4 ms·
What's the rationale behind reserving an ISBN before even beginning the writing process?
by delecti 4y ago
What's the rationale behind reserving an ISBN before even beginning the writing process?
- johannes1234321 4y agoBefore writing might be a bit early, but before finishing and producing is useful as it can be listed early in catalogs for preorder. Getting the ISBN earlier probably is cheap and allows the publisher to use the ISBN as identifier for the whole project.
- tedivm 4y agoI have no idea why they assigned it this early, but that seems as likely a reason I can think of. It was only assigned the day we finalized the contract, and there was a lot of work before that working the proposal through the system and getting reviews from the target audience and people familiar with the topic. It's only now that I'm expecting to hand content over on a schedule that they assigned the number.
- lmm 4y agoIt's a good unique key to use for tracking the book, even internally. You might change the title of the book at a late stage. You could use your own ID scheme, but what if your publisher merges with another while the book production is in process?