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What is a BISAC code?

BISAC subject codes are the US book trade's standard list of topics, maintained by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG). A code tells stores and databases what a book is about: three letters and six digits, each with a heading such as “BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Aviation & Nautical”.

What it means in practice

The subject heading can decide where a store shelves a book and which genres it can be found under in a database. BISG updates the list every year, so a heading can change.

Choose the most specific heading that is true of the book, and keep to three at most. If you publish only on KDP, you work with KDP’s own categories rather than choosing codes from this list.

How Chapbook uses it

Chapbook doesn’t assign BISAC codes. The launch kit suggests 3 store categories, written like “Business › Sales › Pricing”. In the KDP listing you find the closest match for each one in KDP’s own picker.

In a real book

Cover of Slow Money by Rosa Almeida: a scored round sourdough loaf on flour in warm low light above dark type on cream, subtitle “What a family bakery taught me about pricing, patience and staying small”.

Slow Money

What a family bakery taught me about pricing, patience and staying small, by Rosa Almeida

Nonfiction book, 9,273 words, 37 pages

The outline the planner proposed from its brief, chapter by chapter:

  1. 01 Prologue: The Second Oven 585 words
  2. 02 The First Price Rise 1,250 words
  3. 03 The Loan We Did Not Take 1,101 words
  4. 04 The Second Shop, and Why Not a Third 1,186 words
  5. 05 Hours, and the Cost of Being Open 1,085 words
  6. 06 The Wholesale Account We Let Go 1,142 words
  7. 07 Hiring Family and Paying Them Properly 1,216 words
  8. 08 What the Numbers Said Each January 1,179 words
  9. 09 Epilogue: Small on Purpose 478 words
Start from this brief Read the book it became

Sources

Last reviewed 30 October 2026

  1. Book Industry Study Group, “BISAC Subject Codes”
  2. Book Industry Study Group, “BISAC FAQ”
  3. Amazon KDP, “KDP Categories”
  1. What is an ISBN? An ISBN is a 13-digit identifier for one format of a book. Who applies for one, when KDP gives one free, and where Chapbook puts yours if you have one.
  2. What is Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)? Kindle Direct Publishing is Amazon's free self-publishing service for eBooks, paperbacks and hardcovers. What it asks for, and what Chapbook prepares for it.

Questions people ask

How many BISAC codes should a book have?

BISG's best practice, in its BISAC FAQ as checked on 30 October 2026, is to select no more than three for any title.

Do I need a BISAC code to publish on KDP?

KDP has you pick up to 3 categories from its own list. Its KDP Categories help page, checked on 30 October 2026, does not mention BISAC.

Read a chapter of your own book before you pay for it.

The outline, one sample chapter up to 2,500 words and a watermarked cover are free: 60 Book Credits on sign-up, no card.

Start free See pricing