Do you have an International Standard Name Identifier?

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A new identifier has been developed that is assigned not to creative works but to the creators, and claims it will solve the problem of name ambiguity. An author, then, would not merely name themselves as the copyright holder on their book’s copyright page, but would add this number as well, uniquely identifying themselves. This number would also be added to ebook metadata and to ISBN data, for example. The ISNI database thus far has been built mostly by harvesting data from ISBN agencies and from library databases. You can Read More …

ISBN “Multiple formats” option misunderstood by many indie authors

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The International ISBN Agency, and their national agencies such as Bowker in the U.S., have repeatedly insisted that the correct use of the ISBN system requires each format of an ebook be identified with its own ISBN, as is the case with print books. Thus a Kindle file should have its own ISBN, the ePub its own too, a PDF yet its own, and so on. However, some indie authors who have purchased their ISBNs from Bowker in the U.S. insist they can assign a single ISBN to cover all Read More …

ISBNs and the self-publisher Part VI: ISTC and ONIX for books

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(This is abbreviated text from The Global Indie Author.) International Standard Text Code A new identifier is being developed called the International Standard Text Code (ISTC). This number is attached to the work itself and not to the publisher/format. The advantage of this number is that it allows for identical textual works published by different publishers or in different formats to be identified as a group. So if a library, for example, wanted to know who published a specific author’s work and in what formats, they only have to know Read More …