More on ISBNs; self-pubs take note!

[rolanni]

So, I girded up my electronic loins and went over to Bowker (https://www.myidentifiers.com/), to buy me some International Standard Book Numbers, and I found that (1) Bowker is having a Moon Landing Sale -- 10% off bulk orders of ISBNs  and (2) for the purpose of this sale, a block of 10 ISBNs qualifies as "bulk."  ISBNs are still stupidly expensive ($125 for ONE number?  C'mon, guys.), but a $29.50 discount for 10 is still, yanno 10%.

As part of this exercise, Bowker -- which has become Quite the Source for Self-Pubbing Services -- asked me to take a survey, which I did.

One of the questions on the survey was:  What is your primary reason for writing?

And the answers in the drop-down box were as follows:

1.  NONE
2.  I don't write; I'm a publisher
3.  Self-Expression
4.  Religious/Evangelical
5.  I want to be a professional author
6.  Lead generation for my business endeavors
7.  Advance self professionally/in my career/as a thought leader
8.  I am an academic professional
9.  It has always been my dream to write (because I love children *cough* sorry 'bout that.  SL)
10.  Hobby

Notice anything missing here?

It astonishes me that no one who buys ISBNs from Bowker writes primarily because they ARE a professional writer.  Just. . .wow.

The to-do list is winning; the health insurance has turned ugly again, and will require a call-back, but I made the first call, dammit, and I'm claiming it.

1.  Brush three cats
2.  Untangle banking glitch
3.  Make correx to ebook
4.  Try one more cover design for ebook
5.  Buy ISBNs (which I’ve been putting off; for some reason, cost of ISBNs is really bugging me)
6.  Call the health insurance company and fuss about the incorrect invoice
7.  There’s probably something else, but this’ll do to get me started

Comments

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

was there at least a comments section? I could come up with my own list of why you need an ISBN... like "To Feed My Cats" or "Big Publshing is (fill in the blank)" ...

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

No comments, either. Stupid survey.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

You remind me why getting ISBNs through Bookview Cafe is a GOOD thing.

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

Might I ask you a question about item #1 on your to-do list? I have recently...acquired...an elderly lady of the Maine Coon cross variety, with the fur and ear tufts of the MC but rather on the small side. We have completed "defurred" maintenance on her coat, removing a winter's worth of underfur and several years' worth of mats. I was wondering how much *routine* brushing your three require.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

It depends on the cat.

Sprite needs a daily quick-brush and a weekly stern brush, because her fur is long and floofy and gets tangled easily.

Trooper needs a weekly stern brush in the winter, and we're finding that we should be doing bi-weekly in the summer. His fur is middling long and silky.

We're not sure what Regular Maintenance will be for Belle, yet. She has coarse fur which is somewhat shorter than Trooper's -- for the moment, at least. There are some signs that she had been given a recent haircut. Right now, we're giving her a stern brush once a week, and quick-brushes on request.

And I should add that, as he got older, Mozart's fur got dryer, and more prone to matting.

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the information. Miss Lucy's fur is rather drier than I would like, though it has gotten less so on an improved diet and with dead fur removal. You assure me that I'm not looking at constant grooming forever. Her tendency to look like an unmade bed I can live with, mats I will not.

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

Did some of the struck out tasks get un struck in this post?

Possibly not, now I don't know if it got fixed or whether it was my ipad app that made them look not struck out.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Good heavens. I am so grateful I bought 20 ISBNs when Book View Cafe geared up. That's horrible! And highway robbery--it's a commercial identifier, not a copyright registration!

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

It's what the market can bear. Bowker is making a KILLING on the self-pub boom.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

That does not surprise me at all. Not looking forward to our next batch buy.

Deep sympathies on the out of pocket.

Three cats worth of hair

[catherine ives (from livejournal.com)]

Having brushed 3 cats you can now go on instagram and play "Trump Your Cat" with photos of their hair toupees.

Math question on ISBN

[ireneha.livejournal.com]

I assume that I don't understand the higher math.
Basically 10% off on a order of 10 items, means that you get one free.

Using the handy calculator icon on my computer. (and in my head)
$125 per ISBNumber, times 10 numbers = $1250.
10% of that is = $125.
20 numbers = $2500 and 10% = $250.

$29.50 isn't 10% of any of these numbers.

Please accept my humble apologies - perhaps I don't have the full calculation. But your "sale" is a pretty good sale. The cost per ISBN is $112.5 unless there is an additional discount for buying 20?

[Turn sarcasm meter on now.]
But remember that high price is for keeping track of the computer bits in the number, generating the bar code, and making the number safe for all the libraries and book stores of the world. Let there be no unsafe-books.

Re: Math question on ISBN

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I remember pre-1965, when there were no ISBNs, nor any need for them. But, yes, an opportunity for an organization to make money by Creating a Need was Just Sitting There, unexploited, and that? Would never do.

Arithmetic is never my best trick; in this case, I don't even understand the question.

From Bowker, one may purchase A Single ISBN for $125; a bundle of 10 ISBNs for $295; a bundle of 100 ISBNs for $575. A bundle of 20 ISBNs is NOT possible, though one may, of course, buy two bundles of 10.

Re: Math question on ISBN

[margotinez.livejournal.com]

May you as the purchaser resell your excess? Perhaps at a Con? Buy a bundle of 100, sell them individually to aspiring writers for $25? Can they be reregistered or are they irrevocably yours? And then what happens when unused ones become part of your estate? Lost forever (I'm old enough to think about this kind of stuff)?

Re: Math question on ISBN

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Bowker would like the world to believe that reselling ISBNs is Uncool. They do not have any legal standing in this, and there are some writer's coops that buy Big Bundles of ISBNs for resale to their members. Someone mentioned Book View Cafe, and there are a couple others that I'm aware of, including Smashwords.

There is the problem of record-keeping. The ISBN bundle I purchased are registered to ME. If I sell 9, they are still registered to ME. ISBNs are primarily a way to keep track of This Particular Edition of This Particular Book. So, if a question comes up regarding ownership of the work -- as may easily come up in the new rules governing "diligent search" for a copyright holder in re so-called Orphan Works -- the question of where to find to the owner might come to ME -- and I very likely wouldn't know.

It's best, IMHO, to keep the papertrail uncomplicated. Others may disagree.

Re: Math question on ISBN

[margotinez.livejournal.com]

Thank you for explaining! So basically you can get 100 for less than buying 20...

Re: Math question on ISBN

[ireneha.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

So purchasing 10 ISBN, costs roughly the price of 2 ISBN.

My lack of knowing there was a HUGE discount if you bought 10, even before the 10% sale, caused my confusion.

Irene

UK ISBN Prices comparable.

[julian satchell (from livejournal.com)]

Neilsen is the UK ISBN agency. Prices start at £144 for a pack of 10 numbers (roughly US$225?), and fall for larger groups. They don't seem to sell single numbers.

See http://www.isbn.nielsenbook.co.uk/controller.php?page=123