BIC Membership

BIC membership: shaping the future health and prosperity of the book industry – UK, Ireland and beyond

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Whatever our routes into the book industry, many of us are driven by a genuine love of books, reading and learning. It’s what contributes to an industry with a real sense of community, many friendships amongst the working relationships and a shared purpose – to sustain the health and future prosperity of the industry.

BIC was founded over 30 years ago with that purpose as its guiding principle. Since then, we’ve collaborated with experts and our members across the industry to build best practice and create reliable, effective standards in the book supply chain. BIC is now the expert hub for that knowledge, offering support and future-proofing this critical area of the industry.

What does BIC membership offer?

Becoming a BIC member puts you at the heart of the book supply chain, supporting your business or organisation to flourish. In both receiving and giving the support and expertise to maximise supply chain efficiency, BIC provides crucial navigation through an increasingly challenging and complex area of the industry.

We are already home to over 100 organisations and businesses, as members, supporters and patrons. Here are the benefits exclusive to members:

Improve supply chain efficiencies, save money and the planet

  • Best practice: access the latest knowledge and standards across the supply chain
  • The BIC Green Hub: providing organisations with the tools and resources to help them make supply chains greener and more sustainable
  • The Metadata Capabilities Directory: ensuring optimised product information and discoverability for titles, understanding how trading partners use, send and receive metadata to optimise communication
  • Technical clinics: providing an agile, real-time method to manage technical issues or queries
  • Financial Savings: up to 25% discount for training and events
  • Exclusive member projects: contribute to and get value from new initiatives

Invest in and influence the future improvement and stability of the book industry’s supply chain

  • BIC Board: be part of the strategic leadership and influence of BIC by nominating and elect members from your own organisation
  • Networking: meet your peers at BIC meetings and events, both virtual and face to face
  • Influence: provide your business with a voice when contributing towards the next generation of standards and industry training
  • Strategic Planning: members have the opportunity to work in partnership to influence and shape the future direction of key industry priorities across national groups, library review groups and strategic committees

Maintain the highest standards through industry recognition

  • Accreditation: benchmark your supply chain performance against the industry standard through BIC accreditation schemes
  • PR: let your stakeholders know that as a member you embrace best practice and efficiency aligned to industry standards

Our members span the UK book industry, including but not limited to:

  • Publishers
  • Data Aggregators
  • Wholesalers
  • Booksellers
  • Retailers
  • Lawyers
  • Standards Bodies
  • Libraries
  • Library suppliers
  • Printers
  • Distributors
  • Shippers/freight forwarders
  • Service Providers

What investment does my business or organisation need to make to join, and what’s the process?

Subscription rates are based on an organisation’s most recently published UK turnover figure. Use this link to view our 2022/3 rates and for any additional queries email info@bic.org.uk.

You can apply to join by filling out our quick and easy form, after which we’ll be in touch to complete the process and get you on board.

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