Question about book title and ISBN's

517 Views 3 Replies 1 Participant Last post by an758GnQExU249, May 5, 2015

Paul Kohler

Discussion Starter · May 5, 2015

Hey everyone. I wrote a short story last year titled "Borrowed Souls". I have an ISBN for the print version of the book, and an Amazon ASIN number for the ebook version.

Now, I am writing 7 more short stories based on the first one that I wrote. What I want to do is re-title the first book to something like: "The Soul Collector: A Borrowed Souls Story", then title each additional story similar, like: "Another made up title: A Borrowed Souls Story". Then, after all additional stories are out (somewhere between 3 and 6 months), I plan on combining all of them into a single book titled Borrowed Souls or The Borrowed Souls

So, by doing this, I am not going to change the content of the original publication, just the title. Does anyone know if that is plausible with the current ISBN for that book? I seem to recall that you can change either the title OR the content, but not both.

If not, then, could I just unpublish Borrowed Souls as it is now, and use new ISBN's for the individual parts, with the new titles, and then use the existing ISBN and title for the combined book?

In a perfect world, I could maintain the ISBN/ASIN as it sits now for the re-titled part 1, so that I could maintain the reviews for it. There's not a lot (only 26) but they are all pretty good reviews.

Thoughts anyone? And thanks in advance!

Paul

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· #2 · May 5, 2015

You should be using a new ISBN for a new print version of the book to avoid confusion.

An ISBN is a unique identifier that identifies different versions of a book from each other in retail, as well as differentiates between different books with similar titles. It isn't so much of an issue with digital content, as most retailers use their own identifiers, but the ISBN is essential in print because it differentiates between editions. If a bookstore wants to make sure they have the newest edition of your book, they will need to reference the ISBN number. If you recycle the same ISBN number over and over, bookstores don't know which version of the book they might end up with.

A new edition with a new title is going to require a new title page and a new cover. You can't just change the metadata and not change the actual book. And if you are making changes to the title page and the cover, you really should also issue a new ISBN so that people know this is a new edition.

Title page should reflect "second printing" or "second edition" with a new copyright date.

Look at it this way, twenty years from now when you are famous and people are studying your work in schools, that original 'first edition' will be worth a fortune.

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Paul Kohler

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 5, 2015

Thanks Julie. I figured as much. No loss really. In the end I was just trying to hold on to the reviews more than anything. When I started this whole writing thing a few years ago, I bought a lot of a 100 ISBN's, so it's not a cost thing what so ever. It's all about the reviews, because they are so few and far between.

Now, a follow up question: I titled the first short story "Borrowed Souls". That short story will be re-titled to "Something New: A Borrowed Souls Story". Can I title the combined book of stories as Borrowed Souls?

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· #4 · May 5, 2015

Paul Kohler said:
Thanks *****. I figured as much. No loss really. In the end I was just trying to hold on to the reviews more than anything. When I started this whole writing thing a few years ago, I bought a lot of a 100 ISBN's, so it's not a cost thing what so ever. It's all about the reviews, because they are so few and far between.

Now, a follow up question: I titled the first short story "Borrowed Souls". That short story will be re-titled to "Something New: A Borrowed Souls Story". Can I title the combined book of stories as Borrowed Souls?

If the reviews are on the Kindle edition, you should still be fine. The digital version is a different creature than the print. If you change the title on Amazon of the digital book, Amazon won't care. I think we've all changed cover art and titles on a digital product at least once! Once you publish the new edition, just contact Amazon and ask them to match up the print with the digital. You shouldn't lose the reviews.

I would suggest Borrowed Souls: the Omnibus Collection or something like that if you are going to do a book including all of the stories. Again, for no other reason that to have a clear differentiation between the original Borrowed Souls and the new larger collection.

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