Next time you’re at a party and someone asks you what kind of books you write, tell them “Oh, mostly FIC027050 and FIC027070 but occasionally I do some FIC027120 for a change of pace.” And if you really want to impress them, tell them you’re working on a FIC009020.

Unless your interlocutor knows the code, you’ll get nothing but a blank stare. But if he or she speaks BISAC, you might end up getting topped with, “That’s all well and good, but I’m working on a FIC043000.”

Anybody got a BISAC decoder ring?

BISAC is an acronym for a system of code numbers developed by Book Industry Standards and Communications, a standing committee of a larger organization mandated to develop standards in a wide variety of areas. Some of them deal with things you may never have thought about. Luckily, the BISAC people have thought a lot about them. If for instance you were a bookstore clerk or warehouse picker and packer a few decades ago, you wouldn’t have a clue as to which side of a carton the label went on, how large should the label be, and what part of the store to stock the books in when they came out of the box. BISAC addressed those problems and developed standards for uniform barcoding, product and shipping labels, pallet headers, and many more tasks in the supply chain, saving the industry untold man- and woman-hours.

BISAC also created a subject headings list code designed to help publishers, booksellers, librarians and other book industry trading partners to store, shelve and display books by topic. When they’re preparing a book for publication, publishers select a general category into which any given title fits, then picks the subcategory. It’s the book equivalent of Linnaeus’s “genus” and “species”. Some samples of genus are “Biography and Autobiography”, “Crafts and Hobbies”, “History” and “Health and Fitness”. There are so many broad categories that in order to keep its database from whirling off into space, BISAC divided them in two, A-J and K-Z. You can click here to see the first half.

You’ll note that one of the major categories is “Fiction”, and if you’d like to settle down for the evening with a novel, BISAC offers you about one hundred categories. For instance, if it’s African-American fiction you can select among:

FIC049000 FICTION / African American / General
FIC049010 FICTION / African American / Christian
FIC049020 FICTION / African American / Contemporary Women
FIC049030 FICTION / African American / Erotica
FIC049040 FICTION / African American / Historical
FIC049050 FICTION / African American / Mystery & Detective
FIC049060 FICTION / African American / Romance
FIC049070 FICTION / African American / Urban Life

In the scenario with which we launched our discussion, you informed the individual at the party that you write historical romances and Regencies, but occasionally write paranormals, and you’re currently working on an epic fantasy. The BISAC-savvy author who one-upped you told you he’s writing a coming-of-age novel. And the struggling author in the headline of this article? He writes westerns.

In a recent posting we said your book’s life and your writing career depended on ISBN numbers. The same might well be said about BISAC headings. Without them, bookstores would be pure chaos (or purer chaos than they are now).

I hope this has been helpful. And now if you’ll excuse me I’m dying to get back to my FIC002000.

Richard Curtis

PS: Be careful not to say “BISAC” to an MD. Bisacodyl, whose medical nickname is “Bisac”, is a stimulant laxative.