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  Library of Congress Control Numbers

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  Need help deciding how best to publish your book? You can email Walt@FiveRainbows.com or call him toll-free at 866-341-3705 to discuss your project. Initial consultations (email or phone) are always f*r*e*e.

  You can sort them out by using the f*r*e*e How-to-Publish Quiz at FiveRainbows.com. You may be surprised by the answer!

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  Walt's Notes

  Why is it that so many companies just can’t seem to understand the concept of customer service?

  First, I bought a Remington Ghost game camera to augment my old, cheap unit that is slowly giving up its own ghost. I figured the Remington name (you know, the folks who make guns and ammo) would probably not be used frivolously on poor products. Supposed to be a super-duper unit with both infrared and regular flash for night photos and 5 megapixels resolution. Turned out to be absolute junk. Worse than any of the three other game cameras I’ve owned. Pictures are blurry and colors almost nonexistent. Called their customer service number. Pleasant woman told me I must have a defective camera but asked if I could email her some photos. I did. She called back and said the colors are typical for the camera but that the photos should be sharper. Ya think? Offered to send me a replacement that would have “somewhat better sharpness.” Told her “somewhat better” wouldn’t cut it and I was taking it back to Wal-Mart. If they won’t take it back, I’d call her again. She got annoyed at that point, refusing to admit that the camera is just no good. (Some later Internet research proved that mine is not an isolated problem but, instead, the norm for this piece of crap.)

  Second, my daughter bought Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition software, hoping it would help with the neck and back pain that keyboarding causes her. Installed OK and worked fine through the tutorials. But then it started behaving oddly and, sometimes, just refused to work. She tried to call their tech support. Guess what? Her version is 9.0, and the latest version is 10.0. No free tech support of any kind for version 9.0 unless you want to pay $20 for each instance. Are they nuts, charging $20 to answer a question about initial installation on a $100 piece of software? (If she had version 10.0, she could get one [yup, just one!] tech support call for free. $20 each thereafter.)

  Both of these companies need to spend some time in remedial customer service training. The customer may not always be right...but you need to treat them as though they are. No quibbling. No gouging them for extra money to do what you should have done for free.

  Remember when you mother told you that you only get one chance to make a first impression? That’s the basis for good customer service. Make that first impression have a positive impact. Make the customer feel like they’re your only – and, therefore, most valued – customer. Do whatever it takes to satisfy them. It might cost you more than the sale earned you, but it will pay back eventually.

  Moral: It’s far easier to maintain a reputation for great customer service than it is to repair one that’s already been ruined.

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  Library of Congress Control Numbers (LCCNs)

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  The following is an excerpt from our “Book Publishing by the Numbers” Instant Guide. This concise guide cuts through the confusion of publishing's numbers, codes, and associated acronyms, explains what they are, if and why you need them, and how to get them. Includes a page of references — books and links to the websites where you can acquire those important numbers and codes. Eighteen pages of the information you need! All for only $6.95 as a downloadable e-book.

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  The Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) may or may not be important for your book. But it is free and just might help you market to libraries. So, why not take a few minutes to get one?

  The LCCN, as the name implies, is assigned by the U.S. Library of Congress. It is actually a reference number to locate the bibliographic data, or catalog record, for a specific work in the Library of Congress (LoC). It is not, as some publishing newcomers tend to believe, a call number for finding a specific edition or format of a particular title. Therefore, you only need one LCCN to cover a hardback, paperback, and e-book for the same title or, usually, to cover new editions of the same title.

  The LCCN’s purpose is to help the LoC maintain its catalog records and to help other librarians acquire LoC cataloging data as an aid to creating their own catalog entries for new acquisitions.

  The LCCN is included on the book’s copyright page, and all recently assigned LCCNs should be printed without hyphens (the initial four digits for books entered into the LoC catalog since 2000 represent the year the LCCN was assigned). The entry on the copyright page usually looks like this:

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2005908829

  You can acquire an LCCN only from the LoC and only through one of these two programs:

  Cataloging-in-Publication (CIP) program: provides a complete bibliographic record created by the LoC for books not yet published, which is then printed on the book’s copyright page (CIP data includes the LCCN).

  Preassigned Control Number (PCN) program: provides a LoC-assigned LCCN if the publisher requests it and is approved for it, but it will not include any bibliographic data.

  So, which program should you use? You probably won’t have much choice if you are self-published or run a very small publishing company that primarily publishes your own books. Why? Read what the LoC itself says on its CIP Program page:

  Only U. S. publishers who publish titles that are most likely to be widely acquired by U.S. libraries are eligible to participate in the CIP program. Book vendors, distributors, printers, production houses and other intermediaries are ineligible. Publishers who have published the works of fewer than three different authors are ineligible. Self-publishers (i.e. authors and editors who pay for or subsidize publication of their own works; who often do not publish the works of more than three different authors; and whose works are rarely widely acquired by the nation’s libraries) are ineligible.

  However, the LoC’s PCN program is far more lenient. This is what is says on the PCN page:

  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.

  Getting your LCCN through the PCN program is a two-step process

  1. Apply for a PCN account (which might take up to two weeks)

  2. Apply for a PCN (which is really just the LCCN) that they say might take 1-2 weeks, although we usually get ours within a day or so)

  Once you have an LCCN through the PCN program, you can always pay somebody to create the CIP data. This data cannot be labeled “Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication” on the book’s title page but, instead, must be clearly labeled “Publisher Cataloging-in-Publication” (PCIP).

  Is PCIP worth paying for? Although there are differences of opinion on whether its presence will lead to more library sales, a CIP block is an inexpensive addition that may help sell books to libraries and may make your self- or micro-publishing business appear more established, professional, and knowledgeable.

  Probably the biggest advantage to having PCIP data for your book is that it may get your book cataloged and out on the shelves of libraries faster than books for which the librarians have to create the cataloging data from scratch.

  Whether you choose to buy PCIP data or not, be sure to get your LCCN from the Library of Congress and include it on your copyright page.

  It is, after all, free.

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  Do you have a question or comment on the above or something else related to publishing, writing or book design and marketing? Email me at Walt@FiveRainbows.com and I may include it, with my answer, in an upcoming newsletter.

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  September 18th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

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