channel and given this video a thumbs up. So YouTube knows that you want to see more content to help you create more impact and income with your books.
