A BISAC subject code is a nine-character label such as FIC009000 that tells a retailer which shelf a book belongs on. Every North American retailer and wholesaler uses them. Choose well and your book appears beside the ones your readers already buy; choose badly and it sits in a category nobody browses.
How a code is built
FIC009000 breaks down as:
FICis the top-level subject, here Fiction. Others includeBIO(Biography),BUS(Business),JUV(Juvenile fiction),SEL(Self-help) and about fifty more.009is the second level, Fantasy.000is "General" at the third level. A more specific code such asFIC009020is Fantasy / Epic.
The codes and their labels are maintained by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), which publishes an updated list each year. Codes are retired and added, so a code that was valid a decade ago may not be now.
How many to use
Most retailers accept up to three and treat the first as the main subject. Use all three if they are genuinely accurate; do not pad with a loosely related category in the hope of extra visibility. Systems and store buyers notice a cookbook filed under Fiction.
Choosing well
- Be as specific as the truth allows.
FIC031010(Thriller / Crime) places a book better thanFIC031000(Thriller / General). - Lead with where your readers browse, not where you think the book is most important.
- Match the retailer's shelves. Look up three comparable books and note the categories they carry.
- Check the current list. The BISG website publishes the headings; many are free to browse.
Thema: the international cousin
Outside North America, and increasingly inside it, retailers use Thema, a multilingual scheme managed by EDItEUR. Codes look different (FM is Fantasy) and support qualifiers for place, time and audience. If you sell internationally, carry both.
Where the codes go
BISAC codes travel in your ONIX record, in the Subject element with scheme identifier 10. They also appear in most platforms' upload forms. ScanSpine stores up to five per title, exports them in the ONIX feed, and validates the format so a typo like FIC09000 (one digit short) is caught before it goes anywhere.
The two most common mistakes
Filing by the author's intention rather than the reader's search. A memoir with lessons for founders may feel like Business, but its readers will find it under Biography / Business.
Never revisiting. Categories drift as the list evolves and as a book finds its audience. A once-a-year look at where comparable titles sit is worth the ten minutes.