Checklist category
Book Identity & Identifiers
This is the book's passport: the exact title and subtitle, the contributors and their roles, the publisher and imprint, the specifications, and an ISBN for every edition and format. Get these settled and recorded in one place, because every retailer, library, and review outlet copies them, and a mistake here spreads everywhere before anyone notices.
The tasks in Book Identity & Identifiers
2 tasks, 10 steps
Create and connect the book's identity
5 stepsOne document holds every settled fact about the book: the exact title and subtitle, the contributors and their roles, the publisher and imprint, the territory, and the physical specifications. Everyone who lists your book copies from somewhere, and this is the somewhere.
CoreTwelve to six months before publication, and kept current after thatAuthor and PublisherSomeone else may do it. Inspect the result yourself.
Assign and check every ISBN
5 stepsEvery edition and format has its own identifier, you know who owns each one, and the title, contributors, and format attached to each identifier match your identity sheet. A wrong identifier follows the book everywhere and is slow to correct.
CoreTwelve to six months before publication, before any listing goes livePublisher and AuthorSomeone else may do it. Inspect the result yourself.Metadata or distribution
Common questions
Why keep a separate sheet when the publisher has the data?
Because you will be asked for these facts dozens of times, by forms that do not talk to each other, and because you cannot check a listing against a memory. A sheet also makes a mistake obvious the moment a store disagrees with it.
From Create and connect the book's identity.
How exact does the title have to be?
Exact. Capitalization, punctuation, and whether the subtitle is included all differ between systems, and a mismatch is the most common reason two listings for one book fail to merge.
From Create and connect the book's identity.
What counts as a specification?
Page count, trim size, binding, list price, and currency, per format. These are the fields retailers and wholesalers display, and a wrong one shows up on every store page at once.
From Create and connect the book's identity.
Do I need a separate ISBN for each format?
Yes. Hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook are separate products to every system that handles them. Reusing one number across formats is a common and expensive mistake.
From Assign and check every ISBN.
Does it matter who owns the ISBN?
It matters for who is shown as the publisher of record and who can change the registration. If a service supplies a free identifier, find out whose imprint it carries before you use it.
From Assign and check every ISBN.
Why search my identifier in a plain search engine?
Because it is the fastest way to find listings you did not know existed, including duplicates, wrong covers, and records at stores nobody told you about.
From Assign and check every ISBN.