Universal Book Number
UABN: Universal Agency for Book Number; officially assigns and regulates legitimate UBN. Universal Agency for Book Number is responsible for the collection, description, preservation and accessibility of UBN. The UABN also serves as a development centre for the literature and library sector and promotes strong cooperation in the field, on not for profit status.
About UBN:
What is UBN?
UBN is a unique identification number for a book. Universal Book Number is recognized globally and catalyzes the sale of book to bookstores and libraries. UBN allows scientifically management of books and their discoverability at global level. Universal Book Number eliminates the ambiguity in identification of books. While numerous book titles, published by different publishers may have same titles across the world, it creates huge confusion among readers. UBN serves here as a great tool to correctly identify a book. Since all such books will carry different UBN. UBN is assigned to international as well as local editions of books. If edition of a book is changed, (e.g. next edition) it would require new UBN. If content is same, it needs to assign different UBN for print and/ electronic version, at free of cost. UBN is affected by format of file (e.g. jpeg, MS-Word, PDF, etc). A book in different languages needs to be assigned separate UBN, at free of cost. N (any) number of copies may be produced for a book, assigned with single UBN.
Example of UBN: UBN is 15 digit numeric code. E.g.- 015-346724641726
Buy/ Purchase UBN
UBN can be demanded either by authors, self publishers or publishers. Readers may ask about UBN for a book which they want to read, download, buy, tell a friend, inquire, or review. It helps to increase the chances of sales of books, and royalty earned by authors and publishers along with publicity. UBN is assigned for literature standardization, and is a not for profit activity. UBN costs US$ 100. Different formats of publication and publication in different languages need different UBN, but these all UBNs will be provided at No additional cost. So if you publish a document in two languages and two formats e.g. print and online, you will be provided 4 UBNs at just US$ 100. If you publish the same document in pdf, HTML, JPEG, you will be provided extra UBNs at No additional cost. Demand for UBN can be sought at: ubnenquiry@gmail.com
How to purchase/ buy/ obtain UBN
You should provide below information to get your UBN (Universal Book Number) for your book.-
Title of the Book: ?
Publisher: Self Published/ Name of Publisher: ?
Author: ?
Language: ?
Format: Hard/ electronic version: ?
Place of Publication: ?
Contact Information of publisher: ?
Name of Country: ?
E-Mail this information to ubnenquiry@gmail.com and UABN will deliver you the UBN for your book within approx 24 hours.
Question: Is this number (UBN) same for all thousand copies?
Answer: Yes, UBN is same for all thousand copies or even more.
Management of UBN
Allotment of UBN is done with a centralized system. There are no country wise agencies, to enhance the ease and user friendly approach. In case of any ambiguity, the decision of UABN shall be final and binding.
Cancellation of UBN
UBN assigned once, can not be cancelled.
Portability of UBN
Authors/ Publishers may sell/ resale unutilized UBN upon notifying UABN. UBN can also be sold / purchased in a block. Unutilized UBN can also be sold within/ beyond the countries, different publishers/ authors and to a book in different languages. If title of a book is changed in future, it needs to be assigned new UBN. UBN can also be purchased in reserve for further use/ a book being planned to edit/ publish. UBN does not expire. UBN can also be demanded for a book, which is already having / not having an ISSN number.
Other useful links
Revised rates for Universal Book Number (UBN) for all countries are as below-
Contact us
Email: ubnenquiry@gmail.com