Google Editions will assign ISBN numbers to books when publishers have not assigned numbers on the works they intend to make available for same. Google and Bowker hope that publishers will assign their own numbers, but will do so if they don’t. See here for more info.
The Globe and Mail of Toronto is reporting that: “Although some have suggested Google Editions will launch as early as next month, a person familiar with the project said that timeline is likely optimistic, and the service will probably go online later in the year.” More info here.
Thanks to Resource Shelf for the info.
Nice scam Bowker has going. Love their sense of urgency that each format an ebook is in should have it’s own ISBN. Especially delicious for Bowker at, what, $250 or so for 10 numbers? I wish I had a sweet monopoly like that!
I agree with Daran. ISBNs were designed for barcoding physical books. Their limited pool of numbers will be wasted identifying every format and every edition of every commercially sold ebook. The 978 category in the barcode is almost exhausted, leaving only 979. It makes no sense to treat ebooks like cans of soup.
The good news is that there’s absolutely no reason why some creative, energetic group can’t start an intelligently designed format specifically designed for ebooks, one that has an assigned number for the content itself and standard suffixes for the format, DRM, edition, and perhaps even language. As an agency, they’d assign the root number and publishers/authors could assign suffixes as they wish with no added cost. That’d make it as easy as pie for software to parse the code and tell us, for instance, “this is an ePub version 2.1 in English with no DRM.
For now, the two systems would operate in parallel, so legacy database issues at Amazon, Google, B&N, et al would still have their crude, primitive ISBNs to work with. Over time the better format would win and it wouldn’t be Bowker/ISBN. For all their yelling about ebooks needing ISBNs, Bowker is so unconcerned about providing genuine service to ebook creators, that when I checked a few weeks ago, they still hadn’t adapted their clumsy, mainframe-in-the-seventies database to make entering ebook data anything but sheer drudgery. Bowker is precisely what you’d expect from a 30+ year monopoly, very good at guarding their turf, useless at anything else.
Keep in mind that there’s nothing unusual about assigning books multiple numbers. Most books published in the U.S. get a Library of Congress Control Number and, when they’re classified by libraries, they get a WorldCat/OCLC number in addition to their ISBN. All three numbers are unique to that book. We can live with both ISBNs and this Better Format for a few years.
So, energetic, creative group where are you? And venture capitalists, where is your entrepreneurial spirit? Here is a need, why not fill it? Get to it and get to it quickly. I’m eager to sign up.
–Michael W. Perry, author of Untangling Tolkien
Does anyone know how will international publishers buy Google Editions ISBNs?
Bowker only sells in the U.S. and maybe Canada.
Thanks.
Bowwow Bowker is a scam which sucks the life out of the little guy ($125 for a number) which costs them nothing, but they sell them for a buck to big companies. And they have a monopoly.
Congress should investigate and intervene.