It depends how you are selling them, Douglas.
I knew about this, I heard about it unofficially, no one seems to have been
told outside the larger organisations, but I decided to keep the remaining
diehard numbers as they are, as a reference system within the press. We were
awarded a block of 100 numbers, shortly before they brought the charge in,
and we have been ploughing our way through them, feeling that 100 full books
will be quite enough of an achievement for our press. (We are in the 80's.)
Authors often want ISBN's because they think it makes the book a "proper"
book, but if you are selling them at readings or through smaller shops, or
on the internet, who needs a number? at least, who needs a 13 digit number
anyway.
In fact, the numbering system was brought in a generation ago for indexing
purposes.
Now that you can search for (and therefore index) a book by its title,
author or even by other parameters, the whole concept of ISBN's has been
reduced to having only beauraucratic and academic benefits..
Waterstones no doubt use the system, and Menzies (W H Smith) but if youre
distributing in other ways (and you can), it doesnt matter a hoot. (You can
convert for Whitakers by adding the additional digits in front of the
existing numbers & maybe it affects the check digit. )
Glad you got to it in time, since you clearly mind about it being on the
book, but basically its another Dont Worry.
Youre a writer and publisher, not a beaurocrat and um, er,
cheers
Sally
Sally Evans
http://www.poetryscotland.co.uk
http://groups.msn.com/desktopsallye
http://www.myspace.com/poetsallyevans
----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas Clark" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 10:38 AM
Subject: ISBNs
>I just got a fright. I submitted my 10-digit ISBN for 'Love Poems' eo
>Whittaker as usual (It is three years since I published a book) to get a
>reply from Nielsen this morning saying that it had to be converted to a
>13-digit number and giving me the URL to do it, which I have done.
>Fortunately my printer is currently making up a dummy for printing by the
>end of the month so I will be able to replace the incorrect ISBN by the new
>version. The change came last January 1st and I wish I had been informed
>before. Luckily Nielsen have got to me just in time.
>
> Was everybody else told? Was I thick not to have realised that there had
> been a change. Oh well. Now I have to generate replacement PostScript
> files.
>
> Douglas Clark ..................... Bath, Somerset, UK ......
> http://usergroup.plus.net .......... http://www.dgdclynx.plus.com
>
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